Why Is the Brazilian Butt Lift So Popular?

The BBL is so popular because it reshapes two areas in one operation, using liposuction to slim the waist and back and then using that same fat to give the buttocks a fuller, rounder shape that looks and feels natural. Social media and celebrity culture made that curvier figure highly visible, more surgeons learned the technique, and the BBL became one of the most requested body operations in the world. Its popularity has also been shaped by a serious safety story, and today the trend is moving towards smaller, more natural results.

This guide explains why people get BBLs, what BBL stands for and where it came from, when BBLs got popular, how popular the BBL is in numbers, why fat replaced implants, how safety changed the procedure, and what the BBL trend means if you are thinking about one now. If you want the procedure itself in detail, our Brazilian butt lift page covers how we perform it, and our guide to BBL death rate and safety statistics covers the risk figures in depth.

Why Do People Get BBLs?

The reasons people give for wanting a BBL tend to fall into a handful of themes:

• Two results in one. A BBL is really two procedures. Liposuction removes fat from areas such as the abdomen, flanks, lower back and thighs, which narrows the waist, and the purified fat is injected into the buttocks to add volume and projection. The contrast between a slimmer waist and a fuller bum is what creates the curved, hourglass shape so many people ask for.
• Your own tissue. There is no implant to feel, move or replace. Once the transferred fat has settled, it behaves like the rest of your body fat, so the buttocks feel soft and move naturally.
• Shape, not just size. Fat can be placed exactly where it is needed: the upper buttock for lift, the sides to soften hip dips, or the centre for projection. Implants come in fixed shapes and sizes.
• A shape exercise cannot always create. Training builds the gluteal muscles, but it cannot move fat from the waist to the buttocks.
• Visibility. The curvy figure has been everywhere on social media and in celebrity culture for more than a decade, making the procedure feel familiar.
• Confidence and clothes. Many want jeans and swimwear to fit better, or to restore volume lost after pregnancy or weight loss.

Researchers who reviewed 25 studies including 13,731 people found that image-led platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat increase body dissatisfaction and social appearance anxiety, and that celebrity influence and cultural norms shape what people see as beautiful^[1]. The same review found that social media increases acceptance of cosmetic surgery. That helps explain why demand rose so quickly, and also why it is worth separating what you want from what you are being shown.

The appeal of using your own fat is backed by evidence too. A 2016 systematic review of gluteal augmentation in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery ↗, covering 3,567 patients who had fat grafting and 2,375 who had silicone implants, found an overall complication rate of 9.9% with fat compared with 21.6% with implants^[2]. Combined with the waist-slimming effect of the liposuction, that is a large part of why the fat-transfer BBL overtook implants as the most common way to enhance the buttocks. Many people pair the BBL with 360 liposuction to sculpt the whole midsection at the same time.

What Does BBL Stand For, and Why Is It Called a Brazilian Butt Lift?

BBL stands for Brazilian butt lift, also written as Brazilian bum lift or Brazilian buttock lift in the UK. Surgeons often use more technical names, such as gluteal fat grafting, gluteal fat transfer or superficial gluteal lipofilling, which describe what actually happens: fat is moved from one part of the body to the buttocks.

It is called Brazilian because Brazil is where much of the early work on buttock contouring was done and where the curvy, well-defined buttock has long been part of the culture of beauty. Brazilian plastic surgeons have been performing gluteal fat augmentation for more than 30 years, and the procedure remains very common there^[3].

The word lift is a little misleading. A BBL does not remove loose skin or surgically lift tissue. It adds volume, mostly to the upper and central buttock, which creates the appearance of a lifted, perkier bum. If the main problem is loose or sagging skin, a buttock lift, which removes excess skin, may be more suitable, sometimes combined with fat transfer.

When Were BBLs Invented? A Short History of the BBL

There is no single date when the BBL was invented. It developed over several decades, and different stages are often credited to different surgeons:

• 1964: Brazilian plastic surgeon Ivo Pitanguy published a paper in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery on the surgical treatment of excess fat over the outer hips and thighs, known as trochanteric lipodystrophy^[4]. His work in Rio de Janeiro is a big part of why buttock and body contouring became linked with Brazil.
• 1969: the first reported use of an implant to augment the buttock, using a breast prosthesis, was described in the same journal^[5]. Purpose-designed buttock implants followed in later decades.
• 1980s to 1990s: as liposuction spread around the world, surgeons began re-using the fat they removed. Gluteal fat transfer developed in Brazil and Latin America during this period, and the name Brazilian butt lift caught on in the United States from the late 1990s and 2000s.
• 2010s: demand rose sharply alongside social media. The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) added gluteal fat injection to its global statistics in 2015^[6].
• 2017 onwards: deaths from fat embolism led to a worldwide change in technique, with fat placed only in the layer under the skin and, increasingly, real-time ultrasound guidance.

