By Claretta
Bellamy
After looking at photos online and listening to advice from a friend, Loren Smith of Palmdale, California decided she wanted to have a Brazilian butt lift.
She found a clinic in Mexico with many positive reviews from satisfied clients, which sealed her decision.
He would save $15,000 in surgical costs by having the procedure done there instead of in the United States.
With 5,500 in cash, she traveled to Tijuana for the procedure in May 2018.
But two weeks after the cosmetic procedure,
her stomach began to swell and she experienced excruciating pain
, Smith said.
So, she underwent emergency surgery in the United States for serious infections.
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Loren Smith after her plastic surgery.Loren Smith / Via NBC News
"It took me a long time to recover and I still have problems," said Smith, 30.
Smith is one of 22,000 people in the United States who have undergone one of the plastic surgery procedures that are all the rage among celebrities and social media influencers.
These types of butt lift (known as BBL) surgeries involve transferring fat from other areas of the body, such as the abdomen, to the buttocks and thighs.
But the death of Shacare Williams, an Indianapolis mother who came to the Dominican Republic for the procedure in April, has exemplified the risks the procedure can carry.
Its popularity has inspired some seeking a less expensive means of body modification to seek lower-quality care in the United States or to venture to other countries such as Mexico, where quality standards are not as high.
Lackluster results among some patients have led them to lament that they did not screen doctors enough before going under the knife.
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Dr. Daniel Del Vecchio, a plastic surgeon with offices in New York City, Boston and London, explained that
the procedure is not inherently deadly
.
Instead, he said, some providers' greed and lack of education about the procedure, as well as the risks some patients are willing to take, can contribute to deaths and medical complications.
His research found that Brazilian butt lift deaths can be dramatically reduced with better surgical techniques and instrumentation.
For example, he performs a maximum of three such procedures per day, but not all plastic surgeons practice the same level of restraint.
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“Now a typical BBL takes two to three hours,” Del Vecchio said.
"If a surgeon is doing seven operations a day, that means he's up 21 hours, or someone else is doing part of the surgery for that person."
But improvements in the procedure's safety are taking hold, and its mortality rate is projected to decline over time, according to a 2021 report published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons shared with NBC News.
Del Vecchio, meanwhile, proposed new US safety guidelines for Brazilian butt lifts at a cosmetic surgery symposium in February, including the number of procedures surgeons can perform per day.
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While every cosmetic procedure carries some risks, there are ways patients can avoid putting themselves in a dangerous situation when undergoing a Brazilian butt lift.
Dr. Arturo Ramírez-Montañana, a board-certified plastic surgeon and chair of the global survey committee of the International Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, stated that the surgery must be performed in a high-quality facility by a
board-
certified surgeon
Follow proper security protocols.
This includes injecting fat only directly under the skin, away from the muscle.
This decreases the chance of a fat embolism, which often results in death.
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After spending more than $7,200 on her BBL surgery and post-surgical care with a board-certified plastic surgeon in Miami, Raina Wright of Dayton, Ohio, said she may see uneven results on her body.
Now she is considering having another procedure with a different doctor to make up for it.
While there are people like Wright and Smith whose experiences were not what they expected
, some patients are satisfied with the results.
Like Wright, Javon Foyster, 25, traveled to Miami from Sterling, Virginia, in 2020 for BBL surgery.
After a year of research, he found a board-certified plastic surgeon known for giving natural-looking results.
In all, he said he spent $10,000 on the procedure and recovery costs.
“We are both satisfied.
He definitely got the job done,” Foyster said.
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Before the surgery, he had felt depressed and stressed about his body image, while at the same time ignoring the homophobic criticism of those who questioned him for wanting to have the procedure.
Jayvon Foster after her buttocks cosmetic surgery.Jayvon Foster / Via NBC News
He believes that most people think that men who undergo the procedure “want to be women.
That is not really the case.
I think if I'm going to do this, it's because it will make me happy."
Smith still experiences pain related to complications from her surgery, but said it's less frequent than before.
She also said that she tried to contact her surgeon, whose identity she is not sure of, but that she was unable to speak with him directly after the procedure.
Instead, the surgeon's coordinator suggested that she return to Mexico to enter a hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber, which is used to treat infections, which she refused to do.
The company, Bella Bodiez, has not responded to a request for comment from our sister network NBC News.
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Despite the challenges she faced, Smith said she has no regrets about the surgery, saying she is aware that the pain she feels, as told by doctors who treated her in the United States, "is going to be something I have to deal with." deal with for the rest of your life.
"I'm happy with the results," he said.
“So I don't regret doing it.
I'm just sorry for the lack of information I had and how sorry I was that I was so naive."
