Seven women in the Phoenix area have reported infections due to illegal lip injections.
The young women each visited a Maricopa, Arizona, home of an unidentified resident on August 3. They said the procedures resulted in swelling, cold sores and infection according to Fox 10 in Phoenix.
“Right after I left getting my lips done, an hour later, my lips got huge, like, giant,” Alexandra Garaventa told the local station of the illegal procedure.
“It was cheaper, that’s not the smartest thing, but since I had seen so many people [with the injections] and my friend had been going for a year,” Garaventa added. “She was telling people that she was certified to do lip injections and since I [had] seen other people’s [lips], I had decided, ‘Why not go?’ “
Lip injections should only be administered by a doctor, and for best results, a board certified plastic surgeon.
The women (who didn’t know each other prior, but connected after learning about each other’s symptoms) each went to the emergency room following the injections, and some were admitted to the hospital, Fox 10 reports.
“When I came in, they already knew what was going on,” Nayhely McLaughlin told the local station. The hospital staff said, ” ‘We just had eight girls here yesterday.’ “
“We don’t know if it’s going to have good or bad results,” McLaughlin said. “If we’re going to have scars, we don’t know if it’s going to leave us ugly. We don’t know if it’s going to leave us ugly or start to rot.”
According to Glamour, one syringe of lip filler (about one milliliter) costs anywhere from $400 to $1,000, depending on location and practice — but the Maricopa home procedures cost $80 per milliliter, Fox 10 reports.
The woman who provided the illegal procedures only scheduled lip injection sessions on Saturdays but had more than 20 patients on her waitlist.
A third woman, Ashleigh Villaverde, explained “the pain after was so bad, I couldn’t even feel my lips” and that she and the other women “couldn’t even sit there and go to bed, our lips were throbbing.”
Villaverde had gotten lip injections from the same woman in the past, but had experienced positive results. She knew immediately that something was off that day.
“As soon as I went this time, I knew something was wrong because each time I injected, it hurt so bad … That has never happened before. They have swelled up, but never to the point that I couldn’t even touch them.”
The Maricopa Police Department has been alerted of the situation, Fox 10 reports.
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