The Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL), which skyrocketed in popularity for sculpting the coveted hourglass figure, is now facing a grim backlash as people report a side effect so foul it’s turning heads for all the wrong reasons.
Widely promoted by influencers and celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Cardi B, buttock augmentation procedures have surged over the past decade, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
BBLs involve transferring fat from one part of the body to the buttocks to enhance size and shape. With the growing hype, medical professionals are stressing the importance of thorough post-op planning, including hygiene support and wound-care education.
But the realities of surgery are often glossed over by people more focused on going viral.
BBL smell Scroll through social media and you’ll find thousands of BBL transformation videos — glamorous, upbeat, and heavily filtered. What they don’t show are the realities of recovery: sponge baths, wound cleaning, limited mobility, and odor-related embarrassment.
“Many patients are caught off guard by an unexpected side effect — an unfamiliar, often musty smell,” GetSnatched, a cosmetic surgery clinic in Miami, writes about the surprising issue. “While this is a common and usually harmless part of the healing process, it can cause stress or confusion during recovery.” The clinic explains that after a BBL, patients often can’t sit, shower properly, or reach their rear ends due to swelling, pain, or simple logistics. Add compression garments, bandages, and sweat — and you have a recipe for olfactory trouble.
‘Smell is real’ Chicago-based plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Eric Anderson confirmed to the Daily Mail that “the BBL smell is real,” attributing it to serious post-op complications such as tissue death and poor hygiene.
One complication is “fat necrosis,” which causes fatty tissue in the buttocks to die after surgery — “an indicator that a patient was overfilled with fat during the procedure.”
“When there is more fat in an area than the blood supply allows, the fat will die through a smelly process called fat necrosis, which can lead to infections that need antibiotics, hospitalizations, and even sepsis,” he warned.
Reaching the rear But the smell may also stem from simple uncleanliness.
Dr. Roger Tsai, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, explains that after a BBL, it can be difficult for patients to reach around the enlarged buttock area after using the bathroom, which may lead to unpleasant odors.
“Wiping down there is going to be a lot more difficult because there’s more to reach around,” Tsai told the Daily Mail.
‘Assault on my nose’ Meanwhile, on social media, one TikToker sounded the alarm after going on a date with a woman who had a BBL: “Her body look crazy… She had it done right. Her whole body looked amazing,” he began in a viral clip titled “BBLs do be smelling.”
He then shared that the evening took a tragic turn after they returned to his place and she began twerking with her recently lifted butt.
“I was like, ‘What the hell?’ Because at this point, she’s got nothing on. And I smelled a smell… and it hits my nose… an assault on my nose,” he said.
Trying to be polite, he explained that he gently told her she wasn’t “smelling that fresh down there,” and suggested she “get into the shower” and “freshen up.”
“What I realized is if someone has had a normal-size behind their whole life and then they switch up and now they got this big BBL… to reach back there and really clean, you know? And if they’re not used to doing that, they might not know that, hey, you sweat differently. Everything is different when you add that much more meat back there,” he added.
‘BBL stinks’ Insisting it wasn’t hygiene, another influencer said she had her procedure reversed when her “sit down” was smelling “real, real bad.” “BBL stinks, do you hear me?” she told her TikTok followers, explaining that the odors didn’t come from either orifice but from the “incisions that they inject the fluid and the fat in your butt.”
“And if it’s not healing properly and your body is rejecting it, the [incisions] will remain open and the drainage will continue… it will stink up your linen, stink up your underwear, and stink up everything,” said the woman, who kept her BBL for only one year.
Would you get a BBL knowing it may come with a putrid smell that can last up to two months? Let us know what you think and share this story to get the conversation started!
