I posted about dermal fillers and a few weeks back and was shocked at the amount of interest (and controversy) surrounding the topic. I have unfortunately had many patients come to me after having their high hopes for buttock augmentation crushed by measly Sculptra results. Let me lay out the details.

Here’s five key points to consider before opting for these non-surgical procedures:

1. Sculptra is temporary. It will last 1.5 – 2 years at most.
2. If done correctly dermal fillers like Sculptra are cost-prohibitive for 99% of potential buttock augmentation patients. In order to create a significant/noticeable result with a dermal filler, at least 200 mls of product must be injected into each buttock cheek for a total of 400 mls. At $1000 per ml, this equates to a minimum price of $400,000.00. Thus, if your doctor is recommending to put in ONLY 20 or 40 mls of sculpture you will pay $20,000-$40,000 and get an insignificant, miniscule, result! That’s a pretty hefty amount!
3. Do not let anybody tell you that the product is so special that it’s going to magically grow over the following months or years…this just doesn’t happen to any noticeable degree!
4. Even worse, dermal fillers, when injected in large quantities, have a relatively high infection rate, guaranteed tendency to migrate away from the original area they were injected into, and almost always stimulate a lot of inflammation with a subsequent and disastrous amount of scar tissue/hardening. The fillers aren’t growing – they’re just inflamed!
5. Finally, the one very serious complication that can rarely (< 1%) happen is “embolism” in which some of the filler gets into the bloodstream and travels up into the lungs, heart, and/or brain causing serious problems, including death. Implants won’t do that.

You only get one butt! Consider your options wisely! Hope I at least saved you some money and maybe even your life.

In Truth and Health,

Ryan A. Stanton, M.D.