We’ve all seen the questions online or on social media when it comes to who is or is not a BBL candidate. Do I have enough fat for a BBL (Brazilian Butt Lift)? Do I need to gain weight? We finally have the answer! As long as you’re healthy and your doctor agrees, even a thin patient can be a BBL candidate. Just check out our 5’4″, 105 pound patient!

Who’s a BBL candidate?

Aside from being healthy, patients considering a BBL should have reasonable expectations. If they are morbidly obese, a patient should consider medical or surgical weight loss first. At the other end of the spectrum, a very thin patient can still be a candidate.

The abdomen and flanks (love handles) are the typical go-to location for fat harvesting during liposuction. But this presents a unique challenge in a thin patient. And not because they don’t have enough fat. If a patient is thin, they’re at an increase risk of contour deformities from the liposuction cannula. That’s why it’s important to use a smaller liposuction cannula during fat harvest (3 or 4mm). But where else can fat be found?

Surprisingly, there is more fat that most realize in the inner thighs and back. The inner thighs offer up some of the best, most golden brown fat there is! Due to the large dimensions of the back, even a thin layer of fat can add up. Significant liposuction to the  back and waist is critical to achieving great results. While some fat will reabsorb over time, the buttocks can still appear larger because of aggressive liposuction around the waist.

To check pricing on a BBL from a doctor near you, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Even a 5’4″ woman that weighs 105 pounds is a BBL candidate! first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Cardi B and her liposuction

You would think that if she was planning surgery, she would have set aside some time to recover. Liposuction recovery requires one to two weeks tops. So why does she need more time to recover even after returning to work? She said her doctors told her she needed to, but really?

If you were tired and were feeling like you overextended yourself, you would choose to take time off and recover. So why did she need to ask the doctors about taking time off? The only reason to ask a doctor for more time off is so they can write you a note or excuse for your boss. Cardi B doesn’t have a supervisor! So why did she need the doctors to tell her to chill?

“Cardi B doesn’t have a supervisor!”

The most likely reason her doctors are telling her to take more time off is because she has a complication. Maybe she has an infection that needs IV antibiotics. Maybe she has a fluid collection under the skin that needs drainage. Regardless, she’ll ultimately be fine but it is awkward to have this happen when you’re a public figure.

Dr. Kaplan on 99.7 Now

If you’re interested in learning the cost of liposuction from Dr. Kaplan, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Dr. Kaplan talks Cardi B and her liposuction with 99.7 Now! (video) first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

As more consumers research cosmetic surgery online and watch surgery on social media, there’s one thing they keep hearing. That their plastic surgeon won’t operate on them if their BMI (body mass index) is greater than 30. BMI refers to the “magic number” that takes into account your weight in kilograms and your height in centimeters.

BMI has its advantages in the sense that it doesn’t rely solely on your weight to determine if you’re high-risk for surgery. For example, being 300 pounds may sound obese (and increase your risk of wound-healing issues after surgery), but if you’re Shaquille O’Neal, that number may be reasonable since you’re over 7 feet tall. That’s why doctors use BMI instead of just weight to assess your level of obesity and subsequent surgical risk.

Why BMI isn’t enough

But at the end of the day, BMI is still just a number. What about the patient’s overall health? If a patient has a low BMI (good) but also has high blood pressure and diabetes (bad), they’re still high risk for an elective, cosmetic procedure. They could still have problems during surgery or problems with wound healing after surgery.

That’s why we take the whole patient into account when deciding whether they’re a candidate for surgery. Specifically, when it comes to patients that have had a lot of weight loss, they may still have a high BMI. But what are they supposed to do with all of the extra skin that’s left behind? If every doctor turns them down to have their excess skin removed, then it’s sort of bittersweet to lose all of that weight but still not be able to fit into smaller clothes because of the extra skin. And since they lost that extra weight, they probably also cured their high blood pressure and diabetes.

But we do have a limit

So while we may remove the extra skin and fat on someone with a high BMI, we still have to put safety first. That means we limit the amount of fat we remove during each surgical stage. We try to keep the liposuction and fat removal to a 5-liter limit.

