Demands for ban on 'dangerous' filler injections after string of botched ops

14 December 2023 , 22:42

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Scarred: Louise Moller

A campaign group is demanding a ban on “dangerous” filler injections amid a surge of botched procedures, warning “it’s a matter of time” until someone dies.

Save Face reports an “alarming rise” in complaints about the non-surgical treatments, advertised on social media as “risk-free, cheap alternatives” to surgery.

The procedures – in which hyaluronic acid dermal fillers are injected into buttocks, hips and breasts – are growing in popularity. Save Face, which has a register of approved aesthetics providers, polled 2,000 medical professionals and found 99% refuse to do them due to the “significant” risks involved.

Yet “lay people” such as beauticians with no healthcare experience, are offering them, it said. Plastic surgeon Dr Paul Baguley, on the register, said: “The only outcome is an unquestioningly poor result at great cost to the patient, who is drawn in by false advertising into a dangerous environment with real potential of death from complications.”

Dead tissue needed to be removed from Louise's buttock

In the past year, Save Face has been contacted by over 200 people who had unwanted outcomes from so-called “liquid” bum or breast enhancements. Over 70% of them required hospital treatment and 39% needed corrective surgery. All were carried out by non-healthcare practitioners.

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Louise Moller, 27, from Bolton, almost died after getting sepsis following a non-surgical Brazilian butt lift (BBL) by a non-medical practitioner. Within days, her buttock became swollen and red but the practitioner advised her to take antibiotics which were not appropriately prescribed. She needed surgery to remove infected and dead tissue and was left in pain and scarred for life.

Naomi, 28, from Birmingham, also contracted sepsis after a non-surgical BBL and backed the ban.

Save Face’s Ashton Collins says “unscrupulous practitioners” charge about £2,000 per treatment and leave the NHS to manage complications.

Amy Sharpe