Cosmetic surgeon slams Aussie women for doing their own filler and Botox injections at HOME

Women sharing DIY cosmetic procedures online have been slammed as ‘dangerous, stupid’ and ‘a disaster waiting to happen’ by an industry professional.

A Facebook group where women share videos of themselves performing Botox and filler injections, as well as more serious procedures such as facial threading, reveal a dangerous new trend.

Footage from the group allegedly showed a number of women illegally performing procedures on themselves.

One woman sticks a wire underneath her skin near her eye in a procedure known as facial threading, an alternative to a facelift.

Others are shown injecting Botox into their lips, neck and chest. One woman is shown with a forest of needles in her upper chest.   

‘Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous and downright stupid,’ Mia Brankov from Perth’s Bramis Facial Rejuvenation Clinic said in a Nine News report.

‘It’s a disaster waiting to happen.’ 

She warned that permanent nerve damage, blindness and necrosis leading to the loss of a person’s lips or nose, were possible consequences of DIY procedures. 

‘Um, yeah, nah, registered nurses who hold a diploma in cosmetic injectables and doctors are the only ones that can be giving jabby jabs,’ one woman who reposted the story on Facebook wrote.

‘Who in their right mind would do this anyways?’    

One woman who said her DIY videos were featured in the story defended her actions in a Facebook comment. 

‘I’ve been doing this for three years,’ she posted. ‘Botox, filler, threads, everything… saved thousands. 

‘I absolutely enjoy it and have never had anything go wrong. Keep in mind the same risks that apply to me apply to professionals too!’ 

It’s believed that many of the products used by the Australian women posting in the group had been sourced online and illegally imported.

Many cosmetic products are classed as therapeutic goods and importing them without a licence or approval from the Office of Drug Control is illegal.

Large fines and a jail sentence of up to five years can be handed to someone found to be illegally importing cosmetic injectables. 

In December 2020 a woman from Melbourne was convicted on three charges of illegally importing cosmetic injectables, including dermal filler medical devices (pre-filled syringes containing hyaluronic acid) and hyaluronidase (enzymes that can be used to dissolve dermal fillers). 

Last month, Victorian woman Aliaa Mohammed Elmetwally Ismaeli Sherif was convicted for falsely claiming to be a cosmetics doctor and injecting patients with dermal fillers and Botox.

One procedure she administered left one woman ‘unable to speak properly’.

Sherif was fined $15,000.