Is hip dip surgery the same as fat transfer to the hips?

Yes. Hip dip surgery is the everyday name for fat transfer to the hips, also called autologous fat grafting to the hips, hip fat grafting or hip augmentation with fat: liposuction harvests your own fat, which is washed and placed over the hollow between the hip bone and the thigh. Dr. Cat performs it in Beverly Hills with no implants and no filler.

Does hip dip surgery hurt?

Not much. With Dr. Cat's gentle technique most patients describe soreness and bruising in the donor areas rather than pain, managed with Tylenol; a prescription for a few pain pills is provided in case. General anesthesia with a numbing solution in every operative area means you feel nothing during surgery, and the donor areas are the sore part, for about a week.

Should I get a BBL or hip dip surgery?

A BBL if you want fuller, rounder buttocks as well as filled hips: Dr. Cat grafts the hips with the buttocks in the same operation. Hip dip surgery alone if your buttocks are already the shape you want and only the dip bothers you: fat transfer to the hips treats it without adding to the buttock. The consultation settles which.

Is hip dip filler or fat transfer better?

Fat, for anyone who has fat to donate and wants a lasting change. Filler is temporary, about one to two years, needs many syringes per side and is off-label in the hips; fat is permanent where it survives, is your own tissue, and the liposuction that harvests it slims the donor areas. Dr. Cat's practice does not use hip implants or fillers.

How much fat is needed for hip dip surgery?

Enough to fill the contour on both sides with a margin for the fat that does not survive; the amount depends on the depth of the dip, and Dr. Cat sets it at the consultation after examining the donor areas. Most women have it at the waist, lower abdomen, back or inner thighs; slim patients are harvested from several small areas.

When can I sit after fat transfer to the hips?

Right away if only the hips were grafted; the rule is no leaning or lying hard on the hips for six weeks while the fat takes. If the buttocks were grafted in the same operation, the BBL rule applies: no direct sitting on the buttocks for six weeks, with a pillow that shifts your weight to the thighs for the times you must.

Will my hip dips come back if I lose weight?

They can become more visible again. The transferred fat is living tissue that behaves like the rest of your fat: with a large weight loss it shrinks and the dip can show again, as it would have without surgery. With a stable weight the result holds, and weight gain enlarges the grafted fat along with everything else.

Is hip dip surgery safe?

Yes, with a board-certified plastic surgeon, a physician anesthesiologist, an accredited facility and fat placed only in the layer under the skin, the plane Dr. Cat uses. What remains are the ordinary risks of liposuction and fat grafting: bruising, swelling, fluid collections, lumps where fat does not survive, asymmetry, infection and, rarely, blood clots. The BBL deaths were tied to deep intramuscular injection.

How long is recovery after hip dip surgery?

About a week off desk work, most normal activities within four weeks, and exercise at six. Compression is worn for six weeks, the grafted hips are kept free of sustained pressure for six weeks, and the final shape shows at three to six months. If the buttocks were treated as well, add the no-sitting rule for six weeks. Most patients manage with Tylenol.

Do I need to stay in Beverly Hills after hip dip surgery?

About two weeks. Dr. Cat sees you the day after surgery and through the first two weeks, and you fly home once cleared, on the BBL pillow if the buttocks were grafted. About a third of her patients travel from out of state or abroad, and their consultation is a private video consultation through OnPatient, the HIPAA-secure patient portal.

Hip Dip Surgery in Beverly Hills (Fat Transfer)

Q: How long does hip dip fat transfer last?

The fat that survives the transfer becomes permanent living tissue, so the result lasts for years as long as your weight stays reasonably stable. In Dr. Cat's experience more than 80 to 90 percent of the transferred fat survives, which is why her patients rarely need a second round. A large weight gain or loss changes the hips as it changes the rest of you.

Hip Dip Surgery in Beverly Hills: Fat Transfer to the Hips

Autologous fat grafting to the hips (liposuction with fat transfer to the trochanteric hollows) by Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACS, board-certified plastic surgeon with two surgical residencies, head and neck surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery, Harvard-educated and UCLA trained

Hip dip surgery is fat transfer to the hips (autologous fat grafting): Dr. Cat Begovic removes fat by liposuction from the areas where you have too much, washes it, and places it in small passes over the hollow between the hip bone and the thigh, in the layer under the skin, so the line from the waist to the thigh runs smooth. It is for women, and some men, whose hip dips are set by bone and fat distribution, who have enough fat elsewhere to donate, and who want a lasting change rather than a filler that fades; the practice uses no hip implants and no hip filler. Dr. Cat performs both halves of the operation herself, one patient per surgical day.

