Prognosis

How the Brazilian Butt Lift Became One of the Deadliest Cosmetic Surgeries

Inadequate regulations make it hard for patients to tell if they are getting a good doctor or a quack. 

Photographer: Steph Davidson, Getty (2)
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A few days after undergoing cosmetic surgery, Chelsea was in a Philadelphia emergency room with what looked like a third-degree burn. The skin around her thighs had turned black, hardened and blistered. The burning sensation was so intense she was struggling to breathe.

Chelsea, 29, had undergone an increasingly popular cosmetic procedure called a Brazilian butt lift, where fat is liposuctioned from one part of the body — usually the abdomen or thighs — and then injected into the buttocks in hopes of giving the patient an hourglass figure.