Prize asset: Kim Kardashian (left) and Jennifer Lopez are known for their shapely derrieres, now more and more women are having surgery on their buttocksCosmetic surgeons may be worrying about business dropping due to the recession, but one Miami-based surgeon is actually pinning his hopes on the market ‘bottoming’ out.
His name is Constantino Mendieta and he’s the inventor of the Miami Thong Lift, the latest way to a shapelier rear view, which was presented this week at the conference of British Aesthetic and Plastic surgeons (BAAPS) in London.
According to Mendieta, a Harvard-educated surgeon who learned his techniques in plastic surgery-obsessed Brazil, there’s been a steady rise in numbers of women seeking a curvier bottom, like that of Miami’s famous resident J-Lo.
He also says five per cent of his Thong Lift clients in Florida are from Britain, and he expects demand to grow.
‘Buttock enhancement is instinctively attractive to men,’ he says. ‘Women are wearing tighter clothes and, if you wear a thong bikini on the beach, nothing is left to the imagination.’
Previously, the standard way to create a rounder, higher bottom was with silicone implants, similar to those used for breast enlargement.
But as top plastic surgeon Rajiv Grover, president–elect of BAAPS, explains, these could be risky.
‘Implants have a tendency to move and, if they get infected, they have to be surgically removed.’
So instead, Mendieta uses grafts of fat liposuctioned from the thighs or stomach, purified and then painstakingly injected — using a large needle — into the layers of muscle of the buttocks, changing their shape from flat to super-curvy and high, like Beyonce’s behind.
The difference between this is and other sorts of fat augmentation is that the
surgeon injects fat between layers of muscle, so there is more blood supply to the fat and less of it dies.
The scars left by the incisions needed to inject the fat are hidden, says Mendieta, ‘in the grand canyon where the thong goes’, hence the name of the procedure.
If patients are very slim, he sends them away to gain enough fat for the procedure.
Because the fat belongs to the patient, there is no risk of rejection. The procedure will take several hours and can be done under a local anaesthetic.
Grover says there are advantages to fat transfer over other procedures, such as injections of a new thick hyaluronic filler called Macrolane, which has been promoted in the UK as the best way to create a rounder bottom. ‘Macrolane is temporary and, in some patients, may only last six months,’ he warns. By contrast — and this may or may not be an advantage — fat is permanent.
‘Fat also contains stem cells which can turn into new tissue, so fat transfer creates new collagen which improves the skin’s texture and thickness.’
But he warns the procedure is not risk-free. ‘It needs to be done by a very experienced surgeon, in a hospital, in sterile conditions with good aftercare — if you get an infection it could cause a very large abscess.’
Rear view: Women want perfectly pert curves and they're resorting to surgery to change the shape of their bottom from flat to super-curvy and highGrover also points out that fat transfer is never 100 per cent predictable and some transferred fat will die.
‘Fat transfer is most successful when used in small quantities, as it needs to be surrounded by healthy tissue so it develops its own blood supply. Without that it will die and be re-absorbed by the body.
‘If this happens unevenly, you could end up with one buttock larger than the other. There will also be bruising and swelling that can last for months.
‘You will have serious hips for some time after the procedure.’
But will British women really be flocking to have fatter bottoms? Dr Ayam Al Ayoubi, a Harley Street cosmetic doctor, says: ‘I have seen a 50 per cent increase in demand for Macrolane in the bottom, though it is normally South American or Afro-Caribbean women wanting it done, as the look is desirable in their cultures.
‘But Macrolane is a bit disappointing as it doesn’t last as long as we hoped and it is an expensive treatment. I have seen a greater demand for bottom lifting — as opposed to buttock enhancement — and I achieve that with a laser to tighten the skin, a little bit of Macrolane filler and some radio frequency to smooth the skin, which gives amazing results.’
Mendieta insists his Thong Lift is ‘about having a shapelier bottom, not a bigger
bottom’, but visitors to his website (buttsbymendieta.com) might disagree. Before-and-after pictures show a startling transformation from a Keira Knightley rear view, to something approximating a couple of beach balls in a thong.
Cosmetic surgeon Angelica Kavouni, who has performed buttock enhancements in the UK, says: ‘I have done fat transfers, but never on this scale — these bottoms are huge.’
To harvest enough fat to transfer on this scale, patients would have to be a size 14, she warns. ‘What I usually see are size six or eight girls who want big bottoms — this is unrealistic.’
Although the cost of surgery is not cheap — around £8,850 — maybe the Bridget Joneses among us may soon be asking: ‘Does my bum look big enough in this?’
source :dailymail
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