A woman who spent £500 to banish her double chin has been left looking like "old chicken" after the procedure went horribly wrong. Jayne Bowman wanted to trim down her chin after she lost weight.
But her life was changed drastically by the non-surgical procedure. Now, Jayne, who does not work due to illness, has become a "recluse" - as she hates people seeing her "horrible scars". And the 59-year-old, from Hampshire, wants to warn people of the dangers.
She said: "I wish I still had my saggy neck - it was better than what I have been left with. This botched beauty treatment has left me in agony."
Jayne spent £500 on fibroblast plasma treatment to tighten her skin, but was left covered in red scars.
Get the news you want straight to your inbox. Sign up for a Mirror newsletter here
She opted for the procedure after finding a therapist on social media, who had brilliant reviews.
But her experience was anything but, as she reports experiencing terrible pain.
"This botched beauty treatment has left me in agony. It was so painful – it burned like hell," claims Jayne.
"I told the therapist I was in agony but she didn’t seem bothered. She said she had to carry on or it wouldn’t work."
Following the treatment, Jayne slathered herself in cream to try and calm the burning, but she found her face, neck, and chest were covered in unattractive spots.
She called the therapist straight away, but neither the "light therapy" or "microneedling" she was offered appeared to make any difference.
Disgusted, she demanded the therapist's insurance details, but she says she was told: "I’m sorry I can’t remember them”.
And Jayne has been left to deal with the consequences.
"I don't want to go out anymore. I'm a recluse because I don't want people to see my horrible scars. They look so ugly," she said.
"I am so angry. This has affected my life in so many ways. I just wish I had left my double chin alone."
Practitioners need not be insured - though campaigners are fighting to make it a legal requirement.
In 2020, some 79 per cent of practitioners reported to Save Face, an organisation working to bring about change, were believed to be uninsured.
Ashton Collins, director of Save Face, who help people lodge complaints and have a government-approved register of clinicians, said: "The existing regulatory framework is flawed and is not enforced.
"There are laws in place currently that ought to safeguard the public from being injected with unlicensed medicines or given Botox injections without a valid prescription, but both issues are rampant and not enough is being done by the regulators to stop it.
"When it comes to training and insurance, we’ve investigated a lot of people who just lie, mocking up certificates on their computers, then hanging them on the wall.
"The public have no means of proving whether they’re genuine or bogus. You can be as cautious as you want, but you are at risk. So my advice would be to use the Save Face register to find a safe treatment."
In the last six years, Save Face has received nearly 8,000 complaints - but only one led to a criminal conviction against the practitioner.
Ashton said: "I think there’s definitely a perception these are silly women who are having treatments out of vanity. It’s a ‘trivial thing’ and the authorities don’t think it warrants as much attention as any other form of assault.
"But the psychological impact it has on people’s lives, the number of lost jobs, relationships and friendships I’ve seen is immeasurable. People underestimate the very real consequences of a cosmetic procedure gone wrong."
Do you have a story to share? We pay for stories. Email us at yourmirror@mirror.co.uk
