Booty pills, bargain BBLs and more: FOX13 Investigates discount body contouring services

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Big butts have been a big deal for decades. They are celebrated in song, dance and pop culture.

That big deal keeps getting bigger.

In the era of Ozempic and the Brazilian butt lift, or BBL, people’s dream bodies are within their grasp, but they can come with a large price tag.

“When I first started, I got maybe one client a week,” Yolanda Johnson, owner of the Lavish Body Bar, said. “Now, I’m at maybe 18-20 in a week.”

Johnson is better known as the Lipo Lady. She offers budget body contouring and weight loss services, which she advertises on social media and on her SUV, which is emblazoned with the words “booty pills” and her phone number.

She’s one of many offering services like lipo, butt injections and more around the Mid-South at a fraction of the price compared to plastic surgery.

One of her selling points compared to the work done by plastic surgeons are her claims that her operations are non-invasive, which means there is no cutting, probing or working underneath the skin.

FOX13 paid her a visit to see exactly what she is doing.

First, she showed her line of pills, including ones meant for weight loss, weight gain, female enhancement and, of course, “booty pills.” The packaging for all of them states they offer “guaranteed results.”

Johnson said she makes all the pills herself using supplements and other ingredients she buys at Whole Foods. Supplements are not regulated by the FDA.

She then went over her hands-on treatments, explaining the equipment she uses and what each device does.

Johnson said her non-invasive lipo is a variation of a procedure called lipo cavitation. It involves an ultrasound device that used to heat up the fat inside your body.

To find out how that operation compares to traditional liposuction, FOX13 sat down with Dr. Roberto Lachica, a licensed plastic surgeon in Germantown.

“Cavitation in and of itself refers to the implosion of fat cells and the release of fat molecules,” Lachica said,

Lachica explained how the procedure is performed in a medical setting: after the fat is heated up, a tube is inserted under the skin to suck it out. The patient is sedated with anesthesia while all of this is happening.

With the Lipo Lady and others offering “non-invasive” lipo, though, the patient is awake and the fat is not sucked out after it is heated.

Johnsons said she instead wraps the area to reshape the fat.

“Everything is non-invasive,” she said.

Johnson’s version of the Brazilian butt lift is also different.

The medical operation involves putting the patient under anesthesia, removing fat from another area and injecting it in the butt. It must be performed by licensed medical professionals.

Johnson explained she uses large plastic cups to apply suction to the buttocks and inflate them.

For her butt injections, Johnson said she uses a product called a hyaluron pen to shoot collagen stimulators into her patients’ butts.

A hyaluron pen is a commercially available product that is advertised for use in at-home lip fillers. The pen is marketed as non-invasive because there are no needles involved. Instead, air pressure shoots the fluid through a tiny hole and into the skin.

The device is not FDA approved.

Johnson told FOX13 she does not have a medical background and that there is no oversight for the types of procedures she performs.

One of the most appealing parts of the services offered by Johnson’s Lavish Body Bar and other similar businesses is the price.

Sessions with Johnson cost hundreds of dollars compared to the thousands required for plastic surgery and anesthesia, though she does not promise the same results as surgery.

“They're going to take fat out of your stomach, your arms, your inner thighs and put it in your butt,” she said. “I'm more of a natural result."

There is also the recovery time.

Johnson said her patients can go straight to work from a session. With plastic surgery, patients can expect to be laid up for a while.

On the other hand, plastic surgeons are required to have years of training, insurance and a medical license.

“I would suggest to any patient who is trying to change their body shape, to have a better appearance and feel better about themselves, seek out somebody who is qualified to provide these procedures in a safe and effective manner,” Lachica said.

Are those tradeoffs worth the price difference?

The booty is in the eye of the beholder.