How to prepare for a BBL: What to do & what to avoid!

How to prepare for a BBL surgery? It is a long process, but not that hard. Keep in mind the things you should avoid, take care of your health, get the essentials you need, and you are ready for the BBL procedure. These will help you to get the best result from the BBL surgery and reduce the complication risks.

Getting ready for the BBL operation is a very important process because it plays a big role both in the surgery, and recovery period. Making wrong choices during this process can make the operation riskier for you, and it can make the surgery postponed or even canceled. Similarly, making the right choices can help you in the healing process and get the best result from the BBL surgery.

In this article, we are going to explain how to prepare for a BBL in detail, explain what can be good to do while preparing for the operation, and what you should avoid in order to have successful outcomes.

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Things you should do before BBL

There are some things that can help you to be ready for a BBL. While doing these things, you won’t only be ready for the procedure, but also for recovery time. Having a safe surgery without any complications together with a successful recovery time can guarantee to get the best result from the surgery. That’s why you should do all the things you can to get yourself ready for the BBL treatment.

Prepare your schedule

Start by making your plan for the whole process. In general, you can be back to work 2 weeks after the surgery depending on the job you have. Talk to your surgeon about this, and ask how many days you need to take off from work to make sure you have enough time to recover from BBL. The recovery period is really important, the healing process matters. A good recovery time ensures you to get the best result from Brazilian Butt Lift surgery.

Also, you will need to take some tests about a month before the surgery to make sure there won’t be any possible complications during surgery because of the patient’s pre-existing conditions. These tests will include some blood tests, urine tests, and maybe an EKG. After the labs, if you have a minor problem it can be treated until the surgery. If you have a medical history, your surgeon may ask you to get a medical clearance. Thanks to these tests, the plastic surgeon will be sure that you are qualified for a BBL.

Maintain your weight & stay healthy

If your surgeon decided that you can get BBL, this means you are already at a healthy and ideal weight for the butt lift operation, even if you are getting plus size BBL. As long as your surgeon decides that you can get BBL at that weight, you shouldn’t lose weight. If you maintain your weight and go on a healthy diet, you can get your body ready for the BBL procedure. The diet we are talking about is not something harsh it mostly includes eating veggies, fruits, and healthy foods and staying away from the ones that can affect your surgery in a bad way.

If you are a person who exercises daily, you can continue to do that. If you are not a person who exercises, you can start taking walks and gradually increase the time you spent walking each day. This kind of physical activity will help to improve lung and heart function, which can help to perform the surgery in safer conditions.

Eat healthy foods

“What to eat before BBL surgery” is an important question to consider. Making your choices on healthy foods will help you in the recovery process by making your healing process faster. Nutrient-rich foods will make your immune system stronger. A strong immune system can fight infections and help your incisions heal more quickly.

Eating healthy is also important for a successful surgery. You should eat vegetables, fruits, and healthy foods in general. Here are some nutrient-rich foods that can help you in your BBL journey:

Good protein sources: Eggs, nuts, chicken, and yogurt.
Vegetables rich in vitamin A: Broccoli, spinach, and carrot.
Fruits rich in vitamin A: Mango, kiwi, watermelon.
Fruits rich in vitamin C: Strawberry, avocado, and pineapple.

Protein, vitamin A and C intake can help with the recovery process by reducing the healing time of your incisions. If you want to get rid of swelling, pineapples can be a great help. Also, don’t forget to stay hydrated. Each day, it is recommended to drink around 2.5 liters of water.

If you are a patient with diabetes, you should be more careful about your nutrition. What you eat affects your blood sugar. Also, patients with diabetes are more prone to high blood pressure which might affect the operation dangerously. If the surgeon decides that your diabetes isn’t stable, has ups and downs, and is hard to control, your BBL may be canceled.

Take some vitamins

Let’s say that you are following a healthy diet, choosing fresh foods over processed ones, simply, you are eating healthy. What about supporting your diet with some vitamins? Some vitamins or minerals can be helpful such as vitamin C, folic acid, and iron to balance hemoglobin levels in your blood cells. Having low hemoglobin levels before the surgery can lead to more complications. But don’t take any vitamins or supplements before consulting your surgeon. Not every vitamin or supplement is good for everyone and every situation. Also, if you take too much of a supplement it may be harmful, and create undesirable effects.

Finish your checklist

To get over the BBL surgery more easily, you should buy items that can be helpful during BBL revocery. One of the most important items are compression garments. They help you in so many aspects during the recovery. A compression garment puts compression on the newly transferred fat. This compression helps to improve blood flow in the area and prevents blood clots. It also helps to reduce swelling and keeps the newly injected fat in the desired shape of the butt.

