(NewsNation) — “Brazilian butt lifts” have grown in popularity as celebrity influencers including Kim Kardashian talk about the enhancement on their social media feeds. What many people don’t know is that these procedures have become one of the deadliest cosmetic surgeries.

In 2020, more than 40,000 butt lifts were performed by certified plastic surgeons in the United States. That’s a big increase from 2015, when 20,000 butt lifts were performed, according to statistics from the International Society of Plastic Surgery. .

Many people don’t realize the risk associated with cosmetic surgeries versus a plastic surgery, and not knowing the difference can be a matter of life and death.

In 2017, the procedure had the highest death rate of any cosmetic surgery, according to a group of leading clinical plastic surgery societies.

“Part of the danger involved with doing a Brazilian butt lift is that you’re blindly putting the cannula (needle) into the patient’s butt,” double-board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. David Shafer said during an appearance Tuesday night on “Banfield.” “You could inject it into a blood vessel, a muscle, or an area you don’t want it to go. It’s very dangerous, and you need to go to a person certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.”

Cosmetic surgeons “are not true plastic surgeons, and they haven’t gone through the rigorous training that a board plastic surgeon has done.”