The annual BAAPS (British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons) meeting took place in London in September 2024.  The meeting discussed a number of topics including body contouring, calf augmentation, labiaplasty, rhinoplasty, breast implants and non-surgical treatments.  

Health Benefits of Labiaplasty

Mr Nassab, Treasurer of BAAPS and member of the council, was asked to chair the first session of the meeting and lead the discussion panel on BBL.  The first speakers discussing labiaplasty came from Serbia and Spain. These talks on labiaplasty highlighted the significant benefits women gained from having the procedure in terms of functional and psychological outcomes.  The speakers all shared how the procedure can help improve issues including rubbing, discomfort in certain clothes and intercourse.  They also spoke about how the labiaplasty operation can help improve confidence. 

BBL Safety Panel Discussion

The panel discussion on BBL or Brazilian Butt Lifts was dominated by the safety concerns about the procedure and the recent news of a patient in the UK dying following a non-surgical BBL. I was previously been involved in producing the UK guidance on Safety in BBL surgery for BAAPS.  The surgical BBL procedure was stopped for sometime in the UK due to concerns about the high number of deaths occurring around the world.  We reviewed the research surrounding the BBL technique from around the world.  We then produced a guidance document for BAAPS surgeons on how to perform the BBL safely.  The BBL was then called Superficial Gluteal Fat Grafting which reflects that fat should only be injected into the superficial layers and not the muscle.  We also recommended the use of ultrasound to see and make sure the injected fat was going into the right place and not the muscle.  The BAAPS Guidelines on Safe BBL have since been used by organisations such as the JCCP to bring more safety into non-surgical BBL which is completely unregulated.  

Breast implant illness (BII) or Systemic symptoms associated with breast implants (SSBI)

The session on the breasts covered topics such as Breast Implant Illness, double bubble, fat grafting with speakers from Italy and USA.  The talk on Breast implant illness (BII) or Systemic symptoms associated with breast implants (SSBI) was given by US surgeon Dr Caroline Glicksman.  She had published a number of articles on the topic in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal. In their study, they showed that there was no difference in symptom improvement when the implants were removed without or with capsulectomy. She mentioned that there is no benefit of enbloc capsulectomy when the implants are removed.  She also presented research looking at possible causes with the capsule tissue and found no associations with things such as infection, metals, immune cells in the specimens.

BAAPS Press Conference

The BAAPS Press Conference was dominated by the news of the non-surgical buttock filler death in the news this week.  The story highlighted the risks of these procedures being undertaken by non-qualified practitioners with no medical training in places that are not CQC-registered clinics.  This was a tragic story and the hope is that tightened regulation can help prevent this happening again. 

BAAPS Annual Dinner

The BAAPS annual dinner took place in the House of Commons in London. This was an incredible venue and unique venue for the event. The dinner saw the outgoing BAAPS President Marc Pacifico welcome Nora Nugent as the new president of BAAPS.