Skin fillers are “crisis waiting to happen,” experts say

Britain's cosmetic surgery industry is poorly regulated, a group of independent health experts charged in a report released today. The group expressed particular concern about skin fillers. "It is our view that dermal fillers are a crisis waiting to happen," the report says.

The report argues that dermal fillers should require a prescription. “Anyone can give you a (skin) filler anytime, anywhere,” Bruce Keogh, medical director of the National Health Service, told reporters.  “This is a bizarre situation.”

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One woman, Laura-Alicia Summers, told Marie Claire that she had a lip filler that went horribly wrong after her lips plumped up to five times their normal size."The whole area was swollen and I couldn’t open my mouth," she told the magazine, adding that it took a full month for her face to look normal again. 

And attorney Michael Saul, who represents victims of botched cosmetic procedures, told BBC News about a patient who went blind in one eye immediately after being injected with a dermal filler. "Profits before patients, that's what happens. Surgery is sold like double glazing and it's totally wrong."