By Amara Osei

Male Brazilian Butt Lifts increased 48 percent from 2024 to 2025, according to a new cosmetic trends report from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The social media trend known as "glutemaxxing" — a practice that aims to maximize the size, strength and aesthetic appeal of the posterior — is pushing the demand.

The numbers remain small in absolute terms. Women received over 25,000 BBLs in 2025; men received 550. Neither figure includes injectables such as Alloclae, the donor-fat injectable that many men now request instead of surgery.

What are men actually asking surgeons for?

Dr. Luis Macias, MD, a double-board certified plastic surgeon in Los Angeles, said the male inquiries are specific. "We've noticed more men asking about the buttock area lately, and many of them bring up social media directly," he said. "What they're asking for is more projection, a fuller, more athletic shape, and better definition, not the feminine look associated with BBLs."

Dr. Macias says men mostly request fat grafting and Alloclae, an injectable derived from donated cadaver fat. After more than a year on the market, there have been scattered reports of Alloclae complications — lumps and cysts — but mostly in patients injected in the breasts. The donor-fat option is, in his words, "appealing for lean, athletic men who don't have much fat of their own to transfer." Because the donor fat comes ready to use, surgeons skip liposuction harvesting, cutting downtime. A competitor, Britecyte, is gaining slow momentum for face and body injections. Clinical human data on both remains limited.

A traditional BBL works differently. Dr. Johnny Franco, MD, a board-certified surgeon in Austin, explains that the procedure usually starts with liposuction of the abdomen, back and flanks. The fat is then processed and transferred to the buttocks and hips. "That combination allows us to sculpt the waist and reshape the surrounding areas while adding volume where patients want it," he says. "It's about creating an overall silhouette."

Is GLP-1 weight loss a factor?

Dr. Franco says yes. "Patients are dealing with Ozempic butt, that loss of volume after weight loss, and it affects both men and women," he says. "Butt treatments have really taken off."

He links the rise to GLP-1-driven weight loss and the broader wellness conversation. "Being able to improve their shape with a less invasive treatment has opened the door for men who might never have considered a butt treatment before," he says. "In our practice, the conversation is more and more about restoring shape and getting that fit, athletic look."

Are surgeons unanimous?

No. Dr. Andrew Cohen, MD, a board-certified surgeon in Encino, has not seen a significant uptick in men seeking glute work. Dr. Melissa Doft, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, reports the same — though she notes more men asking about jaw definition, chest flattening, rhinoplasty and otoplasty (ear-pinning).

Dr. Sean Doherty, MD, FACS, a board-certified surgeon in Boston, has seen more male patients asking about gluteal enhancement but stops short of calling it a surgical wave. "In my opinion, a much smaller amount of male patients actually go through with these surgeries," he says.

The glutemaxxing hashtag itself tells the same story: most videos show squats and lunges, not trips to the surgeon's office. For now, most men chasing the trend are doing it in the gym, not on the operating table — a gap between demand signals and procedures that injectables like Alloclae may be first to close.