So, in answer to how long BBLs have been around: the idea of reshaping the buttocks dates back to the 1960s, the modern fat-transfer BBL to the 1980s and 1990s, and its peak in popularity to the last ten to fifteen years.

When Did BBLs Get Popular? Social Media and Celebrity Culture

BBLs became a mainstream trend in the mid-2010s. Several forces arrived at once:

• A shift in beauty ideals. The very slim figure that dominated the 1990s and early 2000s gave way to a curvier ideal, with a small waist, wider hips and a rounded, projecting bum. Hip-hop culture, fitness culture and the rise of glute training all played a part.
• Celebrity culture. High-profile celebrities and reality TV stars with very pronounced curves became some of the most followed people on social media. Few have spoken openly about surgery, but speculation about BBLs was constant, and the look was widely copied.
• Instagram, then TikTok. Image-led platforms made the shape visible every day, rewarded body-focused content and allowed filters and editing that set unrealistic standards. Surgeons and clinics also began marketing directly to patients online, often with before-and-after photos.
• Influencer surgery tourism. Influencers documenting surgery abroad helped normalise the BBL as a quick, affordable trip, often without explaining the risks.

In 2018 the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) warned that the BBL’s popularity was often promoted by celebrities via unmonitored social media marketing, targeting young and vulnerable people^[7]. Reputable surgeons now spend time in consultation discussing whether the result you want is realistic and proportionate for your frame.

How Popular Is the BBL? Global BBL Statistics

The most complete picture comes from the ISAPS Global Survey, which collects figures from plastic surgeons around the world. The latest edition, covering procedures performed in 2025 and published in September 2026, reports^[8]:

• 645,380 buttock augmentation procedures worldwide in 2025, the category that includes the BBL. This made it the 11th most common cosmetic operation, accounting for 3.6% of almost 17.9 million surgical procedures.
• Demand has levelled off at a high plateau. The figure was almost identical to 2024 (644,770, up 0.1%), but 23.3% higher than in 2021 (523,331).
• Buttock lifts are rising faster. 112,004 buttock lift procedures were reported in 2025, up 38.9% in one year and 77.2% since 2021.
• The United States and Brazil lead. Surgeons in the US reported 134,404 buttock augmentations and those in Brazil 120,195, followed by Mexico, China and Colombia. Türkiye, a common destination for UK patients travelling abroad, reported 18,430.

These are estimates based on submissions from around 2,900 plastic surgeons, so they show trends rather than exact counts, and they exclude procedures done by non-plastic surgeons. Over a longer period, ISAPS data shows body and extremity procedures, including buttock augmentation, almost doubling from 2.6 million in 2009 to more than 5.1 million in 2023^[6].

UK figures are harder to pin down. The BAAPS annual audit only records procedures performed by its own members, and in 2025, 237 members reported 55 superficial gluteal lipofilling procedures, the technical name for a BBL, down 38% from 88 the year before^[9]. That number captures only a small fraction of BBLs done in the UK, and many British patients still travel abroad. For a breakdown of BBL death rates and safety data, see our BBL statistics guide.

BBL vs Implants: Why Fat Became the Preferred Option

For decades, buttock implants were the main way to enhance the buttocks surgically. Fat transfer overtook them for several reasons:

• Fewer complications overall. In the 2016 systematic review, the most common problems with implants were wound breakdown (9.6%), seroma (4.6%) and infection (1.9%), with an overall complication rate of 21.6%. With fat grafting, seroma (3.5%) and under-correction (2.2%) were the most common, and the overall rate was 9.9%^[2].
• Contouring as well as volume. Implants add volume but cannot slim the waist. A BBL improves the waist-to-hip ratio from both directions.
• Feel and movement. Settled fat is soft and moves like natural tissue, whereas an implant can sometimes be felt, particularly in slim patients.

Implants still have a place. They can suit people who are too slim to provide enough donor fat, or men who want a firmer, more muscular shape, and the two can be combined. Our comparison of BBL vs butt implants explains which option suits which body type.

Is the BBL Safe Now? How the Safety Story Changed

The BBL’s popularity grew faster than the evidence about how to do it safely, and for several years it had the highest reported death rate of any cosmetic operation. In a 2017 task force report in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal ↗, 692 surgeons who had performed 198,857 gluteal fat grafting procedures reported 32 deaths from pulmonary fat embolism over their careers. The risk was linked to injecting fat into or beneath the gluteal muscle, where large veins can draw fat into the bloodstream and carry it to the lungs^[10]. The death rate at the time was later estimated at about 1 in 3,448.

