Hip Dip Surgery — What It Is, How It Works and What to Expect

Hip dips are one of the most searched body contouring concerns in the UK, and they are also one of the most frequently misunderstood. Despite what social media often implies, hip dips are not a sign of being overweight, unfit, or out of proportion — they are a normal anatomical feature determined almost entirely by the shape of your skeleton. For patients who find them significantly bothersome, however, surgical and non-surgical correction options do exist and can produce meaningful, lasting improvement.

At Centre for Surgery, our GMC-registered surgeons offer fat transfer to the hips and body contouring procedures at our CQC-regulated Baker Street clinic in London. This guide explains exactly what hip dips are, why they occur, what treatment options are available — including hip dip exercises, hip dip filler, and hip dip fat transfer — and how to decide whether surgery is right for you.

What Are Hip Dips?

Hip dips — also called violin hips or trochanteric depressions — are inward curves or indentations that occur along the outer silhouette of the hips, between the iliac crest (the top of the pelvis) and the greater trochanter of the femur (the top of the thigh bone). Rather than a smooth, continuous outward curve from waist to thigh, the outline of the hips dips inward at this point, creating a shape that some patients find cosmetically undesirable. The “violin hips” name comes from the curved silhouette this indentation creates when viewed from the front, echoing the waist of a violin.

The key anatomical fact is that hip dips are caused by the relative position of the ilium — the uppermost part of the pelvis — and the distance between it and the greater trochanter of the femur. In patients where the ilium sits higher or wider, and where the soft tissue coverage in the lateral hip area is less dense, the indentation becomes more visible. This is entirely determined by skeletal structure and is therefore not something that can be meaningfully altered by exercise or diet, regardless of how much weight is lost or how much muscle is developed in the surrounding areas.

What Causes Hip Dips? Why Do I Have Hip Dips?

Hip dips are primarily caused by the shape and relative position of the pelvis and femur. Several factors influence how visible they are:

Skeletal anatomy is the primary driver. The width of the iliac crest, its height relative to the greater trochanter, and the overall pelvic shape all determine the depth of any indentation. Patients with a wider or higher ilium relative to the femoral head tend to have more pronounced hip dips.

Soft tissue distribution also plays a role. Patients who naturally carry more subcutaneous fat in the lateral hip region, or who have greater gluteal muscle volume, may find their hip dips are less visible because the surrounding tissue fills in the indentation more effectively. This is why some patients notice their hip dips become more or less prominent as their weight fluctuates — but the underlying anatomical cause remains unchanged.

Genetics determines both skeletal shape and fat distribution pattern, which is why hip dips tend to run in families and why certain body types are more likely to display them prominently than others.

Are Hip Dips Normal? Hip Dips in Women and What They Mean

Hip dips are normal and extremely common. The word describes the inward curve at the side of the hip, between the iliac crest and the greater trochanter — so “hip dips meaning” comes down to simple anatomy rather than anything gone wrong. Anatomical studies and clinical observation put the trait in a large proportion of women, and it appears across every body type: on people who are lean, people who carry more weight, athletes, and people who have never exercised.

The comparison of hip dips vs no hip dips is largely a comparison of skeletons. Where your greater trochanter sits relative to your pelvis, how wide your iliac crest is, and how your gluteus medius attaches all determine whether the curve is visible. None of those change with training or diet. Some people describe more pronounced dips as “violin hips”; extreme hip dips simply reflect a wider gap between hip bone and thigh bone, not a health problem.

Searches for hip dips women and hip dips woman have risen sharply, and much of what people find is before and after hip dips content — often photographs taken in different lighting, postures and clothing rather than genuine treatment results. If you are looking at before and after hip dips images, check whether the two photographs share the same stance, camera height and lighting. A small change in how someone stands alters the apparent depth of the curve considerably.

It is worth naming the reason this term has grown so fast in search. Hip dips became a talking point through social media rather than through medicine, and a great deal of content frames a normal skeletal feature as a flaw to be fixed. Plenty of celebrities have visible hip dips; so do most women. Wanting to change the shape is a legitimate personal choice, and it is also entirely reasonable to decide the shape is fine and leave it alone. Our surgeons will tell you honestly if they think treatment would achieve little.

Hip Dips Exercises: Can You Get Rid of Hip Dips at the Gym?

