Like many women today, 37-year-old Hannah Hopkins from Oxford felt pressured to appear at her best at all times. With a job demanding hundreds of early morning flights abroad, Hannah decided to undergo eyeliner tattoo treatment as she thought that semi-permanent make-up would help her look polished throughout the day.

Hannah’s decision came after having already undergone microblading surgery on her eyebrows. According to a recent report, she did her homework by researching options and attended a Harley Street clinic in May 2018.

As soon as Hannah arrived at the venue, however, things went terribly wrong. Her practitioner was running 30 minutes late, eventually turned up wearing no shoes resulting from an alleged house fire, and kept referring to her by the wrong name.

Hannah was further worried when she requested to see the eyeliner shape sketched out and was told that, due to an anaesthetic gel already applied at this stage, it could cause blindness by opening her eyes. Already blind in one eye, Hannah had not been informed beforehand of what exactly the procedure would involve and possible related risks.

Once the tattooing began, the situation drastically worsened, described by Hannah as something like a scene from a ‘horror film’. She suffered ‘immense pain’, kept having her eyes wiped which she later discovered was because she was ‘bleeding so much’. Despite her protestations, she was pinned down, and ordered to ‘suck it up’ and ‘stop behaving like a baby’ as the practitioner wouldn’t stop until it was finished.

Afterwards, Hannah was covered in blood and had a swollen, purple face with ‘eyes like slits’. Even worse, the shape of the eyeliner on her eyelids was uneven and far from the natural look she’d aspired to.

Back home in Oxford the same day, Hannah attended A&E at her local hospital and was told by doctors that her eyelids had been cut because she has the wrong shape for this type of treatment. Initially prescribed six steroids a day for three days followed by a course of antihistamines, paracetamol and ibuprofen, Hannah has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Correctional treatment to have the eyeliner removed by a skin repair expert is being undertaken over ten sessions across a two-year period charged at £650 per session. Doctors have advised they can’t treat any damage to her eyes until the eyeliner is fully removed.

It turns out that Hannah’s practitioner was uninsured. Her story is a stark warning to others about only embarking upon semi-permanent beauty treatments such as this with proven, insured specialists.

If you’ve experienced harm at the hands of a beauty therapist, contact us in confidence to ask about making a claim for compensation. Our dedicated legal team can progress a case on your behalf against both insured and uninsured individuals or salons.

To get in touch, email enquiries@beautytreatmentclaims.co.uk, call 0800 141 3682 from a landline for free, phone 0333 202 6560 from a mobile or complete our online enquiry form.

Tweet us: https://twitter.com/TreatmentClaims
Like us: https://facebook.com/TreatmentClaims

Following on from our last blog post about an 18 year old, Lauren Winstanley, who was hospitalised after a lip filler disaster (read ‘Lip fillers disaster for hospitalised teenager’), this week we share a similar report about a 34-year-old dentist from Bristol whose lips turned to ‘rock hard blue lumps’ after a filler procedure went horribly wrong.

Sarah Najjar had always admired other people’s ‘pillowed pout’, especially as she thought hers were becoming deflated, and paid £300 for lip fillers to emulate the desired look as a 30th birthday treat. During the procedure, Sarah was injected one millilitre of filler.

Afterwards, Sarah experienced some swelling but assumed it was a normal reaction. A week later, however, her lips were ‘very lumpy and uneven’ with ‘huge blue lumps’. She returned to the beauty therapist who’d first performed the surgery and was advised to have more filler injected to even them out. A further course of one millilitre of filler ensued.

With two millilitres of filler injected in the space of just two weeks, things went from bad to worse. Sarah’s lips became badly swollen and ‘rock hard’.

In hindsight, Sarah acknowledges that she didn’t research sufficiently, which was out of character, before having the work done. She wasn’t aware of the potential risks and complications, and readily admits it was ‘cheap for a reason’. Keen to reverse the damage, Sarah researched extensively and found that hyaluronidase injections can break down hyaluronic acid, the ingredient used in most lip fillers.

