WHEN I hear stories about the horrors of ‘cowboy’ cosmetic surgery, it makes my blood run cold.
There’s the utterly horrifying and tragic death of Alice Webb , a 33-year-old mother of five who died after a non-surgical butt-lift.
Then Sasha Dean, a 53-year-old mum from Bedfordshire, who was left in a coma after a liquid BBL performed by a practitioner who was not a qualified surgeon.
Speaking after the incident, she said: “It’s like playing Russian roulette with your life. If I’d known there was even 1% chance of dying, I’d never have done it.”
Not to mention there are countless other cosmetic procedures currently being done by ‘ Wild West operators ‘ right now – and they are truly leaving people scared for life.
In May MPs heard that Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs) are being carried out “by anyone” in people’s living rooms, in Airbnbs and in hotel rooms, leading to adverse health effects.
For far too long, these devastating incidents have been a horrifying reality, a grim roll call of lives maimed and lost.
So, it’s about bloody time the government sat up and took notice.
My journey with fillers and Botox started out well, and ended terribly with a couple of ‘cowboy’ clinics.
I was going to a brilliant nurse, and I was happy with the results but she sadly decided she didn’t want to do it anymore.
And she actually told me the industry was so dangerous and she’d had a baby, so she felt like it was only a ticking time bomb before something bad happened.
With her gone, I made the mistake of looking for someone cheaper on Instagram.
It was so easy to find people back then through competitions and word of mouth.
And that is when my nightmare began.
I paid around £100 a mil for my lip filler, and I came across someone in Devon who claimed to have a dental background.
Everyone saw how big and lumpy my lips were on Love Island back in 2021, and now I know why.
Now, my lips are wrinkly and have lost their natural collagen, so I’ll never be able to go without filler
Faye Winter
They were overstretched, and the woman who did the procedure had actually come from a fast food hospitality background, not a medical one.
She had lied to me completely and had only completed a one-day course.
Now, my lips are wrinkly and have lost their natural collagen, so I’ll never be able to go without filler.
The whole procedure was done in her kitchen – not a clinical setting at all – with dogs and children walking around while she worked on my face.
Cheap Botox disaster
She wasn’t even dressed in any professional medical wear.
Then, just before my Love Island audition, I had a cheap Botox disaster.
I paid just £180 for three areas, which is relatively cheap for that sort of procedure and the results were awful.
Little did I know the person was a property developer who lied about his medical background.
He did not admit any fault, and gave me no refund – it’s a memory that will never leave me
Faye Winter
My eyebrows fully relaxed, my eyelids were hanging, and there was no shape to my face.
When I saw what had happened, my heart was in my ass.
I was about to go on national television and had no idea how long it would take for the effects to wear off.
When I went back to him to ask what he could do, he was pleased with the results and said I’d need PDO threads – a non-surgical method to lift and tighten sagging skin – to fix it!
The rise in unregulared aesthetic practice
Dr Hayder Ria, Aesthetic Doctor and founder of Harley Street Dermal , says:
“Having worked in the industry for over a decade, we’ve witnessed the serious consequences of unregulated aesthetic practice – from botched treatments to a widespread erosion of patient trust.
The introduction of tighter regulations is long overdue and marks an important step towards improving safety, accountability, and professional standards across the board.
It’s about protecting patients, ensuring products used are properly regulated, and upholding the quality of results people expect. While there’s still more to be done, particularly around enforcement and clarity, this is a positive and necessary first move.”
He did not admit any fault, and gave me no refund – it’s a memory that will never leave me.
The UK’s largest register for accredited practitioners, Save Face, received reports from more than 3,000 people in one year about complications or unwanted outcomes from cosmetic procedures.
Like Ashton Collins, of Save Face, has said this ‘Wild West’ cosmetic world is truly a “crisis waiting to happen” due to dangerously unregulated practices.
I know I made mistakes.
I can appreciate that I didn’t do things correctly, but my friends have definitely learned from me.
The wild west of cosmetic procedures has gone on for too long
Faye Winter
They’re not going to people just based on price, which is so important.
We don’t think about it at the time, but what’s fine for one person could be disastrous for you.
If I hadn’t gone through that, I wouldn’t be able to share my story and raise awareness. Every cloud has a silver lining.
The death of Alice Webb, a 33-year-old mother of five, has been a tragic wake-up call.
Fatal incidents
She is believed to be the first person in the UK to die after a non-surgical Brazilian butt-lift procedure last year.
Following her death and many other fatal incidents, a new crackdown is set to protect patients with strict rules on who can perform cosmetic procedures and in what locations.
Ashton is campaigning for Alice’s Law , a new piece of legislation named after Alice Webb who died after a BBL, to ensure these procedures are conducted only by qualified surgeons.
Officials have now issued a warning that ‘rogue operators’ with no medical training are causing serious harm and even death by carrying out invasive treatments in unregulated spaces like homes and pop-up clinics.
Which is great but I can’t be too excited yet.
We don’t know what those licenses will look like – they could just say you need a passport and a UK address.
I never asked anyone to pay for my own correction work – that was on me, and I had to learn the hard way
Faye Winter
Once we know a bit more, it will be amazing, but for now, this is a massive step in the right direction.
The Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that the NHS frequently has to pick up the expensive bill for fixing these failed procedures.
As for me, I don’t think we, as taxpayers, should be paying for that.
I never asked anyone to pay for my own correction work – that was on me, and I had to learn the hard way.
I’m hopeful the new government licenses will create a much-needed industry standard.
The wild west of cosmetic procedures has gone on for too long, and it’s time to safeguard people and make sure no one has to go through what I did.
So what's next?
By Ashton Collins, Director at Save Face
I am delighted that the government has recognised the significant and potentially fatal risks posed by highly dangerous procedures like liquid Brazilian butt lifts, and has made it a priority to implement restrictions to protect public safety.
We have been campaigning tirelessly for nearly 2 years for this critical change and have supported over 750 women who have endured traumatic experiences. I have seen first hand the devastating impact these procedures can have on the lives of victims and their families – none more so than the family of Alice Webb.
We look forward to continuing to work closely with the government and key stakeholders throughout the next stages of this process, to build a safer landscape for the public and promote high standards across the industry.