This is the most searched question about hip dips, and it deserves a straight answer before the detail. Exercises for hip dips cannot remove them. The indentation exists because of where your greater trochanter sits relative to your iliac crest, and no training programme changes bone position. Any content promising hip dips exercises that “erase” the curve in a fortnight is selling something.

What exercise can do is more limited but not nothing. Building the gluteus medius — the muscle that sits over the upper outer hip, directly above the dip — adds a small amount of volume in the right place. In someone lean with well-developed glutes, that can soften how pronounced the curve looks. It will not fill a deep indentation, and in some people building the surrounding musculature makes the dip appear slightly more defined by comparison.

The exercises usually recommended for this are side-lying leg raises, clamshells, hip abduction against a resistance band, curtsy lunges, step-ups, glute bridges and fire hydrants — all of which load the gluteus medius. Side plank hip dips are a different movement entirely, despite the name: that is a core exercise where the hips drop and lift from a side plank position, and it has no effect on the shape of the hip. People searching for it are often looking for the exercise rather than the anatomy.

A realistic expectation is worth setting. If your dips are shallow and you have room to build glute muscle, several months of consistent, progressive training may produce a visible difference. If your dips are pronounced, or you are already lean and well-trained, exercise will not change them meaningfully, and continuing to chase it can become quite dispiriting. That is the point at which people usually start looking at treatment — and it is also a perfectly good point at which to decide the shape is fine as it is.

Hip Dips Exercises in Detail

This is one of the most common misconceptions about hip dips, and the answer is no — not in any meaningful structural sense. The indentation is caused by the underlying skeleton, so no amount of targeted hip dip exercises can change the bone structure that creates it. Exercise can build muscle volume in the surrounding areas — particularly the gluteus medius and tensor fasciae latae — which may marginally reduce the visual prominence of hip dips in some patients, but the effect is generally modest and inconsistent, particularly in patients with a pronounced skeletal indentation.

Patients who have tried exercise-based approaches without satisfaction are typically good candidates for a clinical consultation to discuss whether surgical correction would be appropriate for them.

How to Get Rid of Hip Dips: Treatment Options Compared

Can you get rid of hip dips completely? Not entirely — the underlying bone structure does not change — but the indentation can be filled so that it is no longer visible in most clothing and positions. There are three realistic routes, and which suits you depends on how much change you want, whether you have donor fat, and whether you are willing to have surgery. A Brazilian Butt Lift with fat transfer to the hips gives the largest and longest-lasting change. Hip dip filler — sometimes called a liquid BBL — is immediate, temporary and reversible, and a sensible way to preview the shape — fillers for hip dips are the lowest-commitment option available. Hip dips surgery, meaning fat transfer, is the route to a lasting change. 360 liposuction does not fill the dip but can slim the waist above it, which changes how pronounced the curve looks.

Treatment Options for Hip Dips in Detail

Three main treatment approaches exist for hip dips, each with different candidacy requirements, longevity, and risk profiles.

Hip Dip Fat Transfer

Hip dip fat transfer — also referred to as hip augmentation with autologous fat or, when combined with buttock augmentation, a Brazilian Butt Lift — is the most commonly recommended surgical option for hip dip correction in suitable candidates. The procedure uses the patient’s own fat, harvested by liposuction from a donor area (typically the abdomen, flanks, or thighs), processed to remove impurities, and reinjected into the lateral hip region to fill the indentation and create a smoother, more continuous outer curve.

The harvesting technique matters more than patients expect, because the fat that goes in is only as good as the fat that came out. We use gentle, low-pressure technique for donor harvest specifically to protect the fat cells, since roughly half of any transferred volume is reabsorbed and damaged cells survive less well. This is one reason we would not routinely choose Vaser liposuction for the harvest itself — ultrasound energy is excellent for contouring dense or fibrous fat, but the evidence on graft survival after ultrasound-assisted harvest is mixed, and where the fat is destined for transfer we prioritise cell viability over ease of extraction.

Where Vaser does have a role in hip dip work is in the donor site. If your flanks or abdomen carry fibrous fat, or you want more definition there rather than simple volume reduction, Vaser can contour the donor area more precisely while a gentler technique is used for the fat actually being grafted. Our comparison of power-assisted liposuction versus VASER liposuction explains the difference, and the most effective type of liposuction covers why the right answer depends on the area and the goal.

