Apprentice star Dr Leah Totton has warned women not to be sucked into the world of unregulated cosmetic procedures having witnessed cases that have left some permanently disfigured.
The 34-year-old who rose to fame as the winner of The Apprentice in 2013 and since then has launched Dr Leah clinics with business partner Lord Sugar, is urging women to consider the consequences of going to a non-medical professional for cosmetic treatments.
The Derry native said the age range for cosmetic procedures such as Botox and dermal fillers are getting younger, a factor that she believes is linked to social media.
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She told Belfast Live: "Those seeking out these treatments are even younger now, they are in their teens and it's probably largely due to the influence of social media and also the increase in accessibility of these sorts of treatments. We're talking about things like dermal filler treatments and botox, but in particular dermal filler which is completely unregulated. As in, you can buy dermal filler online today, and inject yourself or your friend without there being any restriction at all, legal or otherwise on that practice.
"That is a huge, huge worry. Botox is a bit more regulated as it's prescription only but as we've seen from the recent investigations in Northern Ireland, it's not being prescribed appropriately".
"The Dermal filler one is one we see the most complications from. The market for this is young women and I'm talking young. Usually, in our clinic, we only see 18-21 upwards but some of these girls aren't even 18 where they've gone into all sorts of places, not even beauticians, I'm talking literally a place, and they're not sure what they've had injected, they don't know the quantity, they don't know if needles have been shared."
She continued: "If you get a deep-seated infection, if you get an abscess, that is something that can require surgical intervention to drain, and that can leave very, very difficult to treat scarring. There was a case in the North of England recently where a girl lost part of her nose due to a dermal filler injection, where it cut off the blood supply, again and non-medical injector wasn't aware of what to look out for."
Dr. Leah has urged women who feel the price is the barrier to getting these cosmetic procedures done, to simply not do it.
"It's sadly based on price because these people are offering these treatments for very, very low amounts, they offer the treatments for less than we would buy the filler they're claiming to use for, so there is no way they could be using genuine product because they would be injecting at a loss which no-one is going to do.
"If you can't afford to have it done by a medically trained doctor or nurse, because that is the barrier for a lot of people, then my advice is just don't do it at all, wait until it can be done in a safe way. I understand the pressures that young people are under through social media point of view but it's not worth compromising your health and you could potentially end up with permanent disfigurement as a result."
Dr. Leah was speaking following the launch of her very own skincare range, which has been seven years in the making.
"It's taken a lot longer than I thought, to be honest, we sort of thought it would take a year when we first took the project on but it's taken me seven to be happy with the formulation, there was a bit more to it than I maybe realised, probably a bit of nativity on my part and probably a bit of perfectionism as well.
"I really wanted a clean ingredients list which is really is hard though, with clinical actives it's hard to get that clean ingredients list so it took a lot of time and money on formulations which my business partner wasn't too happy about, but we got there in the end.
"It's something that I really wanted to get right, it's something you only get one shot at but we got there in the end and I think we've got a great cleanser and moisturiser for all."
The medical professional also opened up about her excitement at soon becoming a mum for the first time adding that she had a brief health scare a few weeks ago but otherwise an enjoyable pregnancy.
"I feel great, I'm eight months now so I wasn't planning to be launching the products at this stage but this is how it has worked out. I've enjoyed being pregnant actually and it's something I've always wanted to be a mammy, so it's really exciting. Other than I got a bout of Covid a few weeks ago but I recovered well and thankfully had no morning sickness or anything, I've probably worked more during pregnancy than I ever have before just due to meetings and things.
"It's been a smooth journey so far so I'm hoping the birth goes just as smoothly. I think like any expectant mum you have the normal sort of worries and I think that is ready but we feel ready, but I think it's doing to be a really magical time and I am taking some time out so I'm doing a handover at the minute, but I feel ready."
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