READING the news that her former surgeon Rick Sawyer has been banned cosmetic procedures Bonnie Louise Cooper felt a wave of relief sweep over her body.
Sawyer, who gained notoriety performing the BBLs on Katie Price, will no longer be able to practice cosmetic surgery across England and Wales for three years after being slapped with the ban in Manchester Civil Court.
He was exposed after a BBC documentary showed him using a rented office block in London to perform the potentially deadly procedure that left some victims, including Bonnie, hospitalised with deadly sepsis.
Bonnie, 27, was one of the women whose evidence had been used to ensure the man she had dubbed an ‘evil Del Boy,’ was served with an injunction.
Sawyer has been banned from conducting any procedures in England and Wales until 27 May 2028 after a court heard evidence his BBL procedure had exposed women to sepsis.
The injunction also prohibits him from possessing related surgical equipment or any antibiotics typically used in such treatments, unless prescribed for his own personal use.
“I can finally breathe again, Sawyer can no longer hurt any other women,”; says Bonnie.
“I was left writing in agony and screaming in pain because of this procedure.
“I still need treatment for my injuries two years on.
“It’s a huge relief and I know it’s going to send a message to other so-called ‘experts’ who claim to be trained and licensed.
“These people are evil Del Boys who inflict suffering on unwitting victims.
“I’d be dead if my sister hadn’t called the ambulance and gotten me into hospital.
“My little boy would have been an orphan all because of one of Sawyer’s liquid butt lifts.”;
Beautician Bonnie, lives in Swanage, Dorset is mum to five -year-old Kash and says she decided to have a liquid BBL in November 2023.
“I thought I was doing the right and responsible thing by choosing a British clinic, I was told it was the safest option,”; she says.
“I chose the one used by Katie Price on London’s elite Harley Street thinking it safe.”;
But the night before, Bonnie admits she was stunned when she received a text with the address of the practitioner’s “second clinic”; in Romford, Essex.
“I was assured this was normal,”; she remembers.
When Bonnie arrived, the mum was told the producer was ‘entirely safe’.
“It was explained I was having 250 mils of filler injected into each buttock,”; she says.
“I was given some numbing cream, but I wasn’t prepared for the pain of the cannula injection.
“I always thought that giving birth was the worst pain I had ever experienced but labour was nothing compared to this.”;
Bonnie says the procedure was done in a beauty salon style environment and she was told to stand rather than lie down for the injections.
“I was in shock after the procedure,”; she admits.
“I tried to put on a brave face, I was told I was likely to feel a bit odd because of the numbing cream.
“I asked if I should drive home and was told it was fine.
“That didn’t make sense to me. I’d just had half a litre of filler injected into my bum.
“I wasn’t given any after care instructions and was sent home without antibiotics and by the time I got home, I was screaming in agony.
“I couldn’t get out of the car, and I started to vomit and fainted trying to get into my house.
“I rang the clinic, and I was told that they would get antibiotics for me the next day and advised me to go to bed.”;
Bonnie’s sister Lisa-Marie Hughes,32, a stay-at-home mum, visited her that night, and had she not Bonnie might not be alive.
“She found me delirious, sweating and in absolute agony,”; Bonnie recalls.
Bonnie was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with sepsis.
She was given morphine regularly for the next four days and intravenous antibiotics to fight the injection.
“I had an emergency MRI scan, and it revealed the procedure had caused muscle damage,”; Bonnie says.
“It was so serious I was given a referral to Salisbury Plastics for dissolving procedures.”;
It took almost five days before Bonnie was well enough to be sent home.
“I had to take two different types of antibiotics for another month and was still on painkillers two months later,”; she says.
“The antibiotics promised by the clinic never arrived and I was never told, despite asking what type of filler they used.
“The hospital tried to call the salon, but they didn’t answer. It was awful.
“I felt like I’d been thrown to the wolves. I was left with no aftercare and no follow up.”;
“I have huge regrets, and I still worry about on-going long-term side effects.
I hope this ban allows the victims to stand tall
Bonnie Cooper
“It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. No one should ever have to experience that.”;
The standard surgical BBL involves the patient having fat harvested from their own body and re-injection into the buttock area.
A non-invasive liquid BBL uses a range of dermal fillers including hyaluronic acid which is injected into each buttock using a large cannula to add volume.
The liquid BBL is promoted as relatively pain free because the filler contains lidocaine, a local anaesthetic.
While it seemed like the perfect option, two years on Bonnie is still suffering from her botched BBl.
“Two years on and I am still having physiotherapy on one of my legs to treat nerve damage two times a week,”; she says.
“I have a shooting nerve in one leg. It’s a constant reminder of what I suffered at the hands of Sawyer’s clinics.”;
Bonnie is one of more than forty women used as evidence for the case for the self-styled ‘celeb backed’ expert to be banned.
As part of the ban the Manchester Civil Court attached a power of arrest to the order, meaning Sawyer could be arrested without a warrant if he is found to be in breach of the terms.
The court, together with Trafford Council, heard evidence which included a BBC documentary showing him working out of a rented office performing the procedures.
The lawyer James Parry, who raised the case, said the injuries suffered were akin to that of a ‘serious knife crime’.
Sawyer, who is described as a beauty consultant, was found to be administering injections containing up to 1,000ml of dermal filler into clients’ buttocks, without having a single healthcare qualification.
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health has welcomed the ban.
Institute President, Mark Elliot, slamming the shocking and dangerous practices Mr Sawyer was found to have committed saying ‘the regulatory framework has failed to keep pace with the increase in the prevalence of cosmetic procedures in recent years, fuelled by social media,’
The Sawyer ban comes six weeks after socially ‘irresponsible’ adverts for liquid Brazilian butt lifts have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority in Britain.
The Authority found a slew of promotional posts on Facebook and Instagram broke the rules – and featured time-limited discounts that could rush consumers into making decisions.
It banned six BBL providers from using their ads in the current form again, finding they could pressure women into booking cosmetic surgery “without taking sufficient time to consider the consequences”;.
According to the watchdog “Undertaking cosmetic surgery should have been portrayed as a decision that required time and thought from consumers before proceeding, because of the risks involved.
Some of the adverts featured before-and-after images of Brazilian butt lifts, with captions such as: “Get the curves and contours you’ve always wanted with our safe and effective body filler treatments.’
Others urged potential customers to take advantage of an exclusive opportunity to get that perfect peachy look”; – and warned “limited space”; was available on certain days.
Bonnie says the ban should be just the first step in a continued crackdown on so-called back street beauty consultants.
“I hope this ban allows the victims to stand tall,”; she adds.
Bonnie, who has campaigned to raise awareness about the dangers of this style for BBL, is now calling for new laws making it illegal to perform procedures like this in Britain.
“I fell victim to Sawyer in 2023, and it’s taken almost two years for action,”; she says.
“There needs to be a fast-tracked approach or new laws to regulate the industry.
“This ban is a start.”;
