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'Don't do it': Warning against cheap filler and Botox-style injections

Faye Kidd & Toni Connor

"Don't do it honestly, do not do it, it is not worth it."

That's Bekki Burns's advice for young people considering low-cost aesthetics procedures.

Bekki said she developed vascular erosion after getting a "cheap deal" on a lip filler procedure at a local beauty clinic.

Six years later, she has urged the health minister to introduce stricter regulations on who is allowed to ister filler and Botox-style injections in Northern Ireland.

Last December, all of Northern Ireland's political parties ed a Sinn Féin motion calling for stricter regulation of the aesthetics industry.

The Department of Health has said they have no current plans to introduce mandatory licensing for non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

Bekki is calling on the health minister to make tougher laws around who is able to ister injectable cosmetic procedures

Bekki told Sunday Politics Northern Ireland she saw a "cheap deal" for half a millilitre of lip filler for £45 from a "new girl" in her area.

Straight after the procedure she said she was in "severe pain" and she noticed her lips turned white.

After a few hours, her lips were purple and swollen and later turned "lumpy in places".

She later found out she had vascular erosion from the injectable hitting a blood vessel on her lips.

"I could have been really severely disfigured," she told BBC News NI.

She underwent additional procedures in an attempt to fix the outcome, but she said she was "never really happy with what happened".

'Homer Simpson pout'

Handout A close shot of a woman's face with swollen red lipsHandout
Bekki says her lip filler still hasn't dissolved after six years of migration

Six years later, she said her lip filler still hasn't dissolved.

"I can see shadow of where its migrated.. I always joke with my friends when you see it - it's like Homer Simpson, like I've got a Homer Simpson pout."

"I've had loads of people asking me 'why don't you just go and get it dissolved"Composite image, Tanya and Chris. Tanya has her hair tied back in a middle parting. She has a black v neck top on. She is smiling at the camera sitting down. Behind her is a shutter and white drawers with little packets in them. Chris has black short hair. He is wearing grey black scrubs with a v neck. Behind him is a hospital sink, soap and a hand glove machine. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/>

Trained nurse and aesthetics business owner Tanya Khan, and surgeon Chris Hoo, think injectables should only be given by medically trained professionals

Chris Hoo is plastic surgeon at the Belfast City Hospital and Kingsbridge Private Hospital.

He treats between 15 and 30 patients seeking intervention from surgical and non-surgical 'botched' jobs each year.

"From a non-surgical or injectable perspective, it is usually either that a product is in the wrong place or a product has been used for the wrong reason," he explained.

He thinks that injectables should only be given by medically-trained professionals.

"When it comes to Botox that's easy, Botox is a prescription drug," he said, adding he believes it should only be istered by trained practitioners, typically a doctor with prescribing authority.

For filler and the "myriad of other products that are out there", Dr Hoo thinks there should be "proper training".

"And even then, I think basic degrees in nursing, doctors, dentists - is not enough," he said.

"I think people should have a more robust training scheme - accredited training and registration with an accredited body - before they are allowed to do these things."

Cross-party

Campaign group Save Face, a of accredited practitioners and clinics, received 136 complaints in Northern Ireland last year over injectable complications.

In December last year, all of the parties ed Sinn Féin MLA and former chair of the health committee Liz Kimmins' motion calling for tighter regulations to prevent complications.

Amendments from DUP MLA Dianne Dodds and Ulster Unionist MLA Alan Chambers called on the health minister to ban Botox being istered to under-18s.

A ban on Botox-style injections for teenagers has been introduced in England already and there are plans to do the same in the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

In April 2022, the Health and Care Act 2022 gave the UK health and social secretary the power to introduce a licensing regime for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England.

'No plans' for legislation

Linda has blond hair to her shoulders. She is wearing a burgundy leather coat and a cream and black striped shirt. She is sat in an office with a desk and computer visible in the background
Linda Dillon sits on the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Health

In a statement, the Department of Health said they have "no current plans to introduce mandatory licensing for non-surgical cosmetic procedures".

"Any future review of regulation is contingent on available resources," they added.

Linda Dillon said it is "really important" for Health Minister Mike Nesbitt to "deliver on what the asks of that motion were" and bring forward legislation.

"No legislation to date has come before the committee in relation to anything," she said.

"That's what we're here to do, and we are absolutely up for helping."

You can watch Sunday Politics Northern Ireland at 10:00 GMT on BBC One.

Cosmetic surgery
Cosmetics
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Assembly
Beauty salons
Beauty standards