- Our culture has made it a lot more popular,
and acceptable to augment your body.
People are documenting their journeys on YouTube,
and TikTok letting people know.
It's definitely a much more open conversation
that we're having these days about the BBL
- [Narrator] Cosmetic surgeries are being popularized
on social media platforms daily.
The Brazilian Butt Lift commonly referred to as a BBL
is the latest trend jumping off of our timelines,
and into our daily lives.
On the video sharing platform TikTok alone
the BBL hashtag has garnered nearly 3 billion views,
and continues to climb daily
from influencers documenting their procedures,
calling out surgeries performed
by their favorite celebrities,
and even doctors themselves jumping in,
and sharing information.
The BBL both celebrates
and commodifies a standard of beauty created by black women.
Despite this fact not being emphasized in mainstream media
but big butts and round hips
have captivated American culture for decades.
The trend is far from over and for some it may be concerning
social media continues to skew our perception of reality.
Today we're sitting down
with a certified cosmetic surgeon to get the truth on BBLs.
(upbeat music)
- My name is Dr. Martha Ayewah.
I'm a cosmetic surgeon
at Lexington plastic surgeons in New York city.
I decided to be a cosmetic surgeon because
I knew that I wanted to take care of people,
how they look, how they feel,
and really just make them feel like their best selves.
- [Narrator] What is a BBL and why is it so popular?
- A Brazilian butt lift is a surgery where you take fat
from one area and you put it in the bottom
to give an augmentation to the butt
calling it a lift is actually a misnomer.
We're not cutting skin or lifting skin or lifting the butt
but by adding fat to the butt
you actually plump it up, round it out.
It looks lifted and more full.
The surgery was invented by Dr. Ivo Pitanguy
in Brazil in 1960,
where he started putting fat in the butt,
and inviting other surgeons
to learn how to do his techniques.
Since then it has been modified,
and perfected and made safer over time.
Many times patients come in the office,
and show me a photo from Instagram of a model,
or a celebrity.
Really common ones would be Kim Kardashian,
and Kylie Jenner, Nicky Minaj, Cardi B.
These are people who have really used their bodies
in their industry and really attracted a lot of the patients
to wanna look like that.
Oftentimes if I do see a picture
that I don't think matches the patient's body
I do have to make sure that they have realistic expectations
before they go into the procedure.
- [Narrator] Tell us the truth who gets BBL.
- There is Caucasians and Hispanic people,
people in the Middle East,
and Asian people getting the surgery
but it is somehow popular
that black women are also getting the surgery a lot.
The black female body
is expected by cultural standards to be curvy.
There is definitely a pressure
in the African American society to have assets
to have a butt, to have boobs that look a certain way.
And that's why there might be more pressure
to go ahead and get that BBL.
It is a common misconception that only women can get BBL's
but that's not true.
It's actually open to men as well.
The primary reason why men go after BBL's
is they want a firmer more athletic looking bottom.
The male bottom looks different
than the female bottom in that
it's mostly square in shape.
Whereas a woman is focusing on putting fat on the hips
to create a rounded appearance.
It is a slightly different surgery.
When you're doing a BBL on a man versus a woman
in these underwear commercials.
There are guys standing there that have a nice tight look.
These athletic people like Christian Ronaldo, David Beckham,
and people want that look.
- [Narrator] What is the process of a BBL?
- A typical BBL surgery takes about two to three hours.
This includes the Lipo section of the front and the back,
and then transferring the fat.
We like to put our clients to sleep
under general anesthesia
especially where I work at Lexington plastic surgeons.
It's more comfortable for the patient.
They're able to relax completely.
Whereas sometimes when you do the surgery
while they're awake
patient might feel discomfort and move around.
Everybody who gets a BBL typically goes home the same day
today a lot of people are attracted
to the idea of going out of the country to get surgery.
One of the common locations people go to
is the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Mexico.
The main risk of going out of the country to do surgery
is that you may not be in control of your post-op care
especially if you're flying back
to the United States too soon after surgery
on an airplane you are sitting immobile.
It puts you at the risk of developing a blood clot.
This blood clot can travel to your lungs,
and this can be fatal.
I often advise patients
to at least have some kind of plan
to be staying in one location
for one to two weeks after surgery
before they fly back to wherever they came from.
Another thing that's important is that
if you are getting surgery out of the country
you may not have post-op care here in the United States.
Many people end up in the emergency room,
and these people are not necessarily equipped
to do post-op surgical care.
And if your procedure heaven forbid is completely botched,
or you have something wrong with your incision,
and you try to go to a surgeon here in the United States
who does aesthetic surgery
they may or may not be able to help you
based on what the condition of your incision is.
These are some things to consider.
If you are getting surgery outside of the country
- [Narrator] What advice would you give someone
who's looking to get a BBL?
- There are some important things to look at,
and ask your surgeon at your consultations.
First of all you should be asking them
have you been trained to do this procedure?
Have you done a fellowship or some kind of training
beyond your surgical training to know
that you knew how to do cosmetic surgery,
aesthetic surgery and this particular procedure.
The next thing you can ask them is
how many times have you done this?
How often do you do it?
What are your outcomes during your surgery?
Have you had any negative outcomes for your surgery?
A really important question to ask your surgeon
is how will you keep me safe during this surgery?
You do wanna make sure that your surgeon is committed
to keeping you safe during the procedure.
I don't know how long this trend will last,
or our society is evolving
and it might come to the point where people
don't really wanna look augmented.
They might trend towards looking as natural as possible.
I don't really know how to predict that
but for now everybody's trying to look curvy.
We cater to what you want.
(upbeat music)