Plastic surgeons are reporting a rise in Brazilian women going under the knife for a butt lift after Ozempic weight loss left them bloated.
A plastic surgeon in New York City said BBL appointments have “doubled” in the past year, while a second doctor in Las Vegas said his office has seen a “huge 50 percent increase” in bookings.
Surgeons and spas in Florida also said they are seeing a “noticeable uptick” in inquiries from Ozempic users looking to rehabilitate their backs.
Ozempic and similar weight loss drugs like Wegovy have grown in popularity, with 15.5 million Americans now trying them as a way to lose weight.
But the rapid weight loss people are experiencing has left them with saggy buttocks – dubbed the ‘Ozbek butt’ – and led them to sign up for a cosmetic procedure to restore their plump behinds.
The above by Dr Christopher Costa shows before (left) and after (right) images of a BBL performed on a woman who had used a popular weight loss drug
These images, also from Dr. Costa, show another woman’s rear when she came in after using a weight loss drug (left) and following her BBL (right)
Dr Christopher Costa, who runs Platinum Plastic Surgery in Las Vegas, told DailyMail.com: ‘Many of these people are dealing with an ‘Ozembian butt’ where rapid weight and muscle loss leads to a loose, flattened appearance [of the buttocks].
“They often lose significant volume in their buttocks and see less definition in their waists and hips, resulting in their buttocks looking deflated, saggy and disproportionate to the rest of their body.”
She added: “I see many patients who are ecstatic about their weight loss, but discouraged by the impact it has had on their buttocks, leaving them feeling less confident.”
In most cases, surgeons say their patients are between the ages of 20 and 40 and have typically lost more than 20 pounds using weight loss medications.
Mainly, their weight loss was not proportionate and women who come for BBL seem to have lost most of the weight around their hips, buttocks and thighs, but still carry excess weight in their abdominal area.
The backside is one of the main areas where subcutaneous fat – or fat just under the skin – accumulates, which is quickly lost during weight loss.
It also contains a group of three large muscles, called the gluteus maximus, which can shrink if someone takes weight-loss drugs without exercising and eating a high-protein diet.
Dr. Derrick Antell, a plastic surgeon in New York, also reported an increase in appointments, saying, “We see a lot of these patients where they were on Ozempic, but then they go limp, saggy, butt, so to speak. A BBL is like a face lift for a butt and will help restore its appearance.
He said his clinic normally only did 50 BBLs a year, but this year the number has doubled to a hundred.
There are two main procedures that plastic surgeons use to restore volume to the backsides of weight loss drug users.
In cases where the patient still has abdominal fat, fat cells from this area are removed and placed in the buttocks to restore the volume.
In the second procedure, known as a buttock lift, surgeons make an incision along the bottom of the buttocks, remove a croissant-shaped area of ​​excess skin, and then pull it up to lift and tighten the area.
This procedure may also involve transferring fat to the buttocks from other areas of the body to help restore its shape.
BBLs typically cost between $8,000 and $15,000, the surgeons said.
In some cases, Ozempic users also choose to inject filler into their rear to restore its shape.
Filler is a liquid injected under the skin to add volume. It is often used on the face to minimize wrinkles and give patients a younger appearance.
It costs about $6,500 for 20 syringes, with medical spas saying patients tend to be in their 40s and 50s and have already lost at least 50 pounds.
However, patients who receive fillers in their buttocks will need to have more injections every six months to two years because the body naturally absorbs the filler over time, while BBL is considered a permanent solution.
Marlee Bruno, who owns Mind Body & Soul Medical Spa in Pensacola, Florida, told DailyMail.com that the number of patients coming in for fillings has doubled in the past year and a half at her medical spa.
BBLs hit a record high in 2023, while buttock lift surgeries also appear to be on the rise
Popularized by celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Iggy Azalea, BBLs became famous in the mid-2010s.
And surgeons now suggest the procedure may be getting a new fan base thanks to Ozempic’s boom.
About 1.7 percent of Americans — or 5.6 million people — were prescribed a weight-loss drug in 2023, according to an analysis of data from the health care company Epic Research.
That was 40 times more than five years ago, when they estimated only a few hundred thousand Americans were taking the drug.
Surveys this year show that 6% of US adults – or 15.5 million people – have now tried a weight loss drug.
Dr Michael Jones, of Lexington Plastic Surgeons in New York, added: ‘The hypothesis was that as patients lost weight on their own with Ozempic, they might not need treatments such as liposuction.
“However, what we’re actually seeing is a new trend: Patients who were previously too obese to qualify for surgery are now using Ozempic to lose enough weight to bring their BMI into a safe range for cosmetic surgery. operations”.
Last year, a record 29,400 people received BBL in the United States — a 3% increase over the previous year and a 20% increase over 2018, when the weight-loss drugs were first released.
There was a drop in 2020, with 21,000 BBLs realized, although surgeons said this was linked to the Covid pandemic and people being reluctant to leave their homes.
Surgeons are also reporting lifts in other procedures related to loose skin caused by weight loss, including tummy tucks and arm lifts.
Dr. Smita Ramanadham, a plastic surgeon in New Jersey, told this site, “BBLs have remained relatively constant for me, but I’m seeing an uptick in arm lifts and tummy tucks, as well as breast lifts due to weight loss.”
In addition to losing weight in unwanted places, Ozempic and similar weight loss drugs have been linked to a number of bad side effects.
As well as nausea and vomiting when using the pads, patients have also reported that the medication has caused their hair to “fall out in clumps”, and there have been reports of users suffering from poor mental health and suicidal ideation.
