'I was rushed to hospital': Brazilian Butt Lift fillers left woman near death

Kelly Crees found Lift Aesthetics on Instagram and contacted them to book in a liquid BBL and breast enhancement. Two days after her appointment, Kelly became unwell

Multiple women have contacted ITV News after an exclusive investigation revealed how a cosmetic procedure left one woman near death.

The non-surgical or liquid Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) involves hundreds of milliliters of cosmetic filler being injected into the buttocks.

Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Katie Price have made an hourglass figure a sought after shape. Many now look to surgical and non-surgical shortcuts to achieve it. 

The liquid BBL procedure is advertised on social media often alongside celebrity endorsements and discount deals. 

If you've experienced complications after a cosmetic surgery procedure, please get in touch at investigations@itv.com

Kelly Crees found Lift Aesthetics on Instagram and contacted them to book in a liquid BBL and breast enhancement. Two days after her appointment when filler was injected into her breasts Kelly became unwell. 

“I'd felt like I'd pulled a muscle under my arm. And I thought that's really uncomfortable. And within an hour I couldn't walk. So I was laying down, took some painkillers, and I thought, this is, this is not right. 

“Then I was feverish, disorientated, my vision was going. Then by about 9pm that night, we had to phone an ambulance. I was rushed straight into hospital, which then they said if I'd have probably stayed at home that night and didn't go in, then I probably wouldn't have been here. So it was that, that bad.”

Kelly was given intravenous antibiotics in hospital and a two-week course of medication when she was allowed home. She now has to have follow up scans and appointments to assess the long-term damage. 

Kelly got in touch with ITV News after seeing Louise’s story - she had also booked her appointment through Lift Aesthetics. 

Undercover at a one-day Brazilian Butt Lift course, an ITV News investigation reveals the alarming rise in the dangerous cosmetic procedure happening in the UK

Both women were told by the clinic that their procedure had been performed by a different company called Non-Surgical Clinic Essex. 

Lift Aesthetics has told ITV News that since our first broadcast “we have terminated our working relationship with Non Surgical Clinic Essex”. 

Non-Surgical Clinic Essex added: "All of our clients are aware of the risks during a pre consultation before treatment and agree by signing a consent form.

"We have completed hundreds of body filler treatments without any complications where proper aftercare has been followed. Once a client leaves the clinic we do not have control over what they do, such as taking there [sic] prescribed antibiotics and following set aftercare." 

Both Louise Moller and Kelly Crees say they experienced frustrating delays in receiving their antibiotics.  

In the UK there are no regulations that cover the whole aesthetic industry and nothing in law that states those who carry out these procedures must have a certain level of training.

It means this country has earned an unenviable reputation. 

“I think the best description of the UK is the Wild West, anything goes," Marc Pacifico, President of BAAPS (The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons) said.

"We have a plethora of individuals with no medical background no understanding of anatomy, no understanding of surgery or sterility performing these procedures for cut price opportunities, advertising heavily with no one able to act on that or feeling able to act on that because of the lack of legislation," Pacifico said.

The government is working on plans to bring in a licensing scheme which would see both the practitioner and the premises they work from needing a license by law. Under the proposals, filler BBL and breast enhancements could only be carried out by qualified and regulated healthcare professionals in approved premises.

VVV Beauty, the clinic where ITV News went undercover on their one day liquid BBL training course told ITV News: “We adhere to and respect the law and we are monitored by medical and official authorities.”

Katie Price did not respond to our request for a comment. 

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