Engineer, 25, who couldn’t TALK after botched £340 fillers has 13 pea-sized cysts removed from her lips by Body Fixers doctor
A 25-YEAR-old who spent £340 on fillers in a bid to feel “more feminine” was left horrified after the botched procedure left her with 13 pea-sized cysts in her lips.
Rachel Green, from Newcastle, who decided to have the cosmetic treatment after seeing the plump pouts of Kylie Jenner and Michelle Keegan, struggled to talk, drink or whistle because of the severity of the painful lumps.
The Royal Navy weapons engineer sought the help of Body Fixers’ Dr Esho, who drained the cysts and then injected a dissolving agent to remove the remaining filler.
“I’ve been surrounded by blokes for eight years now because of my job and they’ve worn off on me,” she told The Sun Online. “I wanted the lip fillers to feel a little bit more feminine.
“I know that sounds ridiculous but all the girls on social media look flawless and many of them have had enhancements like lips fillers. It’s cheap. I thought I’d give it a go.”
In March 2016, on the recommendation of a friend, Rachel booked in for an appointment with a local nurse who had done a day’s training course in lip fillers.
The procedure took place at the woman’s home, in her spare bedroom.
Rachel said: “I did feel uneasy. There were loads of kids and a dog running around. I was taken into a spare bedroom that had been converted into a beauty room.
“I didn’t feel as if I was in a clean enough environment. There was a plaque on the wall that said she’d done a day course.
“But after doing a day course you shouldn’t just start injecting fillers into people’s faces.”
Rachel said the nurse wore gloves and sterilised the needles, but didn’t use a numbing agent.
“It was painful. She didn’t using a numbing cream because she said I’d just be sitting around for 30 minutes,” she said.
“The whole thing only took 10 minutes, it was very quick. She warned me that I might get lumps and recommended that I massage them out.”
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The day after the procedure, Rachel’s lips were covered in 13 pea-sized lumps, which she thought would go down with the swelling after a couple of weeks.
However, when the cysts were still visible eight months later, she returned to the practitioner.
“She put more filler in to cover them, hoping it would mask the lumps but it made it worse,” she said.
Rachel paid £340 for the two treatments. She says official, medical practitioners can charge anything from £250 to £400 a time.
“My lips would get quite painful. Some days it was fine but other days it was really annoying,” she said.
“People would notice them as well and ask what was on my lip. I was worried they were going to get infected and that the lumps would burst.
“I couldn’t drink or whistle, they were so swollen. I struggled to talk for the first couple of weeks. I felt insecure about the lumps and I’d try and hide them.”
Rachel said her boyfriend Darren Finch, 28, even “refused” to kiss her.
In a bid to sort out her botched lips, Rachel headed to cosmetic doctor, Dr Tijion Esho of Body Fixers. He runs The ESHO Clinic in London and Newcastle.
Explaining what went wrong with Rachel’s lips, Dr Esho exclusively told The Sun Online: “The filler has been injected too superficially in the lip.
“It shouldn’t be visible like that. It’s a mixture of poor technique and poor placement.”
He has seen a rise in botched lip jobs over the past few years, which he blames on the pressures of social media, celebrity culture and the accessibility of the treatments.
“There needs to be more regulation. The scariest thing right now is that we have more things to protect us from a sunbed than from injecting dermal fillers into your face,” he said.
“You could get hold of some dermal fillers from the internet, inject your friend and there would be no legal implications.
"That person could be below the age of 18 and, again, there would be no legal implications. That is scary.”
Lips no longer sealed: Dr Esho's advice for anyone considering lip fillers
- Cosmetic procedures are a want, not a need. Sit down and think if this is something you really want, and if you want if for the right reasons. Make sure you understand the risks.
- Seek out a medical professional. NHS England says that's a doctor, dentist or nurse who are registered with the appropriate body in the UK. These people should have valid insurance and be able to show it to you.
- Make sure you get it done in a clinical environment. The last place you want to go is someone's bedroom with a dog running around.
- Look at the person's work and ask to see previous examples. Don't just go by the photographs on their website or social media pages.
- Ask what the person will do if things go wrong. If that person, even if they are medically qualified, can't answer that question walk away.
In the programme, Dr Esho bursts the cysts with a needle to let the filler ooze out. He then uses a dissolving agent to remove the rest of the product from her lips.
He says Rachel is lucky her lips didn’t become infected.
“People think, because they’re semi-permanent fillers, they’ll just break down and the problem will go away but that’s not exactly correct,” he said.
“She’s lucky she came to me because she could have had some long-term problems.
“Rachel’s case is one of the worst I’ve seen. I always say it’s the worst ever but then someone else trumps it. It’s definitely the worst case I’ve seen on the show this series.”
Rachel admits she was influenced by celebrities but, shockingly, the experience hasn’t put her off having more work done.
“I was influenced by Kylie Jenner and Michelle Keegan,” she said. “If you have a subtle enhancement then it does look good.
"Obviously in cases like mine where it goes wrong, it looks horrendous.
“I would have it done again but with someone who knows what they’re doing. I’d make sure I did my research properly, which is what you need to do if you’re putting injections in your face.
"You might have a certificate on the wall but you need the experience to go with it.”
In May, we reported on a 22-year-old nurse who nearly lost her lips after having £220 fillers injected by her untrained hairdresser.
In August, a mum's face ballooned to five times its normal size after a botched filler jab.
Catch Body Fixers tonight at 9pm on E4