The risk of removing too much fat during liposuction is a severe form of dehydration called hypovolemic shock. So the high-BMI patient must understand that while we’ll get them started on their journey (when other doctors may not), it may take several stages of surgery to reach their goal because of the 5-liter limit during each stage.

Take the patient above (and below) as an example. Her BMI is above 30 but there’s no question she benefitted from having her excess skin and fat removed during her tummy tuck procedure. Due to our fat removal limit, she will come back for a second stage to address her thighs.

Check out this video to hear my BMI soapbox!

Just to be clear, a patient with a lower BMI and no medical problems is definitely at a lower surgical risk that one with a high BMI. But if the high-BMI patient is healthy and without those other medical conditions (diabetes, high blood pressure), they can still go through surgery safely. It just may take more than one procedure.

If you want to check your BMI, click here. And if you want to check pricing on various body contouring (skin/fat removal) procedures from Dr. Kaplan, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Why we look at more than just BMI [video] first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

What is lipoetching?

Believe it or not, lipoetching is using what is normally a bad technique, in the right context. When performing liposuction, the surgeon sucks out as much fat as possible. At the same time, you don’t want to remove too much fat in one area and leave too much behind in another. The goal is to remove fat but keep the skin and contours of the body even and symmetrical.

But if too much fat is removed in any area, this results in contour deformities. If the surgeon didn’t mean to do that, it looks terrible and is hard to fix. And that’s essentially what lipoetching is: a purposeful contour deformity! By performing liposuction very superficially, just below the skin, a contour deformity or divot is created. This technique can be successful in the context of abdominal liposuction.

Someone with a toned abdomen typically has natural divots in the midline of their abdomen and along the sides of the six-pack muscles. These are the linea alba and linea semilunaris respectively. In the video below, you’ll see lipoetching in the midline of the abdomen. Notice how superficial the cannula is under the skin. You can see how subtle but effective lipoetching of the midline can be in the patient’s photo above.

Video on lipoetching

To check pricing on liposuction or lipoetching from Dr. Kaplan, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Why work out if you can get lipoetching?! first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Popular procedures for men

Eyelid lift

The eyelids may be the first thing to go on a man. Whether it’s heavy upper eyelids or fat bags under the eyes, eyelid surgery is very popular. One reason contributing to its popularity, aside from the surgery being very effective, is that it can be done with minimal downtime.

For the upper eyelid, the incision is hidden in the natural crease of the upper eyelid. The incision to remove fat and eliminate fat bags from the lower eyelids can be done without an obvious incision. In fact, the incision is made on the inside of the lower eyelid. Fat is removed and no stitches are necessary to close the incision. Also, this procedure doesn’t typically hurt. Lack of pain and a man’s tendency to not tolerate pain as well as women contributes to the popularity of this procedure! Check pricing on an eyelid lift here.

Neck lift

Deep lines on a sagging face can be distinguished on a man, but a sagging neck can show age and make someone look heavier than they really are. Men are very self conscious of their necks and this may be more common with the advent of selfies.

The problem for many men is that the incisions for a neck lift can be very visible behind the ear due to short hair. Luckily, many men are a candidate for a mini neck lift. This means they only receive an incision behind the chin. The incision is actually well hidden and allows the surgeon to redrape the skin, tighten the neck muscles and perform liposuction all at the same time. Check pricing on a neck lift here.

CoolSculpting

CoolSculpting doesn’t replace liposuction. But if you want no downtime and a reduction in your love handles, this is a go to for men. Neither men nor women are itching to go to surgery but again, men are particularly “allergic” to pain. For those of you not familiar, CoolSculpting is a non-surgical treatment for stubborn pockets of fat not amenable to exercise. In a morning or afternoon session, fat can be frozen with the ability to partake in a conference call during treatment.

