A MUM was left with two ‘bullet wound’ holes in her bum after an agonising budget Brazilian butt lift she bought on Facebook.
Melissa Crawford had always been self conscious of her “flat” behind and she searched for ways to feel more confident in her body after childbirth left her looking like an “ironing board”.
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At first, the 30-year-old thought about going to Turkey to undergo a “liquid BBL” but as a busy mum-of-three she decided to find a salon offering the treatment closer to home.
The victim support worker stumbled across a beautician on Facebook and booked an appointment.
Melissa says she forked out £1,700 to undergo a non-surgical butt lift and a round of eyebrow filler.
But when she underwent her liquid BBL on May 8 this year, Melissa says she was left in “excruciating” pain as one-litre of filler was injected into her backside with a “lipo-sized” needle.
Melissa claims she was never told to sign any documents or shown what products were being put into her.
She described the pain as worse than childbirth and 24 hours after undergoing the beauty procedure she says abscesses began growing on her bottom.
Melissa claims she reached out to the aesthetician about the infection and issues with her eyebrow filler.
After allegedly being advised to use an electric toothbrush to calm her swollen face, the mum was ignored.
Melissa was prescribed antibiotics by her GP to bring down her fever but was still experiencing pain by May 17.
She reached out to another aesthetician, who told her to go straight to hospital.
Despite having the filler drained and the abscesses removed, Melissa says she’s been left with two scars and dents like bullet wounds on her buttocks.
Melissa, from Belfast in Northern Ireland, said: “I have always been really self conscious about my bum because it’s quite flat.
“Growing up I was more of a boob girl than a bum girl and then I had kids and my boobs went. I just look like an ironing board.
“[When I found the beautician], I had never heard of the salon before but she had been sharing things on Facebook.”
Beauty therapists can offer treatments in the UK but aestheticians are more highly trained and qualified in skincare treatments.
The Government has more recently recognised the lack of regulation in the cosmetic industry and is considering a licensing scheme, with a high bar of training standards, to reduce harms to the public.
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Melissa said: “Not a lot of places offered bum filler and it was so hard to find. The beautician said she had done it [bum filler] on herself so I thought this was a good sign.
“She did the bum filler first. She just asked if I was allergic to anything but I didn’t have to sign anything.
“I remember panicking here as I didn’t think this was a good sign, but I wanted the treatment done so badly.
“She didn’t show me what she was going to use and didn’t show me any of the expiry dates on the products.
“She just got a big see-through bag with pre-filled syringes. It was so heavy and massive.
“She injected me with lidocaine [for numbing] in a few spots on my bum.
“It looked like a lipo needle. I could feel it and didn’t think I’d be able to do it.
“She filled one cheek and then filled the other side. She had suggested one-litre filler in my bum.
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“I was stuck to the bed in sweat. My clothes were soaked and I was biting my hand.
“It was excruciating. When she was done, I was so relieved. I felt like I was going to pass out.”
At this point, Melissa was told to sit down but she couldn’t from the pain.
“She [the beautician] said it was just swelling and I would need to lay on my stomach for the first night but then I would be okay.
“I would have children again in a heartbeat [the pain was that bad]. I said to the beautician it was like bordering death. It was terrible.”
Within 24 hours of getting the procedure done, Melissa said “massive golf ball”-sized abscesses appeared on each cheek.
I was in agony. It was like this horrible throb and I felt like somebody had just pushed a brick in my bum that was scalding
Melissa Crawford
“I kept messaging the beautician the whole time and she told me she didn’t trust the GP as they didn’t understand aesthetics,” the mum recalled.
“She said she would send photos to her people but just never got back to me on this.”
Aside from the swelling, Melissa was suffering from a number of other physical side effects, feeling “lightheaded” and unable to eat.
“Even with the medicine given by the doctor, I was waking up in the middle of the night and sweat was lashing off me.
“I was in agony. It was like this horrible throb and I felt like somebody had just pushed a brick in my bum that was scalding.”
‘PERMANENTLY SCARRED’
Melissa underwent surgery to have the filler drained from her body and abscesses removed from her bottom on May 21.
She says she was left with two “gaping” holes in her backside and “hip dips” from having the filler removed.
Melissa said: “The surgeon told me he needed to remove [the filler] now as it was in my bloodstream.
“I was rushed in for emergency surgery and I came out with two holes in my bum.
“They were massive and this is where they had removed the abscesses from.
“I had to have my holes packed every day. It looked like I had two massive stab or bullet wounds [in my bum].
Danger of luiquid BBLs
A liquid BBL is a non-surgical procedure that usually involves injecting hyaluronic acid – the same material used for lip filler – into the bum.
Save Face – a government approved register for medical aesthetic treatments – has warned of an alarming increase in patient complaints around the ops.
“We have seen an alarming increase in the number of patient-reported complaints relating to non-surgical breast augmentation and BBLs using large volumes of hyaluronic acid dermal fillers,” it said.
“The severity of complications caused by these procedures is alarming.
“Over 50 per cent of the cases reported have resulted in severe and life-threating complications including infections, sepsis, and abscesses that have required hospital admission and often surgical intervention.
“The remainder of the complainants reported unsightly outcomes, severe pain, hard lumps, and filler migration.”
In a report, Save Face flagged that all the procedures resulting in complaints were carried out by non-healthcare professionals.
It added that 98 per cent of patients had found their practitioner on social media.
Ninety-eight per cent of complaints were misdiagnosed as swelling or bruising and 87 per cent of patients were blocked or ignored by practitioners after complaining.
It called on the government to take immediate action to ban these procedures from the high street, in order to protect the public.
“One of the holes was two inches deep and the other one was slightly smaller.
“I was devastated. At the time, I was just relieved to get it [the filler] out and recover from this.
“But as time went on, I had big massive dents in it.
“Where your bum naturally fills out, I have two gaping holes and dents in it so it looks like I have hip dips all the way around my bum now and it looks horrendous.
“They are massive and take up most of the side of my bum. I will be permanently scarred from it.”
PUT OFF FOR LIFE
As well as her liquid BBL, Melissa claims the eyebrow filler carried out by the beautician left her looking like “Quasimodo”.
Melissa said: “My eye was droopy. It was causing my eyelash extensions to point downwards and I couldn’t see and it felt so heavy. I felt like Quasimodo.
“She said I would be okay and told me to use an electric toothbrush on it to help the muscles.”
Melissa says the whole experience has put her off getting filler for life and is now warning others about her own physical and mental repercussions following her treatment.
Melissa said: “I can’t wear jeans or dresses. I just wear baggy clothes now. I can’t go in for any kind of surgery now to fix it so I’m stuck with this for life.
“It was my biggest insecurity and now I feel stupid. It breaks my heart.
“It has put me off filler for life. I have had chin, cheek and botox in my jaw and lip and teardrop filler and it’s put me off everything. It’s given me the scare I needed.
I always thought it was just a BBL surgery in turkey that was meant to be dangerous and this was the safer option but it’s really not and it’s not worth it
Melissa Crawford
“It haunts me now. My children are all girls and they have asked me why I did this.
“Looks fade but your personality stays forever. When beauty standards change, you’re going to be left with all this filler in your body.
“I always thought it was just a BBL surgery in Turkey that was meant to be dangerous and this was the safer option but it’s really not and it’s not worth it.”
The beautician said she takes any claims or concerns about her professional work “very seriously”, but due to patient confidentiality and the sensitive nature of these issues, she was unable to comment on specific cases or individuals.
However she claimed that all treatments provided by her are carried out with “utmost care, adhering to the highest standards of safety and professionalism”.
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