Serial and superficial suction for steatopygia (Hottentot bustle)

Steatopygia, from the Greek "steato" meaning "fat" and pygia meaning "buttocks," is defined as excessive fat of the buttocks, usually seen in women and sometimes called Hottentot bustle because it was commonly seen in the Hottentot people of southern Africa. This affliction is characterized by protrusion and excessive fatness of just the buttocks region. Our patient was not particularly overweight (166 lb) and had a reasonably thin waist and legs. However, her buttocks were so protruding as to appear to have been from a completely different person. She wore only full skirts and could never wear jeans or pants of any kind. By using both superficial and deep serial suction techniques we were able to remove 12.5 L of subcutaneous fat over a two-year period without hospitalization or exogenous transfusion. The superficial technique improved skin retraction.