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BBL, Liposuction pose health risks to Nigerian ladies, expert warns
By Tumininu Ojelabi Hassan
The current trend amongst Nigerian ladies today is the Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) and Liposuction. It has become the new societal standard for beauty, especially women in the entertainment industry.
In a bid to satisfy the unquenchable desire to look curvy, the Nigerian cosmetic Industry keeps thriving and quack cosmetic surgeons are beginning to take advantage of young ladies, who are desperate for body enhancement and a butt enlargement by offering them these services at cheaper rates while putting their lives at risk.
Due to the fact that the Nigerian cosmetic surgery Industry is still at infancy and unregulated, many young ladies have lost their lives as a result of health complications after undergoing the surgery in unregistered clinics operated by quacks while some have suffered from severe infections they contracted from the surgical procedure.
Several reports of BBL-related deaths and severe health conditions have made it to the public sphere. An instance is the case of Dr. Anu Adepoju of MedContour, a cosmetic surgeon, who has been called out on several occasions over the deaths of young ladies, who lost their lives after undergoing a botched BBL surgery. Also several cases of life-threatening health complications after a botched cosmetic surgery at her cosmetic surgery clinic in Lagos have been reported.
BBL is a cosmetic procedure, which augments the look of one’s butt, through the removal of fat from other parts of the body to increase the size of the butt, while a Liposuction is a cosmetic surgery carried out to remove excess fat that can help improve one’s body shape. However, it’s not a weight-loss procedure.
Based on findings and interactions with ladies, who had undergone BBL surgery and Liposuction, the top reasons for undergoing this surgery was body shaming and low self esteem.
One of the respondents, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said she did BBL due to body shaming and cruel comments she received from people. She revealed that BBL boosted her self confidence and saved her from body shaming and depression.
“I used to have low self esteem because of my flat butt and the fact that people insulted me because of it made me lose my self confidence. Those days, I hated my body when I checked the mirror. At a point, I started buying pills to enlarge my butt from instagram vendors, it was a waste of money because nothing changed in my body. It got to a point, I was depressed and I was ashamed of my body.
Although, my family members tried to get me out of it, they told me I was beautiful the way I was but trust me, it wasn’t enough for me. Since I did my BBL surgery, the story has changed. The number of compliments I get daily even from my fellow women is mind blowing and this has boosted my confidence. I’m absolutely in love with my body now. The total amount of money I spent is about three million naira but I’m happy I got value for my money,” she said.
Esther, a fashion designer in Lagos and a mother of three, opined that undergoing BBL surgery and Liposuction for valid reasons wasn’t a wrong decision, adding that she opted for Liposuction after she had her third child.
“After I had my third child, I added so much weight, my stomach was big and it made me feel insecure. I discussed this with my husband and he tried to talk me out of it. However, I was ashamed of my body and it was affecting my mental health.
“One day, I told him I wanted to go in for Liposuction. Initially, he was against it because of the risks associated with it. I convinced him and said I had done my research on the cosmetic surgeon and I was sure I was in safe hands. He consented to it and even paid for it. I did my surgery, I recovered within eight weeks and had no complications.
“Before you go for liposuction, make sure you are convinced you want to do it for valid reasons and not because of peer pressure. It is also advisable to conduct thorough research and investigation on the doctor you intend to use so you don’t fall into the wrong hands,” she shared.
In an interview with our correspondent, Dr. Jessica Idehai, discussed the risk factors of BBL and Liposuction, stating that embolism, especially fat embolism, is the major cause of complications after a BBL surgery and Liposuction.
“BBL is an artificial form of grafting, where the natural form of the human body is augmented to achieve a fuller butt. It is called fat grafting and it is done by a plastic surgeon, while Liposuction is the removal of excess fat from the abdomen, which can be diverted to other parts of the body to achieve a fuller look in those areas.
“There are risk factors for every surgery, just that the percentage of those, who come down with complications matter. There are surgeries with high chances of complications and there are surgeries with low chances of complications but this doesn’t negate the fact that every surgery has complications.