Fat transfer to the hips on its own, with limited liposuction, is about $35,000 to $45,000, quoted at your consultation; with a Brazilian butt lift the whole plan is one surgery at about $65,000 to $71,000. With her special technique, patients have a quick recovery, walking a few hours after surgery and most only needing to take Tylenol and no prescription pain medication.

15-minute Patient Concierge call, no obligation. The consultation with Dr. Cat is $500, credited toward your surgery.

Medically reviewed by Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACS

Board-certified plastic surgeon, trained in both head and neck surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery. Harvard-educated, UCLA trained. Updated September 25, 2026

What makes Dr. Cat's hip dip surgery different

The decisions behind a curve that runs unbroken from the waist to the thigh.

Your own fat, never an implant or a fillerFat is the only material that becomes living tissue over the hip, with nothing to shift, absorb or replace, and the harvest slims the waist that frames it.

Placed in the layer under the skin, in small passesInto the subcutaneous plane over the hip, above the muscle, in many thin passes, with Dr. Cat turning you during surgery so the two sides match.

Fat that staysHarvested gently, washed rather than spun, and protected for six weeks. In Dr. Cat's experience more than 80 to 90 percent of the transferred fat survives, which is why her patients rarely need a second round.

One patient per surgical dayEvery stroke of the liposuction and every pass of the transfer by Dr. Cat herself, with a physician anesthesiologist, in her own accredited surgery center.

What is hip dip surgery?

The operation has three parts. Liposuction harvests fat through incisions of a few millimeters from the abdomen, waist, back or thighs. The fat is washed so that only clean, living fat goes back in. Then it is placed in small amounts over each hip, in the layer between the skin and the muscle, until the inward break between the hip bone and the thigh is gone. If you are still deciding whether your dips need treating at all, our page on hip dips explains why they are bone and fat distribution rather than a fitness failure.

What hip dip surgery is not

It is not an implant operation. Solid silicone hip implants exist, a fixed volume that sits near the surface over a joint that moves with every step, with the implant problems of visible edges, shifting, fluid collections and infection; we do not use hip implants or fillers, because your own fat is the only material that becomes living tissue over the hip. It is not weight loss: the liposuction reshapes. And it is not a Brazilian butt lift, although the two are often done together: a BBL adds fat to the buttocks, hip dip surgery adds it to the sides, and in Dr. Cat's BBLs the hips are grafted with the buttocks so the outer curve runs unbroken from the waist to the thigh.

Hip dip filler vs fat transfer

Hip dip filler is the search most people make before they find fat transfer, so here is the comparison in one place. The practice offers the second column only.

Hip dip filler

What goes in: hyaluronic acid gel or a collagen stimulator, designed for the face and used off-label in the hips
How long it lasts: about one to two years, then it has to be repeated
Volume: sold by the syringe; a hip dip needs many per side, often over several sessions
What else changes: nothing; the waist stays as it is
Cost: per syringe, repeated for as long as you want the result

Fat transfer to the hips

What goes in: your own fat, harvested by liposuction and washed
How long it lasts: the fat that survives is permanent, and in Dr. Cat's experience that is more than 80 to 90 percent
Volume: whatever the contour needs, limited only by the fat you have to donate
What else changes: the donor areas are slimmed, so the waist that frames the hip gets narrower
Cost: about $35,000 to $45,000 on its own; one surgery with a BBL or lipo 360

Why Dr. Cat uses the patient's own fat: it is the only material that becomes part of you, with nothing to migrate, dissolve or replace, and the same operation narrows the waist that frames the hip. A patient with too little fat to donate is told so rather than offered a product in its place.

Who is a good candidate for hip dip surgery?

The right candidate has three things: a hip dip set by bone and fat distribution rather than by loose skin; enough fat to harvest, usually at the waist, the lower abdomen, the back or the inner thighs; and a weight that has been stable for months, because the transferred fat gains and loses with the rest of her. Our comparison of liposuction vs BBL explains when Dr. Cat recommends a transfer and when liposuction alone is the better plan.

You may be a good candidate if

An inward curve between the hip bone and the thigh that shows in fitted clothes or a swimsuit
Pinchable fat at the waist, lower abdomen, back or inner thighs, even in small amounts
A stable weight close to your goal, with a BMI of 30 or below
No nicotine for two months to a year before surgery, depending on your history
Realistic goals: a smooth line from the waist to the thigh, not a new skeleton

Not yet, or a different plan, if

There is not enough fat to donate; Dr. Cat has turned patients away for that reason
Loose skin rather than a volume deficit: that is a buttock lift, which Dr. Cat does not perform; see flat or saggy buttocks
A very lean frame: the skinny BBL approach, several small areas harvested for a conservative volume, applies to the hips too
The same day as a tummy tuck or a breast augmentation: those combinations are staged

Aspirin, anti-inflammatories, alcohol and herbal supplements stop two weeks before surgery; the full list is in our pre-op instructions.

