Edinburgh council issues urgent warning to residents who have booked Brazilian Butt Lift procedures

The City of Edinburgh Council has issued an urgent warning to any residents who have booked Brazilian Butt Lift surgery in the capital this weekend.

A Brazilian Butt Lift or BBL procedure is a type of cosmetic surgery where fat is transferred to move fat from one part of the body to another. But in recent weeks a number of local authorities have seen a series of unregulated procedures being carried out across the UK.

The council’s Environmental Health team has learned that unregulated BBL operations may be taking place in Edinburgh between Friday, April 26 and Sunday, April 28. It is understood residents in the capital booked their appointments by responding to social media posts.

Councillor Neil Ross, convener of the regulatory committee at the council, said: “We have been made aware that there may be procedures known as Brazilian Butt Lifts being performed in Edinburgh this weekend and we have concerns about the safety of such procedures.”

Councillor Ross added: “We are concerned about the potential risk to public health and would urge anyone who may have booked such a procedure this weekend to contact us as a matter of urgency.”

Other local authorities in the United Kingdom have received complaints after similar procedures were carried out resulting in people suffering serious health complications such as sepsis. Anyone who may have a BBL procedure booked from Friday April 26 to Sunday April 28 in Edinburgh should e-mail [email protected] or phone 0131 200 2000.

The council warning comes after a 49-year-old woman was ‘left in agony’ after she underwent the operation in a Glasgow hotel. On April 24, the Scottish Sun reported that the woman, who paid £2,000 for the procedure, was left with a serious infection as a result of the unregulated surgery.

Ashton Collins, director Save Face UK, a Government-approved register for medical treatments told the Scottish Sun newspaper: “Hotel rooms and domestic settings are not safe environments for injectable procedures  - it is not a sterile setting” adding ‘it is a recipe for disaster.’

The NHS say that whilst a surgical fat transfer operation ‘is generally a safe procedure’ BBL surgery ‘has the highest death rate of all cosmetic procedures.’ It adds: “The main concern is that the injected fat can cause a blockage in a blood vessel in the lungs (pulmonary embolism), which can be fatal.”

The specialist surgery involves removing fat by making small incisions before a thin tube is then used to extract small amounts of fat. Once removed, fat is then treated and re-injected into the area being treated. It is carried out under either general or local anaesthetic.

According the NHS surgery generally costs between £3,000 and £8,000.