Background: Fat grafting is the favored option for buttock augmentation by most surgeons, and buttock implants are mostly regarded as second choices. Accepted options for buttock implant pocket dissection are subfascial, intramuscular, and submuscular. To overcome the limitations of both intramuscular and submuscular pockets, and combine the benefits of both, the authors present a novel dual-plane pocket dissection. The dual-plane pocket involves a submuscular plane in the cranial half of the pocket and switching to an intramuscular plane in the caudal half. With this study, the authors describe their experience with this technique and analyze the dissection of the pocket on human cadavers.
Methods: The authors reviewed 82 consecutive composite gluteal augmentation cases from March of 2019 to November of 2019. In all cases, the implant was placed in the "dual plane." The clinical study was supplemented by 10 hemigluteal dissections in five cadavers following the surgical technique, with assessment of the anatomical components of the implant pocket created.
Results: Patients who underwent this technique showed excellent soft-tissue coverage over the implants. The main complications observed were seroma formation in five of 82 patients and temporary sciatic pain in four of the patients. The anatomical study confirmed double muscle coverage of both gluteus maximus and partial medius in the upper pocket pole and intramuscular gluteus maximus implant position in the lower pole.
Conclusion: The authors present the dual-plane dissection technique as a valuable innovation to improve soft-tissue cover for the upper implant pole in buttock implant surgery.
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