The dark side of the Brazillian butt lift boom

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: The dark side of the Brazillian butt lift boomPublished44 minutes agoByShona ElliottBBC News InvestigationsWhen Alice Webb went for a non-surgical Brazilian butt lift (BBL) – a procedure involving the injection of large volumes of dermal filler into the buttocks – at a pop-up clinic inside a rented beauty salon one morning in September 2024, she expected to be finished in time for the afternoon school run. But Alice, 33, never returned home. The mother of five died less than 24 hours after undergoing the treatment, becoming the first person in the UK known to have died following a non-surgical BBL procedure.

An inquest will be held in the autumn to establish the cause of her death. Her story has become a focal point in a growing debate about Britain's booming aesthetics industry, where cosmetic injectables are now available everywhere, from High Street beauty salons to rented office spaces and hotel rooms. Image source, PA MediaImage caption, Alice Webb underwent a non-surgical BBL procedureOver the past two years, I have investigated this industry, going undercover to find out what is really happening behind clinic doors.

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I found practitioners willing to inject hundreds of millilitres of filler into my body from makeshift treatment rooms in office blocks. I was offered prescription-only medicines without proper consultations and sold unlabelled weight-loss injections on social media. I've spoken to dozens of women who have told me about the excruciating pain they experienced caused by cosmetic injections that were marketed as pain-free and low-risk, and the resulting infections that left them in hospital.

The cosmetic accreditation service Save Face says it has seen numerous cases of serious harm linked to cosmetic procedures - including one patient who was left unable to close her eyes following a botched eyelid surgery, and another who sustained perforated intestines during a liposuction procedure. "It's so horrific that it sounds like some sort of horror film, but these are procedures being carried out on our high streets," says Save Face director Ashton Collins. The UK is one of Europe's least-regulated markets for cosmetic injectables.

Unlike many European countries, anyone can legally train to inject dermal fillers and offer treatments to members of the public. Now ministers in Scotland and England say they are tightening regulation of this multi-billion pound industry. And why, more than a decade after experts warned that dermal fillers were a "crisis waiting to happen", are patients still being exposed to preventable harm?

From the Kardashians to the High StreetIn June 2024 Joanne (who only wants us to use her first name) went for a non-surgical BBL procedure at a pop-up clinic in a flat in Essex because she considered it less risky than flying to Turkey for a surgical BBL – this was before Alice had died. "I just wanted a peachy bum," says Joanne, a mum of two from South Wales. "I should have turned and ran".

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.