Sepsis, skin necrosis and scarring: the true toll of unregulated aesthetic procedures

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By Erin Dean

As the popularity of poorly regulated aesthetic treatments skyrockets, doctors are having to treat growing numbers of complications - from botulism poisoning to life-threatening infections.

“People are being injected in toilets and in the back of cars,” Dr Catherine Fairris says. “You only have to go on TikTok to see some of the things that we see in clinic. You see someone taking the syringe caps off with their mouth and then injecting their friends.”

Fairris, a Winchester doctor specialising in aesthetic medicine and board member of the British College of Aesthetic Medicine (BCAM), is describing some of the many worrying ways that she has heard or seen about people having procedures such as botox (botulinum toxin) injections or lip fillers.

Demand for aesthetic treatments is booming. By some estimates, as many as 7.7 million people in the UK – 11% of the population – had some manner of aesthetic procedure in 2023, including botox to smooth wrinkles, dermal fillers to add volume and chemical peels or microneedling to smooth out skin.