Plastic Surgeons Reveal The Procedures They’d Never Get Themselves

When plastic surgeons say they wouldn’t get something done, it’s time to listen. No more Googling how much BBLs or buccal fat removal cost in Turkey or Mexico.

On TikTok and Reddit, board-certified plastic surgeons are now publicly warning viewers about certain procedures. Not because they’re anti-surgery, obviously, but because sometimes, going under the knife or tweakments can lead to side effects, long-term risks, or botched work.

Here’s what the experts are skipping and why they think you should reconsider, too.

BBLs And Fat Grafting

Dr. Jennifer Greer, a board-certified surgeon from Ohio, says any procedure to get a big bum is a no-go. If there’s one thing she wouldn’t do, it’s getting her tush done.

“Fat grafting, no way. Implants, no way,” she said on TikTok. “Fat grafting carries a 3 in 1000 risk of death, which for a cosmetic procedure to me is a bit high.”

“When you make your butt bigger with fat grafting, you gain weight, it gets bigger. I think long-term people are not going to like the results and then they’re going to be looking to correct it,” she explained.

Don’t even think about the BBL. “They do not make buttock implants,” she said. “People use breast implants, they’re not meant for sitting on. I think long term we’re just asking for problems.”

Thread Lifts

They’re marketed as the quick-fix alternative to facelifts, but thread lifts have quietly made a name for themselves in the surgeon “no” pile. For those who don't know, a thread lift is a minimally invasive treatment where dissolvable threads are placed under the skin to gently pull and lift sagging areas, giving the face a more lifted, youthful look.

Dr. Greer said she’d never get one herself. “They can leave little gathers, they can leave weird pulls and they’re impossible to remove,” she explained. “You have to wait for them to dissolve and there’s no way to dissolve them early.”

Dr. Kevin Sadati, a Newport-based plastic surgeon, agreed: “Getting thread lift, it can cause irregularities and asymmetry in your face, and it doesn’t last that long.”

Permanent Fillers

Unlike standard hyaluronic acid fillers, which dissolve over time or can be broken down with an enzyme if needed, permanent fillers stay put for years, or indefinitely. They’re made of denser, non-biodegradable substances designed for deep injection into areas like the nasolabial folds or jawline. While that might sound like a low-maintenance dream, plastic surgeons say they’re a nightmare if something goes wrong. Because your body can’t absorb them, you can’t undo bad results. You can’t easily remove them if they migrate, lump, or cause scarring. 

Dr. Greer warns her audience. “If you have a complication where it doesn’t look good, you’re stuck with it. There is no way to remove that stuff,” she said.

Dr. Sadati called it straight-up dangerous, stating, “If something goes wrong, it’s going to be a disaster to take those out and it’s going to cause a long-time problem.”

Liquid Rhinoplasty 

Have you heard of the “non-invasive” rhinoplasty? It sounds harmless, but it apparently comes with a risk almost no one talks about. “I would never get a ‘nonsurgical’ or ‘liquid’ rhinoplasty,” said @boyyousaidit on a Reddit post asking surgeons to reveal procedures they’d avoid. “Most of the time that’s just filler injected into the nose. There is a risk of filler in this location causing you to go blind.”

The arteries around your nose are connected to the eyes. ASPS Member Surgeon Michelle Lee, MD, says it's not a great idea. "When considering nonsurgical rhinoplasty, it's crucial to choose a board-certified plastic surgeon," Dr. Lee explained. "The injection site is a high-risk area for adverse events like skin necrosis and irreversible blindness, so I recommend that patients conduct their research thoroughly when selecting their provider."

Iris Depigmentation 

Ever thought about changing your eye color with a laser? You might want to reconsider. Last year, the American Academy of Ophthalmology issued a public warning stating that cosmetic procedures like iris implants and keratopigmentation come with significant risks, including potential vision loss and serious complications.

