Student who won free lip filler in £10 Facebook raffle left looking 'beaten'

20 September 2023 , 14:06

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Ellie straight after the treatment (Image: Jam Press)

A student said she was left looking like she had been 'punched in the face' after winning a filler treatment advertised on Facebook.

Ellie Gallear from Staffordshire, won the cosmetic treatment after entering a £10 raffle on Facebook at a salon, and thought she would give it a go after seeing her friends get lip filler in the past.

However, just hours after the treatment Ellie noticed that something wasn't quite right, and claims she woke up the next morning with a severe allergic reaction.

"All of my friends have had them done, no problem. They always look gorgeous and plump.," she said.

Ellie alleged that she knew "instantly" something was wrong. When she got home, her lips felt quite hot, painful and enlarged.

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Ellie before her botched lip filler (Jam Press)

The next morning Ellie phoned the salon, where the student claims she was told by the beautician to take an antihistamine for the reaction. "The day after I thought [that] this isn’t right," she said. "I phoned her up and when she told me how much she had put in I completely freaked out."

She claims the reason why her lips had swollen was because the beautician had put 1.7ml in – above the 1ml standard limit. At this point, Ellie was sick with worry and thought her lips were going to burst. The unfortunate student thought she would be alright given that she had no allergies.

"I messaged somebody I knew who was fully trained and she told me to get it dissolved, "said Ellie. She waited a week hoping it would eventually go down by itself.

"My partner kept telling me how bad it was and said I looked like I had been punched in the mouth," Ellie added. "A lot of my family thought the same. I'm just too scared for anybody to touch my lips again."

Given her horrifying experience, Ellie decided to let her botched lips naturally dissolve as she no longer trusts "anybody to go near them." Now, three months after the botched procedure, Ellie is still sporting a swollen lip but hopes her experience will serve as a warning to others.

She pleads people to "just do your research" and not to got to anybody thinking it will be fine. "Turns out doing something to make you feel good actually makes you feel worse," she added. "I’m all for anybody’s lips to look nice just make sure you go to someone who’s good at it. As soon as I get them properly dissolved I will never, ever touch anything filler-based again."

Zesha Saleem