What followed was a rapid change in technique:

• Fat placed only above the muscle. Surgeons stopped injecting into or under the gluteal muscle. Two years after the 2017 recommendations, the share of surgeons injecting into deep muscle had fallen from 13.1% to 0.8%, and the estimated death rate had fallen to around 1 in 14,952^[11].
• Clear evidence on the danger zone. A survey of 853 Brazilian plastic surgeons found the risk of death was 16 times greater when fat was injected into the muscle^[3].
• UK guidance. In 2018 BAAPS advised its members not to perform BBLs until more safety data was available. Its later guidance supports injecting fat only into the layer under the skin, confirmed with ultrasound.
• Ultrasound guidance. Real-time ultrasound lets the surgeon see the cannula tip and confirm the fat stays above the muscle. Our article on ultrasound-guided BBL explains how it works.
• Tighter rules on non-surgical BBLs. In August 2025 the government announced that only qualified healthcare professionals, at providers registered with the Care Quality Commission, will be able to perform the highest-risk non-surgical procedures, such as non-surgical BBLs^[12].

No operation is risk-free, and the real-world risk still depends heavily on who operates and where.

Is the BBL Trend Over? The Shift to Smaller, Natural BBLs

The BBL is not going away, but the look people ask for has changed. The very large, exaggerated result associated with the late 2010s is giving way to smaller, more proportionate shapes. Several trends sit behind this:

• Natural and athletic shapes. More patients ask for a result that looks like they train, with a rounder, lifted bum and a softer hip line, rather than maximum size.
• Skinny and mini BBLs. A skinny BBL is designed for people with a BMI below about 23, taking smaller amounts of fat from four or five donor areas. A mini BBL transfers around 800 to 1,000 ml of fat, compared with 1,600 to 2,000 ml in a full BBL, with a shorter recovery.
• Weight-loss medicines. GLP-1 weight-loss medicines have led some people to lose volume from the buttocks and seek to restore it, a shift the American Society of Plastic Surgeons has linked to the emergence of the skinny BBL ↗.
• BBL reductions and revisions. Some people who had large BBLs now want less. In a 2025 retrospective study in Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum ↗, 123 patients had BBL revision or buttock reduction between 2018 and 2023, with a complication rate of 1%, and the authors predicted a significant rise in these procedures^[13].

A BBL cannot be fully reversed, as transferred fat develops its own blood supply, but it can be revised: liposuction can reduce volume, and further grafting can correct dents or asymmetry. Our guide to revision BBL explains the options.

Tap to reveal

Real Centre for Surgery patient, photographed at least six months after BBL surgery.

A proportionate result like this one, with a narrower waist and a rounder buttock that suits the frame, is closer to what most patients ask for now. You can see more examples in our BBL before and after photos.

Are BBLs Popular With Men?

Yes, and interest is growing. Men accounted for 14.5% of aesthetic procedures worldwide in 2023, according to ISAPS data^[6], and in the UK they made up 6.1% of cosmetic surgery in the 2025 BAAPS audit, including 4 of the 55 BBLs recorded^[9].

Men usually want something different from a BBL. A male BBL aims for a squarer, more projected, athletic shape, with fat placed mainly in the upper and central buttock and the hips left untouched to avoid a feminine curve. Donor fat usually comes from the abdomen, flanks and back, so the operation also sharpens the waist and torso. Common reasons include a naturally flat buttock that does not respond to training, wanting trousers to fit better, and balancing a muscular upper body.

Thinking About a BBL? What the Trend Means for You Now

The best reason to have a BBL is that you have wanted a change to your shape for some time and it would make a real difference to how you feel, not that it is popular. Trends in body shape come and go, and a BBL is long-lasting: surviving fat is permanent from around six months and changes with your weight. A few practical points are worth thinking through:

• Are you a good candidate? A BMI of about 23 to 28 usually gives enough donor fat, your weight should have been stable for at least three months, and you need to be 18 or over and not pregnant or breastfeeding.
• Ask how the fat will be placed. The answer should be into the layer under the skin, above the muscle, ideally under ultrasound guidance. Our guide to choosing your BBL surgeon lists the questions to ask, and you can check any surgeon on the GMC register.
• Be cautious about going abroad. It is harder to check the technique and the setting, flying soon after surgery raises the risk of blood clots and clashes with the advice not to sit on the buttocks, and complications may need treating by doctors who did not operate. Our guide to BBL in Turkey covers this in detail.
• Understand the recovery. A BBL at Centre for Surgery is a day case under TIVA (total intravenous anaesthesia), taking 3 to 4 hours. You avoid sitting directly on your buttocks and sleep on your front or side for two weeks, wear a compression garment for six weeks, take one to two weeks off work and avoid driving for four weeks.
• Expect some fat loss. Around 50 to 70% of transferred fat survives, which surgeons plan for, and the final shape is seen at three to six months.
• Know the difference with injectables. A non-surgical or liquid BBL uses filler rather than your own fat, gives a more modest change and does not slim the waist.

