In a dangerous new trend, people have started injecting their own cosmetic surgery. Here, medical aesthetician Dr Jaskaren Midha explains why it’s so worrying.
We all want to save money but resorting to doing your own dermal fillers by following a YouTube tutorial is horrendously dangerous.
Videos offering tutorials on self-injecting are hugely irresponsible and if you were to inject yourself incorrectly you could end up blind.
There are reported cases of blindness in the UK from dermal filler treatment because there are so many major arteries involved.
Vascular occlusion is another risk, this is caused when the blood flow can’t reach your tissues. It causes necrosis which means the tissue will die or your skin will breakdown leading to scarring.
The area that is being injected is called the Nasolabial fold – if it is not cleaned properly then injecting the area may lead to introduction of bacteria from the skin into the bloodstream leading to infections.
Only recently I had to treat a woman who got in touch after being treated by someone else. It went wrong and her top lip was dying. Luckily we saved it but this is the kind of thing that happens if you’re not seeing a professional.
A lot of cosmetic procedures have increased in popularity over the years because they are seen as ‘non-invasive.’ This does not mean they are without risk though or to be taken lightly. These are medical procedures and if something was to go wrong then you need to have a management strategy in place. If you are injecting yourself then how will you know the warning signs or what to do if something went wrong?
There is a lack of regulation around medical aesthetics and essentially anybody, anywhere can give a filler to someone else and that is wrong.
Do your research and respect yourself enough to do your research. This is your face we’re talking about.