Sarah visited a dermatologist and paid £700 for an injection of hyaluronidase. Despite a slight allergic reaction to hyaluronidase, which was treated with antihistamines, her lips thankfully began returning to normal after two days, aided by Sarah massaging her lips to remove the lumps.

Keen to prevent others going through a similar trauma, Sarah decided to train in facial aesthetics at London’s Harley Street, and is now qualified to perform injectable fillers. Her ethos is to ensure patients fully understand what will happen and potential side effects during an enforced 24-hour cooling-off period before the procedure is undertaken.

Worryingly, lip fillers are often carried out by unskilled beauticians in an unsterile, non-clinical environment using unlicensed products. Such individuals can’t adequately deal with complications that may arise including having an inability to prescribe medication.

If you’re considering dermal fillers, heed Sarah’s warning and research thoroughly at the outset by scanning lists of accredited practitioners recognised by the Department of Health and NHS England. Be wary of those with cheap offerings and know what to do if you react adversely to treatment.

The latter – treatments gone awry – may well involve instructing a reputable law firm to pursue a legal claim for compensation. At Beauty Treatment Claims, this is our area of expertise. It’s our role to progress your case with those responsible for harm caused to you.

To find out more on what we do and to request our support, email enquiries@beautytreatmentclaims.co.uk, call 0800 141 3682 from a landline for free, phone 0333 202 6560 from a mobile or complete our online enquiry form.

Tweet us: https://twitter.com/TreatmentClaims
Like us: https://facebook.com/TreatmentClaims

It’s 18 years since the actress Lesley Ash first brought lip filler treatments into the spotlight. In 2002, Lesley underwent a lip implant procedure that went horribly wrong and left her with badly swollen lips for which she was cruelly described ‘trout pout’. Lesley is now an active campaigner against cosmetic surgery and was recently featured on the Lorraine TV show advocating growing old naturally.

Perhaps testament to the growing pressures faced by women (and men) to look perfect and the ongoing selfie craze, lip fillers are more popular today than ever before including amongst younger women such as teenagers.

Despite the bad press surrounding lip fillers, there remains little regulation in place and operations are often performed in a non-clinical environment by someone without medical training which the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons claims is ‘hazardous even in the expert hand’. According to Lesley, who’s launched a two-part series called ‘Cosmetic Surgery Nightmares’ for ITV, one in ten Brits are considering cosmetic treatments.

It was reported recently that an 18 year old from Wigan, Lauren Winstanley, paid £170 for lip filler injections at a salon which gave her ‘sausage lips’ three times their normal size and oozed green pus.

Although assured by her beautician that the swelling was a normal, non-serious allergic reaction and could be resolved with antihistamines, Lauren went to hospital the following day and was prescribed a course of painkillers and antibiotics. Later, when the pain became unbearable, Lauren visited hospital again, this time undergoing surgery straightaway to get rid of the infection and remove the fillers, being hospitalised for a week overall.

With Lauren’s reasons for having lip filler treatment being low self esteem and a desire to wear lipstick properly on ‘plumper, better lips’, far from achieving her desired goals, she actually ended up feeling traumatised by the ordeal which has left her with ‘lumpy’ lips, a ‘sharp pain’ in her lower lip when pressed and ‘slightly numb’ feeling on the bottom left hand side.

Lauren eventually found out the salon owner had only been trained five months previously and possessed limited experience injecting fillers. She documented her nightmare in order to urge other women to do their research before embarking upon lip filler surgery, stating she’d ‘never wish that pain on anyone’.

At Beauty Treatment Claims, our advice to individuals who find themselves in a similar situation to Lauren is to get legal representation by a specialist law firm and pursue a claim for compensation. Compensation goes some way to recompense for distress caused and recover expenses paid such as correctional treatment.

We offer no win, no fee terms and provide a free initial consultation to set you off on the right track. Contact us in confidence by emailing enquiries@beautytreatmentclaims.co.uk, calling 0800 141 3682 from a landline for free, phoning 0333 202 6560 from a mobile or completing our online enquiry form.

Tweet us: https://twitter.com/TreatmentClaims
Like us: https://www.facebook.com/TreatmentClaims