Finance isn’t available for BBL at Centre for Surgery, so the procedure is self-funded. We recommend a cooling-off period of at least two weeks between consultation and surgery, and further consultations before surgery are free.

Frequently Asked Questions

Brazilian Butt Lift in London

A Brazilian butt lift at Centre for Surgery is performed by GMC-registered surgeons at our CQC-regulated Baker Street hospital, rated Good overall by the CQC. Fat is harvested by power-assisted liposuction or VASER and injected only into the layer under the skin, above the gluteal muscle, under real-time ultrasound guidance on every BBL. Surgery is a day case under TIVA, and the consultant who assesses you is the consultant who performs your surgery. Follow-up appointments are included, and our nursing team stays in contact with you over the first two weeks. We recommend a two-week cooling-off period before you go ahead. Your initial consultation is £100, redeemable against the cost of surgery if you go ahead. For prices, see our guide to BBL cost in London.

Phone: 020 7993 4849 | Address: 95–97 Baker Street, Marylebone, London W1U 6RN
Contact us to schedule a consultation

References

1. Mironica A, Popescu CA, George D, Tegzeșiu AM, Gherman CD. Social media influence on body image and cosmetic surgery considerations: a systematic review. Cureus 2024;16(7):e65626. doi:10.7759/cureus.65626 ↗
2. Sinno S, Chang JB, Brownstone ND, Saadeh PB, Wall S. Determining the safety and efficacy of gluteal augmentation: a systematic review of outcomes and complications. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2016;137(4):1151–1156. doi:10.1097/PRS.0000000000002005 ↗
3. Cansancao AL, Condé-Green A, Gouvea Rosique R, Junqueira Rosique M, Cervantes A. “Brazilian butt lift” performed by board-certified Brazilian plastic surgeons: reports of an expert opinion survey. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2019;144(3):601–609. doi:10.1097/PRS.0000000000006020 ↗
4. Pitanguy I. Trochanteric lipodystrophy. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 1964;34:280–286. doi:10.1097/00006534-196409000-00010 ↗
5. Bartels RJ, O’Malley JE, Douglas WM, Wilson RG. An unusual use of the Cronin breast prosthesis: case report. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 1969;44(5):500. PubMed ↗
6. Triana L, Palacios Huatuco RM, Campilgio G, Liscano E. Trends in surgical and nonsurgical aesthetic procedures: a 14-year analysis of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery–ISAPS. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2024;48(20):4217–4227. doi:10.1007/s00266-024-04260-2 ↗
7. British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. BAAPS statement on Brazilian buttock lifts. August 2018. baaps.org.uk ↗
8. International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. ISAPS International Survey on Aesthetic/Cosmetic Procedures Performed in 2025. Published September 2026. isaps.org ↗
9. British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. Analysis of BAAPS Audit 2024–2025. Published 2026. baaps.org.uk ↗
10. Mofid MM, Teitelbaum S, Suissa D, et al. Report on mortality from gluteal fat grafting: recommendations from the ASERF Task Force. Aesthetic Surgery Journal 2017;37(7):796–806. doi:10.1093/asj/sjx004 ↗
11. Rios L, Gupta V. Improvement in Brazilian butt lift (BBL) safety with the current recommendations from ASERF, ASAPS, and ISAPS. Aesthetic Surgery Journal 2020;40(8):864–870. doi:10.1093/asj/sjaa098 ↗
12. GOV.UK. Crackdown on unsafe cosmetic procedures to protect the public. Department of Health and Social Care, 6 August 2025. gov.uk ↗
13. Okoro SA, Lamb S. The latest trend in buttock aesthetics: Brazilian buttock lift reversal and buttock reduction. Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum 2025;7:ojaf014. doi:10.1093/asjof/ojaf014 ↗

Related Articles

• BBL vs Butt Implants: Which Option Is Right for You?
• Skinny BBL vs BBL: What’s the Difference, and Which Is Right for You?
• Revision BBL
• BBL Death Rate and Safety Statistics 2026