How Dr. Cat does it

Dr. Cat is a board-certified plastic surgeon who completed two surgical residencies, one in head and neck surgery, microvascular and facial reconstructive surgery, and advanced training in general plastic and reconstructive surgery, Harvard-educated and UCLA trained. She performs both halves of the operation herself and describes it as working in clay: taking away from the areas that are too full and adding to the areas that are hollow, with the waist finishing as the narrowest point and nothing left that reads as a shelf.

The harvest: gentle, multi-phase liposuction

Fat cells torn during a rough harvest do not survive the transfer, so the harvest decides the result. Through incisions under 4 mm, Dr. Cat removes the fat with thin cannulas using tumescent and power-assisted liposuction, never a heat device: her multi-phase technique breaks the fat into tiny particles, removes it evenly on a precise grid with every stroke counted, and blends each area a final time, leaving a thin cushion of fat under the skin. Because she also specializes in revision liposuction, she stops well short of over-suctioning.

Washing and placing the fat

Harvested fat is a mix of fat cells, numbing fluid, blood and oil from broken cells; Dr. Cat has it gently washed rather than spun, so only intact fat is transferred. It goes over each hip in the subcutaneous plane, the layer under the skin and above the muscle, in many small passes at several depths and angles, because fat survives in proportion to how much of it touches living tissue with a blood supply. Dr. Cat turns you during surgery and checks from the front, the back and the side so that the two sides match. The hip is the one zone where she plans conservatively: its skin is tighter and its blood supply poorer than the buttock's. In Dr. Cat's experience more than 80 to 90 percent of the transferred fat survives, which is why her patients rarely need a second round.

Hips with the buttocks

When the buttocks are treated as well, the hips are grafted in the same operation as part of the BBL. If the buttocks are filled and the dips are left, the result can look larger from the side yet square from the front and the back, because the dip flattens the outer edge of the buttock. A BBL is never performed on the same day as a tummy tuck or a breast augmentation; those combinations are staged.

Surgery day

Surgery is under general anesthesia with a board-certified physician anesthesiologist in Dr. Cat's QUAD A accredited surgery center on Rodeo Drive, with a numbing solution in every operative area, so you wake numb rather than sore. The incisions are closed with dissolvable sutures, and a compression garment with foam goes on before you wake. A full BBL with a lipo 360 harvest runs about four to seven hours; a hip-only transfer takes less. When the buttocks are treated or the harvest is a lipo 360, the first night is spent at a plastic surgery aftercare center; after a hip-only transfer with one or two donor areas you go home the same day with someone to stay with you. She schedules one liposuction with fat transfer per surgical day and nothing else.

Hip dip surgery recovery timeline

Recovery is mostly liposuction recovery, with one rule specific to the hips: protection rather than rest. The week-by-week version for patients whose buttocks were treated too is in our BBL recovery guide.

The night of surgeryYou wake in your compression garment, numb rather than sore, and go home with someone to stay with you after a hip-only transfer, or to the aftercare center after a BBL or a lipo 360 harvest.
Days one to threeSoreness, bruising and swelling in the donor areas, managed with Tylenol. Walk every day, short and often. Sleep on your stomach if the buttocks were treated, on your stomach or back if only the hips were, and never lean or lie hard on the hips.
One weekMost patients are off all pain medication and back at desk work, on the BBL pillow if the buttocks were grafted.
Two weeksDr. Cat checks the incisions and starts scar treatment with products the office provides. Out-of-town patients usually fly home around now, once cleared.
Weeks three to sixMost normal activities are back by week four. The garment stays on, the grafted hips are kept free of sustained pressure, and there is no lymphatic massage; no squats, cycling or floor abdominal work yet.
Six weeksThe rules end together: the garment comes off, exercise resumes with Dr. Cat's clearance, and, if the buttocks were grafted, you may sit on them and lie on your back again.
Three to six monthsThe last swelling leaves and the fat settles; the shape you see now is the shape you keep, at a stable weight, and the scars fade over six to twelve months.

Hip dip surgery results, and how long they last

The result is a line, not a size: from the front and the back the curve runs from the waist into the hip and down the thigh without the inward break, and the outer edge of the buttock reads round rather than square. The fat that survives is your own permanent tissue, so the result lasts for years at a stable weight; the grafted fat enlarges if you gain and shrinks if you lose. Because the hip zone can take a little less fat than the buttock, a patient whose main goal is the hips occasionally chooses a second, smaller round.

