Dermatologists have seen an increase in the number of young women with scarring, infections and even vision impairment after botched lip fillers. 

The procedure involves an injection designed to increase the size of a person’s lip and, usually, this is done by a trained medical professional. 

However, people are increasingly booking themselves appointments with backstreet clinics who charge a lower price. 

On The Pat Kenny Show, dermatologist Professor Caitriona Ryan said it is far too easy to buy lip filler online. 

“You’re doing nothing illegal,” she said. 

“We’ve no idea what’s in these fillers, there’s no traceability and that’s where a lot of our concern is. 

“We don’t even know what these people are injecting into people.” 

'It can kill all of the tissue'

Professor Ryan said in the worst case scenario, people can suffer permanent physical damage. 

“If the filler is injected into a blood vessel, it can kill all of the tissue that that blood vessel supplies if it’s not dissolved immediately,” she said. 

“So, you could have awful scarring; I’m sure listeners have seen pictures of people with deformities afterwards - losing half their lip or whatnot. 

“It could also block blood vessels that supply the eye - so, someone could lose their vision.” 

While those are rare but very serious scenarios, Professor Ryan said infections are far more common. 

“These [procedures] are done sometimes in people’s homes, in beauty salons - so, not in sterile conditions,” she said. 

“So, people can get really bad infectious conditions. 

“I saw one girl who actually has scarring from the infection; she had big abscesses that needed to be drained a few times in hospital. 

“People can be allergic to them; so, they can have hypersensitivity reactions and these things can happen even in expert hands, by the way.” 

'Experts know how to treat complications'

Professor Ryan said experts know what to do when something goes wrong, while people who work in backstreet clinics hardly ever have medical training. 

“The experts know how to treat complications, they can prescribe antibiotics or steroids or dissolve it,” she said. 

“So, this is what we’re worried about.” 

In the Programme for Government, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael promised to, “Ensure the administration of dermal fillers is only undertaken by trained healthcare professionals.”

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Main image: Lip filler. Picture by: Alamy.com