These Are The Procedures Plastic Surgeons Say They Would Never Get

Amanda Gardner, BuzzFeed

Unfortunately, it’s being done on young people who have a narrower face. The problem? “Fat decreases with age anyway,” said Dr. Kenneth O. Rothaus, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Manhattan. That means people who have had the procedure may look older earlier than they normally would. It’s also a difficult procedure to undo, Rothaus added. 

While people who’ve had buccal fat removed may regret it later in life, people who get so-called Brazilian butt lifts are undergoing a seriously risky procedure. The procedure, which involves taking fat from one part of the body, like the hips or thighs, and injecting it into the buttocks, has the highest death rate and greatest risk of any procedure done in cosmetic plastic surgery, said Rothaus, who does not perform the procedure. 

Liposuction — removing fat via suction — is a common procedure and one of the safest. Problems arise when you take out too much fat, said Rothaus, who won’t perform liposuction on people with a high body mass index, or BMI.

“You have potentially life-threatening complications and certainly they have to be limited,” he said. “[If you] remove six to seven liters of fat, people can get huge volume shifts in their body and huge shifts in electrolytes that have effects on every organ system. They can faint, have respiratory problems, cardiac problems.” Rothaus limits liposuction procedures to two liters, saying that the complication rate for those more modest interventions is almost zero.