Warning: Article contains graphic content
A woman has issued a warning to others after a ‘liquid BBL’ left her with permanent damage, despite spending thousands on the procedure.
Monique Sofroniou, 30, spent £3,000 to have one litre of filler injected into each of her bum cheeks, having previously undergone a Brazillian Butt Lift (BBL) the year before.
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She booked an appointment at what she thought was a reputable salon on 15 September 2022, but her excitement soon turned to horror when her temperature soared, she started vomiting and her bum became swollen and bright red.
Monique was rushed to Stoke Mandeville Hospital A&E in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, the following morning, and was in hospital for a week before being sent home with antibiotics.
However, the skin turned later black and began to ooze out the filler, as the mum-of-one had developed sepsis – a potentially deadly reaction to an infection that’s also known as blood poisoning.
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Monique later discovered that her ordeal - which she said was ‘worse than labour’ - was down to the practitioner having used non-dissolvable silicone, rather than hyaluronic acid that is typically used for fillers.
Monique, from London, said: "After the procedure I was really lightheaded, then that night I woke up and was being sick everywhere.
"I felt so ill. I had a temperature of 41 but I was shivering, freezing cold. I was being sick all night.
"My bum was swollen and very red around the area where you could see where the filler was. It was just getting redder and redder.”
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She went on: "I went to hospital and stayed in for a week on an antibiotic drip, but after I just went home with oral antibiotics.
"It just continued to get worse and worse to the point where I woke up and there were bumps of blisters with fluid inside them.
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"I didn't want to look at it, it made me feel sick.
"It was really burning to the point where I had to have ice packs on it, but even to put the ice pack on it where it was touching was agony. It was burning and stinging.
"It was the worst pain I've ever been through in my life, and I've had childbirth."
She had booked the 'liquid BBL’ on the recommendation of a friend, but claims she was only given the address for the procedure - which took place in a hotel room - the day before.
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"I thought filler would be a less invasive procedure, it's not supposed to be dangerous,” she said.
"I didn't know it wasn't going to be done in a clinic. When I got there they met me [at the address] and walked me to an opposite hotel, I thought, 'oh this is a bit weird'.
"I do think I probably should have walked out at that point and been like 'no' but because I knew quite a few people who had been there before I just thought it'd be fine."
Monique is now speaking out to encourage tighter regulations around the procedure, which not only triggered a relentless three-week cycle of GP and hospital visits, but also left her with permanent scarring that she plans to cover with a tattoo.
“A surgeon syringed some of the stuff out to see what it was,” she said.
"I was crying in agony while he was doing it, I said 'it's too painful, you've got to stop'. I went home with a plaster on it where he'd put a tiny little hole in one of the blisters - it was filler mixed with blood.
"The next morning when I woke up, where he'd put the hole in to syringe some stuff out, the skin had collapsed in on itself and [the whole area] had gone nearly black.
"It was awful, I didn't even want to look, I felt sick. It was so abnormal, I thought 'oh my God, what is going on?'.
"The surgeon said he thinks it was likely down to the fact that a high volume of this filler was put in and there was no room for it to go.
"That filler just needed to come out somewhere to the point it caused my skin to die, there was too much pressure on the skin.
"They didn't tell me it wasn't dissolvable. If they did, I'd never have had it done."
Monique said she’s ‘not after sympathy’, but is just desperate to raise awareness, saying the procedure needs to be ‘more regulated’.
“I don't think it will be banned but personally in my opinion I think it should be banned,” she said.
"No matter who carries it out or how it's regulated, the procedure itself is so high-risk so it's not worth it.”
According to the Government-approved register Save Face, 214 complaints have been made about non-surgical BBLs and breast augmentations since 2022, with 87 percent of these complaints requiring treatment at a hospital.
Save Face also reported that in 100 percent of cases, the procedure is carried out by non-healthcare professionals, with calls for the government to ban ‘liquid BBLs’ altogether.
Jess Hardiman