Written by Barbara Shanahan

Aine Larkin is an advanced nurse practitioner, member of DANAI and the clinical director of Younique Aesthetics with clinics in Belfast and Newry. Aine participated in the recent RTE programme "Botox & Beauty At Any Cost" where she has seen the devastation an unqualified individual can cause. Aine came to the rescue of a patient who went to a backstreet therapist, having answered an advertisement for lip filler on social media.

The patient was offered a deal for filler and Botox and received treatment in a bedroom. She stated she wanted something discreet and nothing too false, but ended up having "six to eight" injections in various places on her lips, and added that as soon as she left, she realised her lips “didn't feel right, they felt like they were going to explode”. There was bruising, she was in excruciating pain and the lips had turned black.

This was her first time getting fillers and she revealed there was no consultation, consent forms or aftercare. The patient found Aine Larkin’s clinic and Aine explained to the patient during examination that her skin was in a highly advanced stage of severe necrosis, and essentially her lip tissue was dying due to lack of oxygen and nutrients to the area. The filler was clogged in the lip arteries. Showing the devastating side effects of going to an unqualified person for lip filler.

“By the time she came to me, the skin was in an advanced state and the skin was quite necrotic. The necrosis at this stage could have worsened and the lip could have actually dropped off. Plastic surgery would have been needed to rebuild the skin. There is a threat of blindness if a fragment of filler came away from the blockage and moved up through the main artery of the face to the eye. It can cause blindness, which is catastrophic.”

The girl was traumatised, lost her job and wasn’t able to go out in public for many months. She still has scarring and sensitivity issues, she does not have full feeling in that part of her lip. Aine was able to prescribe reversal enzymes, antibiotics and other medications as well as laser treatments to repair the lip. She also was able to psychologically help the patient and liaise with her GP as she was in a depressed state of anxiety due to her image issues.

Regulation of the aesthetic industry in Ireland is absolutely essential. Dermal filler and lip filler are extremely dangerous when injected into the wrong area. For this reason, every one of us must demand regulation. These treatments should only be carried out by medical practitioners such as a nurse administering toxins under the direction of a prescribing doctor, a doctor or dentist, specifically trained in consultation, assessment and aftercare procedures as well as complication management.