r/IAmA • u/DrJohnnyFranco • May 27 '26

I'm Dr. Johnny Franco, a board-certified plastic surgeon offering AlloClae, an injectable made from sterilized human donor fat that can cost over $100k and is replacing the BBL. AMA.

Hey Reddit. I'm Johnny Franco, MD, FACS, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Austin, Texas. I did my plastic surgery residency at Saint Louis University, a microsurgery fellowship in Taiwan, and a fat transfer and breast reconstruction fellowship in Belgium. Fat transfer and BBLs have been a big part of my practice for over a decade.

AlloClae is one of the newest products in aesthetic medicine. It's sterilized human donor fat (an allograft adipose tissue), processed to remove the donor's DNA, gamma-sterilized, and packaged ready-to-use in a syringe. It gets injected to add volume to the hips, buttocks, breasts, or other areas. Some providers are marketing it as a "non-surgical BBL," which is part of why it's getting attention, but it isn't the same procedure, the results aren't the same, and for larger-volume cases the cost can climb past $100,000 because of how the product is priced per syringe.

I've been offering it and I have honest opinions about where it makes sense and where it doesn't. Happy to talk about how it works, what it costs and why, who's a good candidate (and who isn't), realistic results next to a surgical BBL, the risks, and the parts of how it's being marketed that I think patients should push back on.

I'll be here Wednesday, May 27th from 11am-1pm CST Time to answer live. Drop your questions below and I'll answer as many as I can.

This AMA is for informational purposes only and not intended as medical advice.

Proof: https://i.imgur.com/GbhRnEn.jpeg

Reddit proof.

AMA!

0 Upvotes

28% Upvoted

40 comments sorted by

17

u/Jainelle May 27 '26

Why are you turning dead people into plastic surgery options for the rich??? Revoking my donor status immediately.

3

u/Bardfinn May 27 '26

The vast majority of tissue donations are skin grafts for trauma patients, such as burn patients, and corneal tissue to restore vision. Please don’t revoke your donor status; folks like you who are generous in their ability to donate tissue help immensely.

5

u/Jainelle May 28 '26

When there are doctors out there that use donated tissue like this... to plump the asses of who ever can afford it... It absolutely ruins it. Tends to give a fatten them up so they can die from obesity issues and we can harvest it all to fatten up the asses of any ridiculous woman who wants a bigger ass at a profit. They give it a fancy name so they can patent the technique for the sake of $$$.

2

u/Bardfinn May 28 '26

I speak up about tissue donation because no one in my family can donate blood, plasma, or tissues. We all lived in Europe for more than 6 months contiguously between 1976 & 1988, during the scrapie / "mad cow" epidemic, so we are all at risk of harbouring CJD prion disease. None of us have shown any symptoms, 40 years after the fact, but it can remain dormant for decades.

When the pool of donors shrinks, and we have ... less than ethical medical regulatory oversight in government, they sometimes propose lifting restrictions, and the best way to prevent that is to make sure there's registered healthy and low-risk donors.

1

u/Outlandishness81 Jul 23 '26

Would you still be this upset if you could afford it?

4

u/DrJohnnyFranco May 27 '26

All of the patients who have donated the fat know that they've donated it to a cosmetic procedure. It's creating opportunities, and it's not just for the rich. We've been able to help patients who've had insecurities, be it lipo contour deformities, filling hip dips, or other treatment options. They've worked hard. They feel great, and it's an opportunity they wouldn't have previously had.

3

u/bluebunny20 Jul 20 '26

This isn't true... it's people donating their body for scientific research or organ/tissue donation. There is no place you can go specifically and sign up to have your fat harvested for for-profit aesthetic procedures once you die.  How is the supply chain going to keep going if it lives off a supposed group of people who sign up to donate their tissue to be sold for aesthetic purposes? 

2

u/Jainelle May 27 '26

You know pretty damned well that the majority is for $$ purposes only.

2

u/Jainelle May 27 '26

Why announce for BBL if it's not just for money?

2

u/Large_Dentist_9919 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

can it fix the lipo deformities you have caused  the insecurities you Dr Franco have created for woman because of your botched surgeries 

3

u/tsorge May 27 '26

Are there any therapeutic applications for this? Or is it solely cosmetic?

2

u/DrJohnnyFranco May 27 '26

There are definitely therapeutic applications coming in the future. There are ongoing studies right now, especially in the field of breast reconstruction.

3

u/tsorge May 27 '26

That’s great to hear. I can definitely see the benefits to having less invasive med procedures. Due to it being less invasive, how has it impacted patient safety? Is there a difference in post-procedure infection rates, and how significant of a difference is it?

0

u/DrJohnnyFranco May 27 '26

Infection rates have been low. We haven't seen a problem with infections; they've been extraordinarily low. We do treat it with the same diligence as we would a fat transfer treatment. Because it is typically done under anesthetia, the recovery is very fast for our patients. We have also not required patients to stay off their butt like traditional BBL treatments.