“One of the risk factors of BBL is a high chance of embolism, which can be in form of fat clot, blood clot that can block a blood vessel. Also, accumulation of air can block a blood vessel. Once the blood vessel is blocked, there is a problem and there are health complications, cardiovascular complications like heart related issues, which can eventually lead to death.
“An injury in the blood vessel can also lead to embolism. When the blood vessel is blocked, there is no free flow of blood. Embolism is a major risk factor and it is called embolism because the thing blocking the blood vessel is traveling from somewhere. It could be fat because that part of the body (abdomen, buttocks) contain lots of fat, which travel from one part of the body to another part to cause a blockage.
“It can travel to the lungs and pulmonary blood vessels. This is called pulmonary embolism, which can lead to impaired circulation of blood and impaired breathing. The clot or fat can travel to blood vessels around the brain, which stops the blood flow to the brain, this is called brain embolism and as a result of this, death can occur,” she explained.
Adverse reactions to anesthesia and infection are other risk factors that can lead to complications as stated by Dr. Idehai.
“Another risk factor is adverse reactions to anesthesia. Even though the percentage of people that react adversely to anesthesia are very few, it doesn’t negate the fact that people can react adversely to anesthesia. The major symptoms to reactions from anesthesia are nausea and vomiting. However, adverse reactions to anesthesia can lead to death.
“Anyone, who undergoes a surgery is at risk of an infection, this doesn’t mean they would have an infection but, at risk means every surgery has risk of infection, because a surgery is an invasive procedure. They are opening your body, the surgeon is touching you, if the tools are not sterilized you are at risk of getting an infection. If the surgery isn’t done in a standard sterile environment following the standard sterile precautions the person is definitely at risk of an infection.
“Any surgery already poses risk of an infection. Surgical wound/area of incision can be infected. That is why during and after a surgery, antibiotics are given just to prevent any symptoms of infection,” she added.
She shared more insights on other complications that may possibly arise from a BBL surgery and Liposuction. Based on her analysis, Kidney failure is a rare but possible health complication due to fat embolism.
“Seroma is the accumulation of fluid somewhere, particularly a part of the body, where the tissue was removed. It gets absorbed by the body. If it is big, it can be drained with a syringe. It is not a big deal except it is infected. Talking about fat necrosis and fat reabsorption, as stated earlier, BBL is fat grafting, that is, removing fat from a certain part of the body to the butt to give it a fuller look. That isn’t their usual site, therefore it takes a while to get integrated to the blood supply of the new part of the body they are currently occupying.
“However, if some fats aren’t reabsorbed properly, maybe due to an after care surgery, in a situation, whereby surgical procedures weren’t followed, fat reabsorption can go wrong. Fat necrosis is the death of a tissue due to lack of blood supply. The colour becomes pale, white and this part of the body becomes hardened such that it starts to lose its function. Fat necrosis is one of the lifelong complications and it doesn’t look aesthetically good.
Fat embolism is the major and most common complication in a procedure like this because it can lead to other complications. For instance, kidney failure. When fat travels to the renal and blocks the blood vessel in the kidney area, the blood supply to the kidney are compromised and there is injury in the kidney, thereby leading to kidney failure.
“Westernization is the leading factor contributing to this current wave of BBL and Liposuction among Nigerian ladies. However, there are more deep-seated issues, for example, when someone wakes up one day and decides that I’m no longer a male but a female, I’m no longer satisfied with how my buttocks look. Issues with self esteem, issues with self identity/loss of self identity, mental health issues can have impact on one’s wellbeing such that you draw your identity on things around you, which leads to seeking validation from people on social media.
People draw their identity from external factors where they believe they have to look a certain way to be noticed. This can also be as a result of abuse and childhood trauma. People with these issues need emotional healing. The standards of beauty being portrayed by the media and the society will keep changing.
Decades ago, the standard was for you to be very slim, later it became slim thick, the new trend is thick with big butt and bust. Imagine if someone hasn’t healed from those deep-seated issues, it means you will keep changing your body as the trend progresses or you will keep going through numerous surgeries based on what the society puts out there as the new standard for beauty. It is a rat chase that will never end. People need to fix their brokenness”, she advised.
