Woman's Botox party warning after lip filler swelling

A woman's lips swelled up so much they touched her nose after she had filler injected at a Botox party.

Rachael Knappier, from Leicestershire, said she "shouted out in pain" after she was given the treatment by a beautician at her friend's house.

She rushed to A&E when her lips swelled dramatically, later seeking private treatment to fix the problem.

The 29-year-old warned others against having lip fillers from someone not medically trained.

After agreeing to Botox on her forehead, Miss Knappier said the beautician noticed a lump on her lip - an injury she sustained when a fire door hit her at the age of 13.

"That lump is my number one insecurity. As she pointed it out, I was just drawn in," she said.

After returning home, Miss Knappier said she felt unwell. Later that night, she woke up and couldn't feel her lip.

"My lips were a size I had not seen before," she said.

She contacted the beautician on FaceTime, who Miss Knappier said was "gasping and holding her hand over her mouth".

"She told me to put an ice pack on and take an antihistamine but my lips were growing," she said.

"Then she kept repeatedly shouting, 'get to A&E'."

At the hospital, doctors told Miss Knappier the NHS would not dissolve lip filler and would only check she was not in any immediate danger.

She said she was vomiting and shaking and did not leave the house for seven days.

After first seeing a local aesthetic nurse, she went to the Consultant Clinic in London where they dissolved the filler and, 72 hours later, her lips were back to normal.

"It's left me traumatised. I would not wish it on my worst enemy," she said.

She has since started a petition calling for aesthetic medical treatments to only be performed by doctors, nurses and dentists.

Miss Knappier, from Broughton Astley, also believes the aesthetic medical industry should be regulated.

Dr Marc Pacifico, a consultant plastic surgeon from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), said dermal fillers are a "complete wild west in the UK".

"We are one of the few western countries who regard [fillers] as a device not a medicine," he said. "There have even been cases of blindness.

"It was really about time stronger regulation was brought in."

Dr Natalie Boyd, from the clinic, said she believed Miss Knappier suffered a vascular occlusion.

She said this possibly happened by the filler being injected "into or around an artery or vein, which then causes a vicious cycle of swelling and compression".

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].