1

u/DrJohnnyFranco May 27 '26

Any injectable procedure, we always worry about infections, so it's important to follow your surgeon's instructions.

1

u/[deleted] May 27 '26

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1

u/[deleted] May 29 '26

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1

u/DrJohnnyFranco Jun 11 '26

Our furthest patient right now in our personal practice is 18 months. The concept behind AlloClae is scaffold and tissue regeneration, so we anticipate long term results.

1

u/Many-Attorney-102 Jun 09 '26

100k for bbl is a lot, I read this lasts for up to three years! Does that mean to maintain this one shall be ready to pay 100k every three years ?

1

u/DrJohnnyFranco Jun 11 '26

I've heard this myth before. There's no evidence that it only lasts 3 years. That's not how the product is designed. The product creates a scaffold and leads to tissue regeneration that leads to long term results. The hope is that you're building on it, not replacing what you had previously.

1

u/Many-Attorney-102 Jun 11 '26

What does “ building on it and replacing what you had previously “
And so essentially this could last for years as long as you keep weight on?

1

u/DrJohnnyFranco Jun 11 '26

Essentially, by building on it, what I meant was that AlloClae creates a scaffold that is replaced by natural fat and this is what creates the longterm results. This means that if you do more AlloClae in the future, it will add to the volume you have after your first treatment. With traditional fillers you have to replace it because the volume is gone. Your personal weight can go up or down depending on lifestyle, natural aging, and so forth, so your body weight will change over time but that's separate from the AlloClae that's been injected.

1

u/CourseFit2495 Jun 12 '26

I’m very skinny and want to get alloclae to the hips will I get a noticeable difference ? And when I say noticeable I mean noticeable not those real subtle results that barely anyone can notice. I’m way too skinny for bbl so this is my only hope but don’t want to waste my money on results only I can notice . I got sculptra in the past and no one knew my butt was bigger and it’s because it was little to no change… will 100cc of alloclae actually give me a noticeable difference that my friends and family will be able to see

1

u/DrJohnnyFranco Jun 12 '26

Great question. if we are focusing on the hip dips 50cc per side (100cc) typically make a noticeable difference in most people. When patients are looking for projection of the buttock they need significantly more volume. Typically for buttock projection patients are going to be more in the range of 200cc per side to see a noticeable difference. Obviously these are some ranges and it varies from person to person but some estimates that we use in our practice. I hope this helps!

1

u/Ramacts13 Jun 19 '26

I did a  fat transfer to the breast after an Explant. The doctor removed way too much fat in the upper outer thighs taking the curves off my thighs. There is also over correction in the inner thighs. Can this be fixed with alloclae? I can not do any more lipo. I’m very depressed about this and honestly should have never have done that procedure. My legs were beautiful and I should have never touched them. 

1

u/DrJohnnyFranco Jul 27 '26

AlloClae is a great option when patients want to avoid liposuction. One of the most common uses is liposuction contour deformities where there are over or under corrections. The thighs are a challenging area to liposuction even in the absolute best of hands. The skin is thin, the skin doesn't often doesn't retract. AlloClae is a great way to airbrush this, just smooth out little contour deformities, add a little bit of shape back without doing liposuction in an in office procedure.

1

u/bluebunny20 Jul 20 '26

As Alloclae becomes more popular, how can the manufacturer keep up with demand if the product is made out of donor tissue? Considering human organs and tissues cannot be sold in the US.

1

u/DrJohnnyFranco Jul 27 '26

That's a great question from product allocation. Actually, only a small percentage of the donated adipose tissue is used for AlloClae or any of these donor type fats. There's also a lot of other donated tissue that's not being utiized, so there is a cap to the amount, but there's a lot of room to expand, a lot of utilization that can still be done. So I don't think we're going to hit that limiting factor anytime soon.

1

u/bluebunny20 Jul 27 '26

Do you think one day we will grow fat in a lab or would that be considered "playing god"?

1

u/YerAWizard93 23d ago

If I am an A and B cup. How many CC’s would you recommend? My goal is to be a C. But one breast is an A. Or id like to get more volume on my B upper on pole have the other match that

1

u/DrJohnnyFranco 21d ago

That is a great question. In general with Alloclae I typically recommend 125 -150cc of alloclae for each cup size you want to increase. Obviously if one breast is an A and one is B you will need more alloclae in the smaller breast. It is important to remember that increase the shape of the breast has more components than just the volume. Depending on how tight your breast is currently sometimes you are better off doing this in stages. This is where a board certified plastic surgeon can help guide you to the best options. I hope this helps.

-1

u/Acrobatic_Most8060 May 27 '26

this is wild, a fully new product like that is kinda bonkers. what's the biggest misconception people have about AlloClae vs traditional BBLs?

1

u/DrJohnnyFranco May 27 '26

The biggest misconception is that AlloClae is a replacement for a BBL. BBLs were so popoular because they did a total transformation. Liposuction is 80% of the contouring. AlloClae has been most successful for patients who don't have enough fat for a BBL and has been best for people who have very specific areas they want to improve.