Being an online fitness trainer, Jenelle Butler, better known as @GetBodiedByJ on social media has helped literally thousands of people change their health, their bodies and their lives over the years. She’s a natural-looking beauty, which makes it that much more baffling why she decided to get butt injections in 2010, soon after the birth of her son.
“After I had my son I was going through post-partum depression,” Butler, explains in this exclusive clip from an episode of The Doctors. “I felt insecure about how I looked. I didn’t even know if I wanted to train anymore. I felt lost.”
The Atlanta-based mom-of-three decided to go with an unlicensed procedure.
Where Did She Get Her Butt Injections From?
“The word on the street was, you call, you make an appointment, rent a room, and bring cash,” Butler says. “You’re not supposed to ask any questions. I didn’t think I was in danger.”
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Butler got a total of nine injections from this unknown man. Initially happy with the results, soon after, the silicone injections started to go wrong.
“Within two years, I started to notice issues,” she said. “I have pain if I sit for too long, sensations of itchiness, discoloration, indentations. Scar tissue has formed. It’s just rock-hard.”
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Eight years later, her butt actually got bigger than the initial growth, but it the opposite effect she wanted.
“I started to hide what I got because I didn’t want people to stare and look at my butt. I did this to me. I allowed this to happen… At the end of the day, I just want to help save someone else’s life.”
How Her Implants Almost Took Her Life
Butler’s concerns intensified after she went to see Dr. Andrew Ordon, who said the implants were possibly putting her life at risk.
“It’s just a matter of time that silicone injections in massive amounts in the buttocks are going to create a problem,” Dr. Ordon says. “The big deal though, is that it could be life-threatening. Silicone in the body is like a ticking time bomb.”
According to the Silicone Body and Live Science, injected silicone can stay within the fat tissue, but it can also sometimes get into the veins and spread to other parts of the body, causing blood clots. If the blood supply to an artery becomes blocked, it can lead to limb loss.
Butler revealed that the resulting injection removal went horribly awry. In a lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, she alleged Constantino Mendieta, a Miami surgeon, botched the procedure by unnecessarily cutting blood vessels and causing her to lose “excessive amounts of blood.” Immediately after the surgery, she was hospitalized and required a transfusion of three units of blood, according to her complaint.
And for nearly two months afterward, Butler alleges, her backside had “large open wounds.” She claims she was left debilitated — unable to drive a car, bathe normally, sit on the toilet, or lift her children.
“The negligently performed surgery left Jenelle Butler in a state of misery and depression,” the complaint reads. “The wounds left her unable to perform basic daily activities for extended periods of time.”
Butler has since undergone three reconstructive surgeries.
That’s why we applaud Jenelle for coming forward and telling her story publicly, so as to help other women who may be considering this.
BBL vs. Butt Implants vs. Butt Injections: Which is Better?
Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL)
This popular approach to buttock augmentation is non-surgical, so it requires less downtime to recover, and it provides a natural-looking result.
To create full, firm contours, fat is extracted from elsewhere in the body through liposuction. Popular areas to remove this fat include the stomach or abdomen, thighs, back, and love handles or flanks. When the fat has been removed, it’s then purified and processed to prepare it for the next step. Once the fat is ready, the surgeon injects it into the buttocks.
This part of the procedure requires very specific skills because the placement of these injections provides the volume and curves you’re looking for. In the hands of an experienced plastic surgeon, the results are impressive. After some recovery time, patients have a more lifted, shapely, and proportional appearance.
Buttock Implants
On the other hand, buttock implants take a surgical approach to improving the appearance of the buttocks. This procedure is also known as gluteal implants, and it uses a silicone material that’s made to look and feel like the natural tissues of the body.
Buttock implants require a longer recovery period compared to Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) procedures. With implants, there is a need for surgical incisions, which can result in more discomfort, swelling, and pain. On the other hand, BBL involves fat transfer, which requires smaller incisions and has a shorter recovery time.
A BBL provides a more natural-looking result compared to buttock implants. Brazilian Butt Lifts from Arviv Plastic Surgery in Miami and Tampa allows for a more customizable outcome, as the surgeon can sculpt the buttocks according to the patient’s desired shape and proportions. Implants, on the other hand, may not always provide the desired shape, and the results may look less natural.
Buttock Injections
In addition to implants and the BBL, buttock augmentation can also be achieved through procedures which are often referred to as butt injections. The surgeons at Arviv Plastic Surgery only use FDA-approved fillers as a non-surgical way to round out the shape of your buttocks’ without an invasive procedure. When injected, these fillers help to stimulate collagen production inside of deeper layers of the skin, resulting in perkier look.
The foreign materials in butt implants that Janelle had are not meant to be freely floating in the body. The patient’s immune system becomes comprised because the majority of the immune cells are being occupied fighting the foreign material in the buttocks.
Common symptoms are pain, burning, itching and swelling in the injection area, or skin changes. Patients can experience skin hardening because the pressure and scar tissue in the area (caused by the immune system’s response) impair the blood supply to the skin. As a result of the loss of blood supply, the skin tissue can start to die.
Even if women don’t experience health problems right away, they may have problems later. Mir said he’s treated women who had symptoms 15 to 20 years after their injections.
Very few U.S. plastic surgeons will treat patients who’ve had illegal silicone buttocks injections, one retired Las Vegas surgeon said. Many doctors are not familiar with the disease physiology, or they don’t want to take on a patient who has complications from something done by another practitioner.
How She Feels Now
In her video on Instagram, she says, “Don’t do it. Don’t ever do that stupid, stupid stuff to yourself.”
