Plastic surgeons' group issues new warning over Brazilian butt lift procedure
The mortality rate from the surgery is estimated to be as high as one in 3000.
As celebrities like Kim Kardashian have made voluptuous backsides in high demand, a group of plastic surgeons have issued a new warning to fellow doctors performing a procedure known as the Brazilian butt lift.
The Brazilian butt lift, which has been increasingly in high demand, carries an "unusually high mortality rate," that is "greater than any other cosmetic surgery," according to a new warning to surgeons performing the procedure from a task force backed by international board-certified plastic surgeon societies, including the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
As many as one in 3,000 people who undergo the Brazilian butt lift die, according to the warning.
"With butt lifts becoming more popular ... you have more doctors attempting to perform them," Dr. Urmen Desai, a board-certified plastic surgeon based in Beverly Hills, California, told ABC News.
The butt lift is meant to make your rear more shapely, and essentially combines a liposuction procedure with fat grafting, meaning it sucks fat out of a place where you don't want it -- such as the thighs or stomach -- and injects it into the butt.
The new warning highlights the potential dangers of a fatal fat embolism. It also comes at a time when buttocks augmentation procedures with fat grafting have increased 10 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
"Some doctors are being too aggressive injecting too deep ... important veins lie there," Desai said, "Bringing fat to heart and lungs."
These mistakes "prove to be deadly," he added.
ABC News' chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said her advice to those considering the procedure is to make sure you do your research and find a board-certified plastic surgeon.
Ashton also recommends considering alternative options for improving the shape of your backside such as exercising.
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