Hip dip surgery before and after photos

Fat transfer to the hips is photographed with the BBL and revision cases it is usually part of, and the change reads best in the back and three-quarter views. Case BBL-4848 is the closest to a hip-only case in the gallery: liposuction of the outer thigh with fat transfer to the lateral buttocks, where the hip meets the buttock. Cases RLP-0601 and RLP-0763 are revision liposuction patients from other surgeons whose hip dents and lateral buttock dents were filled with fat grafts. Case BBL-5047 is a natural-looking BBL with the hips, waist and back liposuctioned; BBL-0365 and BBL-0765 are BBLs with the trunk harvested. See the full BBL before and after photos.

Risks and safety

This operation carries the risks of liposuction and of fat grafting together. Here is what can happen, what Dr. Cat does to prevent it, and when to call us.

What can go wrong

Bruising, numbness, a seroma, a hematoma or an infection at the entry points
Dents and shelves in the donor areas from over-aggressive suctioning
Firm lumps (fat necrosis) where fat does not survive, asymmetry between the hips, or more resorption than expected
Fat embolism, fat entering the large veins of the buttock: the cause of the BBL deaths, traced to fat injected into or beneath the gluteal muscle
A blood clot in the leg, bleeding, or a reaction to anesthesia: rare, and the reason you walk the first night

How Dr. Cat reduces these risks

Fat placed only in the subcutaneous layer, above the gluteal muscle and never into it, with a blunt cannula in slow passes: the plane the plastic surgery societies set as the standard
Gentle multi-phase liposuction with thin cannulas, no heat devices, and a thin cushion of fat left under the skin
Fat washed rather than spun and placed in fine threads rather than pools
A physician anesthesiologist in her QUAD A accredited surgery center, one patient that day, within the five-liter legal limit
Walking the first night, the garment and foam, six weeks without pressure on the grafts, no lymphatic massage, and follow-up visits until she clears exercise

Call us right away for a fever over 101°F, spreading redness, warmth or foul-smelling drainage at an incision; a soft swelling that sloshes when pressed; a firm lump over the hip or in the buttock that is tender or growing; or pain that keeps getting worse on one side.

Call 911 first, then us, for shortness of breath, chest pain, a racing heart or confusion, most likely in the first 72 hours; for pain or swelling in one calf; or for bleeding that does not stop with pressure. For anything else, Dr. Cat and our staff are available throughout your recovery.

How much does hip dip surgery cost in Beverly Hills?

Fat transfer to the hips on its own, with limited liposuction, is about $35,000 to $45,000 with Dr. Cat, quoted at your consultation. When the hips are treated with a BBL, the whole plan is one surgery at about $65,000 to $71,000; with a lipo 360 harvest of the whole trunk, the liposuction is about $53,000 to $60,000 plus fat grafting to the hips at about $6,125 per side. The quote follows the liposuction the plan needs and where the fat goes, so a hip dip case can cost the same as a BBL or more; fat that is not transferred cannot be banked, so the decision is made before surgery. Every quote is itemized and complete, with no second invoice after surgery.

The price reflects one surgeon who performs every stroke of the liposuction and every pass of the transfer herself, one patient per surgical day, a physician anesthesiologist and an accredited facility. Please do not fall for cheap or fast surgery: fat placed in the wrong layer can be fatal, and liposuction done fast leaves dents that are often irreversible. Our BBL cost guide explains what a quote is made of and what the surgery costs elsewhere.

Consultation fee and financing

A consultation with Dr. Cat is $500, or $1,500 for a revision consultation, credited in full toward your surgery. The practice partners with Cherry, its primary financing partner, and also accepts CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit; see financing and payment plans. Hip dip surgery is cosmetic and not covered by insurance. Your surgery date is booked once the quote and pre-op paperwork are signed and the $2,500 deposit is paid; quotes are valid for six months.

Your consultation with Dr. Cat

It starts with a free 15-minute discovery call with our Patient Concierge. At the consultation, in person on Rodeo Drive or, for out-of-town patients, by private video consultation through OnPatient, the HIPAA-secure patient portal, Dr. Cat examines you standing: the width of the pelvis, the projection of the bony point at the top of the thigh, the fat above and below the dip, the pinch in each donor area, and any asymmetry you may not have noticed. Bring photos of hips you like. She tells you what your anatomy can reach and whether the buttocks should be part of the plan, and you leave with an itemized written quote.

A line, not a size

A hip dip is the shape of the pelvis showing through, and no exercise fills it. I fill it with your own fat, in the layer under the skin, a little at a time, and I turn you during surgery until the curve runs from the waist into the thigh without a break from the front, the back and the side. I do not use implants or fillers in the hips: your own fat becomes part of you, and nothing else does.

Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACSBoard-certified plastic surgeon, Beverly Hills

Book a free discovery call

The dip is bone; the fix is your own fat

Fat harvested gently, washed and placed over the hip in small passes, no implants and no filler, one patient per surgical day, and a recovery most patients manage with Tylenol. It starts with a free 15-minute discovery call.