The key advantages of fat transfer for hip dips are that it uses natural tissue rather than an implant, simultaneously improves a donor site through liposuction, and produces results that feel entirely natural. The main limitation is that it requires sufficient donor fat to harvest — patients who are very lean may not have adequate reserves for meaningful correction. As covered in our post on what happens if you don’t have enough fat for a BBL, this is assessed at consultation and determines whether fat transfer is a viable option for a given patient.

Fat survival after transfer is typically around 60–70%, which means some overcorrection is built into the procedure to account for the natural reabsorption of a proportion of the transferred fat cells over the first three months.

Hip Implants

Silicone hip implants can be placed surgically to augment the lateral hip region in patients for whom fat transfer is not suitable. They produce a permanent result and are not dependent on donor fat reserves, but carry a higher complication profile than fat transfer — including risks of implant migration, capsular contracture, and a longer, more demanding recovery. Hip implants are less commonly performed than fat transfer for hip dip correction and are generally considered a second-line option.

Hip Dip Filler (HYAcorp)

At Centre for Surgery we use HYAcorp — a hyaluronic acid body filler formulated for large-volume body contouring — injected into the hollow itself to add volume to the lateral hip without surgery. It is hyaluronic acid rather than a collagen stimulator, so the result is visible immediately rather than developing over months, and it can be dissolved if you are unhappy with it. Results are temporary, typically lasting around 12 to 18 months before a top-up is needed, and the degree of improvement is considerably more modest than surgical fat transfer. The injection is performed in a sterile theatre under ultrasound guidance, which is not the case everywhere this treatment is offered. Hip dip filler is best suited to patients who want a non-surgical option, are willing to accept temporary and limited correction, and do not wish to undergo a surgical procedure.

Using Liposuction 360 to Balance the Silhouette

Where hip dips are accompanied by fuller love handles or midsection fat, some patients find that 360 liposuction — treating the abdomen, flanks and back as a single circumferential area — indirectly improves the appearance of hip dips by drawing more attention to the natural waist-to-hip curve, even though it doesn’t fill the indentation directly. This is often combined with fat transfer harvested from the same 360 liposuction session, giving a proportionate, balanced result from one procedure.

What Does Hip Dip Surgery (Fat Transfer) Involve?

Hip dip surgery using fat transfer is performed as a day case at our CQC-regulated Baker Street facility under TIVA (Total Intravenous Anaesthesia), delivered entirely intravenously without inhaled anaesthetic gases for a smoother, faster recovery than a traditional general anaesthetic. The procedure typically takes two to three hours depending on the extent of liposuction required and the volume of correction planned, and follows four main steps.

Step 1 — Fat harvest: Liposuction is performed at the donor site or sites — most commonly the abdomen, flanks, lower back, or inner thighs — to harvest the fat needed for transfer. This simultaneously contours the donor area, which many patients consider an additional benefit of the procedure.

Step 2 — Processing: The harvested fat is processed by centrifugation to separate viable fat cells from blood, fluid, and other tissue, leaving a purified preparation of fat cells ready for reinjection.

Step 3 — Reinjection: The purified fat is injected in precise, layered passes into the lateral hip region using small cannulas, filling the trochanteric depression and creating a smoother, more continuous lateral hip contour.

Step 4 — Final result: As the transferred fat integrates and swelling resolves over three to six months, the final contour becomes visible. Results are permanent for the proportion of fat that successfully integrates — typically 60–70% of the volume transferred.

Who Is a Good Candidate for Hip Dip Surgery?

The ideal candidate for fat transfer hip dip surgery is someone who is bothered by visible hip dip indentations that have not responded to exercise, who has sufficient donor fat available for harvest, who is at or close to a stable weight, and who has realistic expectations about the degree of improvement achievable. The same fat transfer technique used for buttock augmentation can be directed specifically at the lateral hip region when hip dips rather than overall buttock volume are the primary concern, or combined to address both areas in the same session.

Patients who are very lean, who have active medical conditions affecting healing or fat metabolism, or who have unrealistic expectations about the result are generally not ideal candidates for surgical correction. A thorough consultation is the only reliable way to establish candidacy, and your surgeon will assess your anatomy, donor fat reserves, and goals before making any recommendation.

