Why self injecting fillers and botox is dangerous

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The Safety in Beauty Campaign was disappointed once again to see an Instagram video of a medical doctor self injecting her face with Botulinum Toxin. The 20 second video featured a USA based medic boasting to her followers about how her quick self-jabs left her face looking fresh and flawless.

The Safety in Beauty Campaign wants to highlight the irresponsible consequences that may arise from such video and tutorials being posted on social media and You Tube.

We are concerned, and we are openly publishing a plea to our readers and members of the public and urging them NOT to copy any self injecting tutorial or video. Please don’t copy tips or techniques posted by amateur self professed ‘experts’ who profess to teach you how to self inject fillers or botulinum toxins.

Equally so, we urge our readers not to copy videos also posted by medical professionals, it is simply not acceptable for these video to circulate, let alone emulate the content of them, even if they are posted by medically qualified professionals.

Cosmetic dermal fillers and botulinum toxin injections are now a common part of the aesthetic landscape,  millions of people worldwide enjoy easily accessible aesthetic treatments.

Whilst these procedures have become much more common and attainable, there remains a section of the public who desire more inexpensive approaches to improve their appearance, such people cannot justify spending hundreds of pounds (or dollars) on what they deem to be a few simple jabs of a needle, this view may drive some patients to inject themselves with fillers and botulinum toxin.

Many people underestimate cosmetic procedures, which are normally marketed as minimally invasive or generally low risk, but our campaign advocates that these procedures should ideally only be performed by trained experienced individuals using quality reputable approved products.

There are several dangers associated with the self-injection of cosmetic dermal fillers and toxins purchased and injected by the lay person, these include allergic reactions ranging from mild to severe, granulomas, severe infections, blindness, embolism, skin necrosis, and many more.

First and foremost, nobody can possibly know or guess what ingredients could be contained in materials purchased from the internet or from the back street ‘off the radar’ manufacturers.

This campaign has researched, read, and received reports of used syringes refilled with various substances, ranging from unrecognised industrial products, industrial silicone, paraffin and even hair gels.

It never ceases to amaze the campaign how people will overlook this aspect too easily, and unwittingly inject themselves with a non-sterile needle with unknown substances which can lead to severe infections, granulomas, necrosis, and severe allergic reactions.

Often these products and syringes will come with no formal paperwork, CE marking, authentication or list of ingredients. This itself, should wave a red flag warning to the buyer, but sadly many buyers do not care, or simply are not aware of the potential dangers lurking in the unknown.

Many of the medical professionals this campaign works with, have struggled to help victims who have self injected themselves with rogue fillers, we are sure that many aesthetic doctors, nurses or medical professionals reading this article, will understand how difficult it is to tackle a complication, when the substance that was self-injected into a victims face, is completely unknown.

As for botulinum toxins, it is not uncommon for paralysis to occur, some cases we have researched and read about in-depth have needed hospitalisation as a result of self-injecting with black-market botulinum toxins. The scary fact is many of these rogue toxins actually had much more toxin  in them than the authentic commercially available FDA-approved botulinum toxins.

Let’s not forget that not knowing how to inject as a skilled medical professional or experienced practitioner does cause serious complications for the amateur self-injector.  Complications such as lumpiness, edema, and erythema can happen quite commonly, on a more serious note, self-injecting with an improper untrained way  can lead to skin necrosis, embolism, and in some rare but severe cases: blindness, a lay person simply cannot identify and correct a complication no matter how small or large.

When complications do occur they are often so overwhelming to the self-injector that they are psychologically and physically damaged equally.

Self- injection videos and tutorials sure do make self-injecting look easy, however, the reality is this: there is a tremendous amount of training, knowledge and skill required to properly and safely inject dermal fillers and botulinum toxins. It is not a happy-go-lightly easy task as it is often portrayed on such videos.

It is a known fact that complications can and often do occur, even when experienced and highly skilled injectors are performing the aesthetic procedures; however, the difference is that the experienced trained injector can often quickly identify and treat any potential immediate issues.

Additionally, an experienced skilled injector will know and understand facial anatomy to some degree, an amateur self injector will not have the slightest idea. No amount of ‘googling’ or  You Tube video tips will render a self-injector ‘informed’.

When we see videos like this one below, we are angered as the “First, do no harm,” rule is totally lost in the thoughtless self absorbed exhibitionsim of social media fame.

Safety in Beauty.Com Editor

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