Woman ‘nearly died’ after getting lip filler
A dermatologist has warned that a woman could have died after suffering an allergic reaction when she went for a lip filler procedure.
Isis de Oliveira Almeida Pinheiro, from Palmas, Tocantins state, northern Brazil, is familiar with getting her lips filled and had already had two similar procedures when she went again for the third time.
The process involves hyaluronic acid being injected into the lips, but this time the procedure left Isis with one side of her lips fuller than the other.
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Speaking to local media, the 20-year-old student explained that at first herself and the technician 'tried to shape it', saying: "Hyaluronic acid in the first days can be shaped, but there was an excessive accumulation of the product and it didn't work. We also tried perforating to squeeze it out but it didn't work out."
Having had no luck with their previous attempts, Isis applied hyaluronidase, a substance which can be used to dissolve old lip fillers. It wasn't until later that Isis learned the substance has a 'very strong allergic potential', but by then it was too late.
Almost as soon as Isis received the hyaluronidase, her face started to swell uncontrollably. Within an hour the entire bottom half of her face stuck out dramatically, and the student was rushed to hospital.
"They gave me adrenaline, steroids, anti-allergic drugs and there was time for everything to calm down. I was very scared because it happened very fast. And I was feeling a lot of pain. My mouth hurt a lot, I couldn't see because my eye had closed a lot.
"I kept thinking that I was going to end up with some after-effect, that my face would end up not going back to normal. I was very scared, thinking 'my God, what did I do?' and very scared of something worse happening."
Dermatologist Camila Novak, who was not involved in the procedure, told local media that Isis could have been in a lot of danger if she hadn't sought immediate help, so much so that she 'could have died'.
Novak said: "An important part of the population can suffer swelling of the mucous membranes, of the lips, of the eyes, it can cause oedema of the glottis, close breathing, it can cause allergies in the whole body."
Thankfully Isis' face did eventually go back to normal, though it took four days to do so. The experience has put her off getting any more cosmetic procedures for a while, and she decided to share her story on TikTok in order to warn people about the potential risks.
Her video has already racked up more than 1.5 million views, and will hopefully encourage people to learn more about the substances they are putting into their body when it comes to procedures like this.
Emily Brown