OF ORDER I could do a course and legally inject fillers in just 2 days
CHANGE ON FILLERS AND BOTOX
Sophia Boudjemaa had her lip filler done by a firm she found on Instagram that moved from place to place, rather than operating from a fixed base.
It was carried out so badly that she said she looked like she had been punched in the face.
And when she was examined by Dr Tijion Esho, of E4’s Body Fixers, he told her she could have ended up with necrosis – permanent death of her lip tissue.
Sophia, 30, who works in PR, said: “I found a firm on Instagram and contacted them, it was all done on Facebook Messenger.
“I didn’t know at the time that you’re meant to be offered a consultation and a cooling off period, which I didn’t get.
“I went in, sat in this rented room and they gave me a consent form with spelling mistakes on it and typos. Alarm bells should have started ringing then.”
She explained: “I wanted to have filler to balance out my top lip with my bottom lip – it’s always been smaller so I just wanted a little bit.”
Sophia, from Essex, paid £200 to have the fillers in 2016.
She says she was advised by the beautician to take a larger amount of filler – and she felt the procedure was worryingly quick.
She added: “I started swelling up immediately. It was so bad I looked like I’d been punched in the mouth on one side of my lip.
“She told me it was totally normal and gave me an ice pack. It took a week for the swelling to ease – but the filler was still not right.” She eventually had to have it dissolved and redone.
Sophia said: “I learned later it can swell like that when the person who is injecting doesn’t have the correct technique.”
She feels there needs to be tighter regulation on who can administer lip fillers.
She said: “These people who aren’t medical practitioners don’t have the knowledge or understand the anatomy of the face.
“It’s like a conveyer belt. But although 80 per cent could be fine, 20 per cent might not be.
“With no knowledge at all, I could go on a course and legally be injecting lip fillers in two days.
“It’s a medical procedure – I don’t know why we’re in a place where people without medical knowledge can administer that.”