Also, after the procedure, you should get lymphatic massages. You can buy a lipo roller and do your own massage at home. Massaging will help you to get rid of the fluid in your butts. Also, you should buy a BBL pillow to be able to sit after the procedure. This kind of pillow distributes the pressure on your butt when you sit and protects the newly transferred fat. If you are thinking about getting BBL in a different country, buy it before you go there. After the surgery when you fly back to your country, you will need it to be able to sit down on the plane.

Prepare your bag properly, and make sure you didn’t forget to put anything. You will need loose, comfortable clothing to wear after surgery. Don’t forget personal hygiene stuff too. Also, buying a urinal can be helpful in the bathroom since you are supposed to avoid applying pressure on your buttocks as much as possible.

Things you should avoid before BBL

If you want to fully understand how to prepare for a BBL, it is not enough to only focus on the things you should do. You should know what to abstain from too. These are both important. Making the right choices while preparing for the operation can help to have a safe surgery as well as get the maximum effect from the surgery. If you know the things you should avoid, you can do what is needed to decrease the complication risks. Some things can make your surgery more dangerous and create unwanted complications, or it can interfere with the successful recovery. Now let’s explore what not to do before a BBL.

Smoking

Smoking cigarettes before any type of surgery isn’t allowed because it affects the heart and lungs negatively. These aspects are still valid for BBL, but there is a specific situation that smoking can trigger after a BBL, which is fat necrosis. In simple words, fat necrosis means the death of the fat. Cigarettes include nicotine and nicotine has a very bad effect on the blood vessels. It makes blood vessels become narrower. The injected fat needs a blood supply to survive and if the vessels become narrow, this means the blood flow will be restricted. When the vessels cant carry blood to the fat, fat can’t get enough blood, and fat necrosis happens.

In a fat necrosis situation, it may need to be removed depending on the situation. This means you will lose a certain amount of fat injected into your butt. This can create an asymmetry in the buttocks and you may need BBL revision surgery to fix that problem. No one would want to go under surgery again right? When it comes to the question of “when to stop smoking before BBL surgery”, generally, it is advised to stop smoking at least 3 weeks before BBL. However, it is best to follow your surgeon’s instructions.

Drinking alcohol

Also, don’t forget to stop drinking alcohol 3 weeks before surgery. Alcohol has a negative effect on your health. It weakens your immune system and increases the bleeding risk. In a study, it was seen that people who continue to drink high amounts of alcohol are more likely to have infections, poor healing, and lung problems after the surgery. Even if you don’t drink alcohol often, you should lay off the bottle both for your safety and for the best BBL result.

Foods to avoid

We mentioned what foods you should eat in the previous parts. Now it is time to talk about the ones you should avoid. Before the BBL surgery, you should avoid some foods that can interfere with both the safety of the procedure and the recovery period.

Let’s look at some foods you should avoid while preparing BBL:

Rich in Omega-3: Mackerel, salmon, fish in general, walnuts, and chia seeds
Refined sugars: Chocolates, candies, and soft drinks
Refined carbohydrates: White flour, white rice, and pasta
Tomatoes, eggplants, and potatoes
Too much salt

You should avoid foods that contain Omega-3 because they can increase bleeding risk. Too much salt, refined sugar, and refined carbohydrates can cause inflammation. Foods that contain SGAs (solanaceous glycoalkaloids) such as tomatoes, eggplants, and potatoes can also cause excessive bleeding and make the anesthesia effects stay longer, which means waking up after surgery will take a longer time. You should stop consuming these at least a week ago before the surgery.

Also, avoid foods that are rich in fiber a day before the operation day. Fiber-rich foods are healthy but not good for the body just before the surgery day. Your stomach needs to be empty before the surgery and it is harder for the stomach to digest fiber-rich foods.

Certain medications & supplements

There are some dietary supplements and medications you should stop taking before the surgery. As we mentioned, an increase in bleeding during surgery is a serious complication that we all should avoid. Because of this, you should stop taking vitamin E supplements since it can lead to this situation. Also, now you know that you should stop eating Omega-3-rich foods, you should not take Omega-3 supplements as well.

In terms of medications, you should stop taking over-the-counter blood thinners about one week before the surgery. These drugs also can lead to excessive bleeding. What we can say is that you should stop taking any kind of supplement or drugs or foods that can increase bleeding risk in general. Also, you should stop taking herbal medications and dietary pills if you normally take them, because they can interfere with anesthesia.

If you keep in mind these recommendations on how to prepare for a BBL and follow your surgeon’s treatment plan, you can have a safe Brazilian Butt Lift surgery and reach long-lasting results.

References

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27079891/
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/diabetes/diabetes-and-high-blood-pressure
Eliasen, Marie et al. “Preoperative alcohol consumption and postoperative complications: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Annals of surgery vol. 258,6 (2013): 930-42. doi:10.1097/SLA.0b013e3182988d59