Calf Augmentation and Reduction

Who does it?
Plastic Surgeon
Cosmetic Doctor

What is it?
You can’t win, can you? If a woman’s calves are too chunky and muscular, she feels it makes her look too masculine, but too far the other way – with excessively skinny, shapeless calves – and she feels she is lacking in womanly curves.

For men, calves that are thin and resistant to exercise can make them feel less manly than their contemporaries. Thankfully, there are procedures available to deal with both these problems, both surgical and non-surgical.

Calf augmentation is the more common procedure here in the UK, with calf reduction being more popular in Asia, although there are a few practitioners who will offer calf-slimming treatments over here.

Who is suitable?
If your calves are very thin and you find it impossible to build up muscle in that area despite regular exercise, you may be a candidate for calf augmentation. This is also offered as a reconstructive procedure for those who have lost volume in their calves due to illness or injury.

Calf reduction is more complex, as big calves can be due to excess fat or to unusually wide calf muscles. A thorough consultation will determine which of these is your problem, and thus which procedure would be most suitable for you.

There are non-surgical options for both these procedures, which can be performed by a cosmetic doctor, but it might not be possible to treat your case without surgery, so it is advisable to seek the advice of a specialist before booking yourself in.

What's the treatment like?
Calf augmentation can be performed in one of three ways, using Fat Transfer, Body Fillers or calf implants.

For calf implants, the surgeon will make an incision in the crease at the back of your knee and insert a silicone implant. These can be either silicone gel or solid silicone, and come in a variety of shapes and sizes to suit your frame and physique.

The procedure takes up to two hours and is usually performed under a general anaesthetic.

Calf reduction can be achieved by some very specialised practitioners using Botox injections (see Muscle Relaxing Injections), if your problem is to do with the muscle in your calves.

If, however, your calves are big due to stubborn pockets of fat, which are resistant to diet and exercise, you may be best to seek Liposuction.

Another option for overly muscular calves is a procedure called ‘selective neurectomy’. This is a surgical operation, where the nerves going into the calf muscles are disconnected.

Surgery takes less than an hour and can be performed either under general anaesthetic or using an epidural.

What happens afterwards?
After calf augmentation surgery, you should rest with your leg elevated, to reduce swelling, for about 24 hours, before starting post-surgery exercise and resuming normal activities.

If you have had selective neurectomy treatment you should be able to go home on the day of surgery but will not be able to lift your heels for about three months.

You should be able to return to your normal exercise routine within six months, and somewhere between three and six months a process called ‘muscle compensation’ will occur, where the new, smaller muscles will begin to function normally again.

Will I have a scar?
Both these procedures will produce a scar in the crease at the back of the knee, but this will fade over time and is not usually obvious to the casual observer.

Botox injections will not cause a scar, but the effects will only be temporary and you'll have to go for a top up in nine months.