The Business of BBL in Miami: How Medical Tourism, High-Volume Clinics, and Social Media Have Built a Multimillion-Dollar Industry 

When it comes to Brazilian Butt Lifts (BBLs), a fat-grafting surgical technique that uses a patient’s own fat to enhance their butt, South Florida is no longer just a prime destination — it’s the epicenter. 

According to a Florida Chamber Foundation report, the state of Florida sees 300,000–400,000 medical tourists per year, generating almost $6 billion in medical services alone. Specifically, Miami-Dade County is one of the busiest BBL markets in the U.S., performing an estimated 15,000 to 18,000 BBLs annually, according to industry insiders like Modern Aesthetics. 

But with that distinction comes a troubling statistic: Miami still holds the highest BBL-related mortality rate in the U.S, according to Axios.

The risks, particularly the fatal complications, remain real.

In July 2025, 26‑year-old U.S. Army reservist and police officer Wildelis Rosa died days after a Miami BBL she’d booked as a birthday gift. The New York Post stated that the Miami-Dade medical examiner ruled her cause of death as a pulmonary embolism from blood clots associated with cosmetic surgery.

Rosa’s sister told the New York Post that her sister shared her warning signs with a friend via text the day before her death, stating, “that’s the part that we have to live with because it was unnecessary for her to die … to die like that.”

One of the most recent, widely publicized BBL-related deaths involved comedian DC Young Fly’s longtime partner, Jacky Oh. According to TMZ, the former “Wild ‘N Out” star — born Jacklyn Smith — traveled to Miami in May 2023 to undergo a fat-transfer butt lift and liposuction procedure, also known as gluteal augmentation. 

The following day after her surgery, she developed a severe headache, began slurring her speech, and collapsed. She was found unresponsive and rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead hours later at age 32. The autopsy cited swelling of the brain and extensive internal bleeding, and her death was ruled accidental. 

 As a 2023 Aesthetic Surgery Journal article written by scholar-practitioners Pat Pazmiño, MD, and Onelio Garcia, Jr., MD found, many of the deaths associated with BBLs in South Florida occurred in high-volume, budget clinics, where the low price point is sustained only by pushing volume.

Part of this volume is driven by accessibility and aggressive pricing: clinics offer BBLs as low as $2,900 in budget facilities. This contrasts sharply with typical “safe” BBLs by reputable, board-certified surgeons, which can run between $12,000 and $18,000, as cited by WLRN.

General cost estimates range from $3,000 to $13,000, averaging around $6,525 for a board-certified surgeon like Dr. K Miami Plastic Surgery.

Florida has steadily tightened its regulations on Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) procedures. The state first acted in 2019, issuing an emergency rule requiring surgeons to inject fat only into the subcutaneous layer, above the muscle, to reduce the risk of fatal pulmonary fat embolisms. That rule was strengthened in 2022, when Florida added limits on how many BBLs a surgeon could perform per day and mandated the use of ultrasound guidance during injections, with timestamped video of the cannula position recorded in every patient’s file.

In May 2024, Florida enacted House Bill 1561, which significantly expanded surgeon oversight and clinic accountability. Under the new law, facilities performing gluteal fat grafting must carry professional liability insurance—at least $250,000 per claim and $750,000 aggregate—or maintain an irrevocable letter of credit. Surgeons are required to be physically present in the operating room throughout the entire procedure and must personally perform the critical steps, including fat extraction and re-injection. 

The law also requires a strict one-patient-at-a-time rule: a licensed physician must be continuously present for each case from anesthesia administration through extubation.

Despite ongoing concerns about safety in Miami’s BBL market, Dr. Miami — one of the city’s best-known cosmetic surgeons — continues to emphasize patient safety and individualized care. In testimonials posted on his social media pages and review platforms, patients often describe the procedure as an act of “self-love, amplified,” saying they pursued surgery for personal reasons.

Miami plastic surgeon Dr. Pat Pazmiño said the procedure remains popular because it is highly customizable. “You can create any contour, of any size,” the surgeon said. “There’s no other procedure that delivers this kind of power and precision.”

Surgeons say recent demand has shifted toward less exaggerated shapes, including the “skinny BBL” and the “upside-down heart” silhouette. Injectable alternatives such as the “liquid BBL” have also grown in visibility on social media. Influencers, celebrities and everyday patients frequently document their procedures and recoveries online, contributing to sustained interest.

In fact, one Yelp reviewer for Dr. Miami’s practice wrote that social media initially led her to the surgeon and that she was satisfied with her results. Others express caution. On Reddit, an anonymous user who identified as “young and Latina” wrote, “Even if a BBL looks good, I don’t think it’s worth it considering the mortality rate and the number of bad clinics in South Florida. We need to embrace butts of all sizes and forms.”

As Miami’s cosmetic-surgery industry continues to evolve through new trends and updated safety regulations, patients, surgeons, and policymakers will determine how the procedure should fit into the region’s broader beauty and medical landscape.

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