The Brazilian Butt Lift Remains the Deadliest Aesthetic Surgery Procedure: Are Plastic Surgeons Adjusting Their Surgical Practice to Promote Safety?

[BACKGROUND] The number of Brazilian butt lift (BBL) fatalities remains high in the United States despite numerous practice advisories geared towards patient safety and reducing the incidence of fatal pulmonary fat emboli.

[OBJECTIVES] This study aimed to evaluate US board-certified plastic surgeons' opinions, understanding of BBL-related mortality, and current risk-reducing surgical practices for BBL procedures.

[METHODS] An online 18-question survey was distributed via email by the Aesthetic Surgery Education and Research Foundation to national board-certified plastic surgeon members of the The Aesthetic Society. Survey responses were collected over 21 days on the Qualtrics platform.

[RESULTS] The survey response rate was 10% (n = 178). Of the 77% who performed BBL procedures, 48% (n = 80) did not use ultrasound. Approximately 60% (n = 102) of all respondents disagreed with imposing regulations to require ultrasound, with the most frequent reason being that it was unnecessary with adequate surgeon experience (45%). Plastic surgeons thought that high-volume budget clinics (n = 64) and a lack of regulations imposed on individual surgeons by boards of medicine (n = 31) were the greatest contributors to BBL mortality.

[CONCLUSIONS] Most US plastic surgeons did not use ultrasound for BBL procedures and did not agree that ultrasound should be required, which may partially be the result of unsuccessful educational outreach for risk-reducing practices and training for ultrasound. Regulations by the boards of medicine imposed on individual surgeons, in combination with new legislation targeted at ownership of high-volume clinics, are strongly backed by surgeon respondents as measures that may improve patient safety.