Recovery After Hip Dip Surgery

Recovery from fat transfer hip dip surgery follows a similar pattern to recovery from a standard Brazilian Butt Lift, with some specific considerations around the lateral hip positioning of the injected fat. Most patients take one to two weeks off work, with compression garments worn over both the donor and recipient areas for four to six weeks. Sitting directly on the hip region should be minimised during the initial healing period to avoid pressure on the transferred fat while it is establishing its blood supply.

Swelling in both the donor sites and the hip area typically takes three to six months to fully resolve, meaning the final result is not fully visible until around this point. As covered in our post on why some BBLs fail or lose volume, adherence to post-operative instructions during the healing period — particularly around pressure and compression — significantly affects the proportion of fat that successfully integrates.

How Much Does Hip Dip Surgery Cost in London?

The cost of hip dip surgery at Centre for Surgery depends on the extent of liposuction required at the donor site, the volume of correction planned, and anaesthetic and facility fees. Finance options are available through our partner Chrysalis Finance for procedures over £1,500 — visit our Finance Options page for details. Precise pricing is confirmed at consultation once your surgeon has assessed your anatomy and planned the procedure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I have hip dips?

Hip dips are caused by the relative position of your ilium (the top of the pelvis) and the greater trochanter of your femur — a skeletal relationship that’s largely determined by genetics. They’re not caused by weight, fitness level, or anything you’ve done or failed to do, which is why they appear on people across the full range of body types.

How to fix hip dips?

Hip dips are skeletal rather than purely soft tissue, so fixing them means adding volume to fill the indentation rather than trying to remove or reshape bone. Hip dip fat transfer is the most effective and commonly recommended route for a lasting result; hip dip filler (HYAcorp hyaluronic acid) offers a temporary, reversible non-surgical option; and hip implants are a second-line surgical alternative when fat transfer isn’t suitable. Hip dip exercises can build some surrounding muscle but won’t structurally fix the indentation itself.

Are hip dips normal?

Yes — hip dips are a normal anatomical feature present to varying degrees in a large proportion of the population. They are determined by skeletal structure, not by weight or fitness, and are not an indication of any health concern.

Can you fix hip dips without surgery?

Non-surgical options such as HYAcorp hyaluronic acid filler can produce modest, temporary improvement, with the advantage that it is reversible. Exercise can marginally reduce the visual prominence of hip dips in some patients by building surrounding muscle volume, but cannot structurally alter the underlying skeletal cause. For meaningful, lasting correction, fat transfer surgery is the most reliable option for suitable candidates.

How long do hip dip surgery results last?

Fat that successfully integrates after transfer — typically 60–70% of the volume transferred — produces a permanent result. The remaining proportion is naturally reabsorbed within the first three months. As covered in our post on how long BBL results last, maintaining a stable weight after surgery protects the longevity of the result.

Will losing weight make my hip dips worse?

Potentially, yes — weight loss reduces the soft tissue coverage around the hip region, which can make the underlying skeletal indentation more visible. This is one reason surgeons recommend achieving a stable, sustainable weight before undergoing hip dip correction.

Can hip dips come back after surgery?

The fat that successfully integrates after transfer is permanent. However, significant weight loss after surgery can reduce the volume of integrated fat in the hips as part of overall body fat reduction, potentially affecting the result. Maintaining a stable weight is the most effective way to protect long-term outcomes.

Is hip dip surgery the same as a BBL?

Hip dip surgery using fat transfer uses the same technique as a Brazilian Butt Lift but directs the transferred fat specifically into the lateral hip indentation rather than the buttock region — or a combination of both, depending on the patient’s goals.

Hip Dip Surgery at Centre for Surgery

Centre for Surgery performs fat transfer to the hips and body contouring procedures at our CQC-regulated Baker Street clinic in central London. All procedures are performed by GMC-registered plastic surgeons following a thorough consultation process to assess candidacy, plan the procedure, and set realistic expectations for the result.

Finance options are available through our partner Chrysalis Finance — visit our Finance Options page for details.

Phone: 020 7993 4849 | Email: contact@centreforsurgery.com | Address: 95-97 Baker Street, London W1U 6RN

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