Botox and Fillers

As men try to keep looking young, or at least as young as their CEO, non surgical injectables are just what the doctor ordered. BOTOX® Cosmetic or XEOMIN® can relax the lines due to overactive muscles in the face (forehead, 11’s between the eyebrows or crow’s feet). It lasts for up to 6 months and is one of the most popular, most successful aesthetic treatments ever.

Fillers on the other hand are used to fill in wrinkles due to loss of collagen, not overactive muscles. These include the parentheses lines extending from the nose to the corners of the mouth. Men also get fillers to streamline their jawline and hide jowls. All of these injectables can be done on your break. However, women have the benefit of covering up any potential bruises with makeup!

If you’re interested in any of the treatments above, you can check pricing from Dr. Kaplapn by clicking here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Popular procedures for men first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Gain weight before my BBL? Good idea or bad?

Unless you’re underweight, there’s probably never a good time for a doctor to recommend that you gain weight. Obviously if the patient is malnourished or recovering from an illness, eating more for sustenance to fight infection and improve wound healing, is a good idea.

But eating more typically means you’re eating foods high in cholesterol and fat. That alone, for someone who is at their ideal body weight or exceeding it, is not very responsible. To do so simply to increase your fat stores for an impending Brazilian Butt Lift is questionable to say the least. I’m not saying you can’t do it but how much fat are you really going to generate?

First, gaining weight might work against you. Many doctors who perform surgery won’t electively operate on someone with a body mass index (BMI) above 30kg/m2 since that’s considered moderately obese. So you may be under their “cutoff” but then go over the line by gaining weight to get a bigger booty…which you’re not a candidate for now!

Secondly, you would have to gain a lot of weight for it to translate into another 200-300cc of fat to improve your BBL results. And of course, third, it’s just not a healthy thing to do.

Don’t fret. If you’re really determined to have a BBL, you probably have enough fat to begin with. Keep in mind that your doctor can take fat from the arms, upper back, bra chub, lower back, abdomen, flanks, inner and outer thighs. Among all of those areas, chances are even a thin person has enough fat.

The moral of the story: don’t gain weight for the express purpose of having more fat for your BBL. To check pricing on a BBL from Dr. Kaplan, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Should I gain weight before my BBL? first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Helpful hints after a Brazilian Butt Lift or any surgery

After your surgery, the last thing you want to do is go to the pharmacy. So ask your doctor to give you a prescription to fill before your surgery date. The other option is to find a surgeon that provides the pain meds and anti-nausea meds to take home with you. This level of service is a huge patient satisfier!

Go grocery shopping before your procedure. After surgery, you won’t want to go to the grocery store to buy supplies, just like you don’t want to deal with the pharmacy. So go get necessary supplies ahead of time. Items like ready-made meals, gauze, tape and antibacterial soap. This will come in handy and reduce anxiety postoperatively.

If in fact you do get a Brazilian Butt Lift, you probably don’t want to sit on your butt. While there are no scientific studies to show that sitting on your butt negatively affects your results, it’s a reasonable assumption. For this reason, find one of those decorative pillows that looks like a log or buy a “booty pillow.” The idea is to sit on your thighs, not your butt. Just place the pillow under your thighs rather than your buttocks.

Brazilian Butt Lift with preop evaluation and surgery video

To check pricing on a Brazilian Butt Lift from Dr. Kaplan, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Things to know after your Brazilian Butt Lift [video] first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Getting surgery and want to hide your scars? Whether you’re getting surgery for medically necessary or cosmetic reasons, here are a few ways you can better hide your scar. Keep in mind that it’s ok to ask your surgeon about hiding scars but  don’t demand it. While you may be most worried about scars, they’re worried about ensuring the best access to perform your surgery in the safest manner possible.

Hiding your surgical scars

Are you scheduling thyroid surgery? It may be the time to also get a neck lift. The horizontal incision your surgeon uses to remove the thyroid is a little lower than the typical incision your plastic surgeon uses for a neck lift but it’s close enough! This way, when you return to work, you can tell everyone you had thyroid surgery, but you don’t have to tell them about the neck lift. They’ll just think you lost weight and look more refreshed!

