Getting lip fillers is becoming increasingly popular. The procedure is relatively inexpensive, minimally invasive, and quick enough for you to do it on your lunch break. And, in addition to giving you a plump pout a la Kim Kardashian, they can smooth over wrinkles, bring some baby fat back to your cheekbones, and even help shape your nose. It's no wonder that, according to data from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, it was the second-most popular surgical procedure performed in 2017 (after breast augmentation).
However, it's imperative to get the procedure from a licensed professional, as the complications can be pretty extreme. Rachael Knappier of Leicester, England, learned this the hard way when she attended a Botox party at a friend's house and received an injection from a beautician.
Rachel, 29, had a small bump on the side of her lip that she's always been a little insecure about, so the allure of finally achieving the perfectly even contour she'd always dreamed of was too much to resist. When the beautician pierced her lip with the needle, Rachel felt a sharp pain, but, the beautician said that was perfectly normal (spoiler alert: it's not).
Later that night, Rachel awoke to find that her lips had swollen so much they actually touched her nose. Gasping and crying, Rachel called the beautician, who told her to take an antihistamine and put an ice pack on her ballooned lips and then go to the ER. When she got to the hospital, however, Rachel was told they couldn't do anything as she wasn't in any immediate danger—and that she would need to return to the beautician to get her filler dissolved.
Shocked and traumatized, she didn't leave the house for seven days.
"My biggest fear was that I was going to look like that for the rest of my life," Rachel told ITV. "That my lips were always going to be that size. That they were going to get bigger. That my lip was going to die. All those emotions go through your mind."
After visiting a private clinic in London, she finally managed to get the filler dissolved, and in three days her lips were back to normal. Now, she is trying to warn others of the dangers of receiving this kind of a treatment from anyone other than a medically-trained professional, and calling out for the aesthetic medical industry to be better regulated.
"I would not wish it on my worst enemy," she told the BBC.
For more horror stories we know about courtesy of the internet, don't miss this story of a bride who read her cheating groom's texts aloud at their wedding instead of vows.
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