It sounds crazy, but it’s true: There are procedures out there that use a laser to strip pigment from your irises to turn brown eyes blue, but it’s banned in many countries for a reason. The potential complications are permanent and irreversible.

Buccal Fat Removal

Dr. Gary Linkov used to perform buccal fat removal. That is until his own experiences convinced him to stop. “It didn’t really work out that way for me in my practice,” he wrote on Newsweek.

The area is high-risk. “There are important structures where the buccal fat pad lives, such as the facial nerve, the blood vessels, and the parotid duct, which are all at risk during the surgery as they're all intertwined.” One of his patients even experienced temporary nerve damage. He continued, “She detected that there was a bit of difficulty elevating one side of her upper lip.”

And even when the surgery technically goes well, the results often don’t live up to the hype. “Some people were dissatisfied because they couldn’t really achieve what they were hoping for,” he said. “Sometimes, it may go to the other extreme and some patients may end up looking too hollow.”

“There is a risk that if you remove your buccal fat pad early in life… it gives the illusion of premature facial aging due to volume depletion.”

After years of anxiety and inconsistent outcomes, he stopped offering the procedure entirely. “I aim to be honest, and I felt like it wasn’t right for my practice.”

Hip Implants

Dr. Matthew Nykiel, known as @socalplasticsurgeon on TikTok, listed hip implants as one of the worst ideas in cosmetic surgery.

“The hip implant sits right about here because you want to have a nice curve,” he said, gesturing to the upper hip area. “It gives a little bit of volume to the butt, but it gives a nice roundness to the shape.”

Sounds great, right? Wrong. 

“The problem is there’s nowhere to anchor this hip implant and gravity is always going to win. So the hip implant slowly starts drifting down as time goes on,” he explained. “What started as a nice hip implant becomes a saddlebag, and it just totally changes the aesthetics. It looks terrible.”

Calf Implants

Dr. Nykiel also warned against calf implants, even though they look okay in the beginning.

“They do a nice job of giving people nice volume to calf muscles,” he said. “But the lower extremity can have poor wound healing… the skin’s very tight. That can lead to the implant shifting and moving, or even the implant popping out and thinning the tissue.”

He added, “Over time, the calf implants have a high failure rate.”

Ultherapy  

Ultherapy is often sold as a miracle skin-tightener, but some surgeons say it can cause more harm than help. Dr. Sadati said he avoids it completely.“Ultherapy melts the fat inside under the skin and causes the fat to shrink and also causes scars,” he said. “So when I want to go do face lift, it’s very difficult to do face lift when people have Ultherapy.”

CoolSculpting 

Marketed as a fat-freezing miracle with no downtime, CoolSculpting has grown massively in popularity – but TikTok famous board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Anthony Youn is cautious. “Although it definitely works, there is a small chance that the fat that they treat can actually get thicker,” he said. “I’ve seen that on a couple of occasions and it’s not pretty.”

He’s referring to paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH), a rare but very real complication where fat cells actually grow larger after treatment.  

Asian Eyelid Surgery 

Dr. Anthony Youn brought up something that has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with self-perception. He said he’d never undergo double eyelid surgery, and no, it’s not because it doesn’t work. “Absolutely no disrespect to anybody who’s had it done or any of the doctors who perform it,” he said. “But I don’t like the idea that you need to have eyelid surgery to add a fold to your eyelid to be considered attractive.”

Too Much Filler

Some injectors promise you can “lift” your lower face with cheek filler, but Dr. Sadati shut that down. “I would not go to somebody to get my face filled up with fillers to have my jowls and neck lifted,” he said. “You don’t want to have cheeks full of filler to get your lower face lifted.”

What Now?

When professionals draw the line at certain trends (especially ones that can blind you, disfigure you, or age terribly over time), it might be worth asking whether the risk is worth it. If the long-term payoff is just more maintenance, more corrections, and less control over your own face, we have to ask… is it really a glow-up?