For an arm lift (like the patient above), ensure your surgeon places the scar on the inside of the arm. This is certainly more common but it wasn’t long ago that the incision was placed on the back of the arm. The biggest issue with the back of the arm is that anyone walking behind you can see the scar. Whereas with a scar on the inside of the arm, people walking towards you or behind you can’t see a thing.

No matter what type of breast augmentation you receive, your surgeon can hide the scar in 1) the armpit, 2) the fold under the breast or 3) along the edge of the areola. All of these are great options. Which you choose depends on these variables here.

And finally, if you’re getting liposuction, these very small incisions are very easy to hide. Your surgeon can hide the incisions within a C-section scar and or scar resulting from a cyst or mole removal. If the surgeon still has access to the areas that are necessary to do a great job, moving the incision over by a few inches can better hide your scar and provide a great result. That’s a win-win!

To check pricing on medically necessary or cosmetic procedures from Dr. Kaplan, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Clever ways to hide your surgical scars first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Your typical tummy tuck includes liposuction to the abdomen, removal of excess skin and often-times, abdominal wall tightening. It’s not always necessary but it’s important for the patient to be aware of this aspect of the procedure. The tummy tuck tightens the abdominal skin but the abdominal wall is a whole different animal.

When is abdominal wall tightening necessary

Here are some new words to learn! The abdominal wall is beneath the skin and is made up of fascia. The fascia is the abdominal wall covering that contains all of your organs. Sometimes after having kids, the abdominal wall fascia in the front stretches out around the six-pack muscles. These are the rectus abdominus muscles. When this area stretches during pregnancy and stays stretched, it’s called a rectus diastasis.

While the area contains muscles, the rectus muscles themselves don’t stretch or become weak. However, the left rectus muscle is moves further towards the left and the right rectus muscle is pushed more towards the right. The area in between the muscles is the rectus diastasis. Since the fascia stretches and not the muscles, doing crunches won’t “un-stretch” the fascia. Only a tummy tuck will fix this.

During the tummy tuck procedure, stitches tighten up the fascia to help flatten the tummy. So if you haven’t had kids or your abdominal wall recovered and you don’t have a rectus diastasis after pregnancy, you won’t need the abdominal wall tightening. It’s great if you don’t need it since this can be the most painful portion of the operation. Unfortunately, there’s no way to make your abdominal wall tighten after pregnancy with specific exercises. It either happens or it doesn’t. Cross your fingers you don’t need it!

To check pricing on a tummy tuck from Dr. Kaplan, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Tummy Tuck with Abdominal Wall Tightening first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

What’s the purpose of postop garments

It’s not clear why postop garments became such an integral part of cosmetic procedures. There’s not a peer-reviewed, multi-center, high quality study showing the effectiveness of using postop garments. Nothing similar to a drug trial with and without postop garments.

However, many surgeons use them. Here are some possible reasons.

After a breast augmentation, with fresh incisions under the breast, your surgeon may worry you’ll wear a bra with underwire. This could cause irritation to the incision, possibly risking it to open. To avoid this problem, your surgeon may recommend a special postop bra because they are usually soft, without much structure. And certainly don’t have underwire. Therefore, your surgeon knows exactly what you’re wearing after surgery and can rest easy it’s not a bra that will place undue stress on “their work.”

In the case of a tummy tuck or liposuction, the patient is often sore and the potential for fluid to collect under the skin is high. With swelling, the skin stretches, causing pain fibers to fire, putting the patient in more pain. To alleviate some of this pain, the garment can reduce the amount of swelling, theoretically reducing skin stretch and therefore pain.

While there’s no proof of these benefits in a large study, many patients like the garment and the “sense of security” it provides after surgery. It’s also interesting to see how many patients are reluctant to embrace the idea of a postop garment before the operation but come to appreciate its benefits after surgery.

Click on the links to check pricing on the procedures that often require a postop garment. Breast augmentation, tummy tuck, liposuction.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Jonathan Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Postop garments first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.