Targeted lateral smoothing versus global gluteal augmentation — different goals, different volumes, different recoveries. Know which conversation is yours before anyone quotes you.
Hip dips: smooth the waist-to-thigh line — fill a specific lateral hollow. BBL: change the buttock itself — projection, size, global shape.
Hip dips: typically 150–400 cc per side. BBL: commonly litres across the whole unit — an order of magnitude more donor fat required.
Hip dips: accessible to slimmer patients — modest volumes need modest donor reserve. BBL: demands substantial harvestable fat by definition.
Hip dips: no side-lying ~3 weeks; sitting, back and front free — one of contouring's lightest recoveries. BBL: the famous no-sitting, no-back-lying protocol — a genuinely demanding fortnight-plus.
Hip dips: superficial lateral planes, modest volumes. BBL: a bigger operation with its own well-documented safety conversation — which deserves its own dedicated page, not a footnote here.
They combine when both are genuinely wanted — one harvest serving both goals, sized as one honest plan. But neither requires the other, and describing only your dips should never return a BBL quote. That's the upsell test; apply it everywhere, including here.
Describe your goal in your own words — the plan that comes back will match them, not inflate them.
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