Women left needing urgent care after botched bum lifts

Hundreds of women are being rushed to hospital after getting botched bum lifts and breast enlargements from unregulated practitioners as campaigners call for better regulation of the procedures.

- MAYA OPPENHEIM

The non-surgical procedure, which can legally be carried out by untrained individuals in the UK, involves injecting hyaluronic acid to change the shape of the buttocks or breasts.

Data shows that botched bum lifts have permanently disfigured women and required surgery to rectify the defective work.

One woman told The Independent she was put in a coma for four days after a liquid bum job went wrong. She said the ordeal has left her with chest and arm pain.

Another, Monique Sofroniou, an aesthetics practitioner based in London, told The Independent she had a liquid bum lift that failed around two years ago.

“I was in the worst pain of my life,” the 30-year-old recalled. “In the middle of the night after the procedure, I woke up being really sick. The area was really red and hot and then I had a really high temperature.”

She was then forced to go to the hospital where she was informed she had an infection and was placed on a drip, Ms Sofroniou added. “I had to stay in hospital for a week,” she said. “The pain was unbearable.”

She had to go to accident and emergency around three times once back at home and ended up having an operation to have some of her dead skin removed – adding that she was in “really bad pain” for around two months.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, urged people “to avoid putting their lives at risk by having cosmetic treatments, such as bum lifts and breast augmentation, from unregulated practitioners”.

He added: “It is alarming to hear of cases of this happening, with some people ending up in hospital with serious complications. This clearly needs robust regulation – these types of procedures can have severe, life-changing, and in some cases, life-threatening consequences.”