The vampire facial is an extreme beauty procedure loved by the likes of Kim Kardashian that promises to rejuvenate the skin by injecting it with you own blood – and now practitioners claim the same treatment can be used to boost your cleavage.
The procedure, offered at only a handful of clinics in the UK, involves extracting blood and separating out the platelet rich plasma which is then injected into the breasts, where it stimulates the body’s natural wound-healing process.
This stimulates collagen production, rejuvenating fatty tissue that has been lost through breast feeding, weight loss and aging.
The £1,200 procedure, which promises to boost the breasts by as much as a cup size, takes just under an hour and there’s no recovery time like there is after surgical breast augmentation.
Emily Edwards, 25, from Stoke, Staffordshire, hated the way her breasts looked after having two children and losing over three stone and put the procedure to the test for Femail to find out if it really is the dream alternative to going under the knife.
Emily Edwards, 25, from Stoke, Staffordshire tried out the vampire breast lift procedure at Elite Aesthetics in Kent to see if it could boost her sagging cleavage
Before the procedure, Emily said it bothered her that her breasts were saggy and covered in stretch-marks (left). Afterwards she noticed an immediate boost and didn’t have to adjust her bra straps to create cleavage (right)
The mother-of-two found her stretch marks were much less noticeable after the treatment
‘I’m only 5 feet 5 but during both my pregnancies I went up from a size 8 to a size 16,’ Emily said.
‘I wasn’t too bothered about how my breasts looked after having my first daughter back in 2011 because I knew I wanted more children.
‘But after having my second in June 2015 I finished breastfeeding and went from 13 stones 5, down to 9 stones 4.
‘It really bothered me how saggy and covered in stretch-marks my breasts were.
Emily felt nervous at first as she doesn’t like having blood taken and wasn’t convinced the procedure would work
The process works by removing the patient’s blood, separating out the plasma and then injecting it into the breasts
‘I used to wear push-up bras and wouldn’t choose clothes that were backless or strapless because my breasts weren’t pert enough.
‘I slathered them in coconut oil to try and make the stretchmarks fade but still they weren’t good.’
Emily separated from her partner last year and wasn’t yet ready to think about dating again.
However, whenever she went out with her girlfriends she would spend ages shopping for outfits that made her bust look better,
When she went on a spa day for her mum’s 50th recently, she spent hours shopping for swimwear that was padded enough to make it look like she had boobs because she felt so self-conscious.
With two young daughters, aged six and two, to look after, as well as part-time job in sales Emily didn’t want to risk going under the knife for a conventional breast implants because of the recovery time and potential risks, so she started researching safe alternatives.
‘When I found the Vampire Breast Lift it sounded perfect,’ she revealed. ‘The spooky-sounding name comes from the fact that it works by removing some of your blood and then injecting it back into your breasts.
‘It promised to make them look plumper and reduce the appearance of stretch-marks for up to two years. At £1,200 it was more affordable too.’
Emily went along to Elite Aesthetics in Greenhithe, Kent, to have the procedure.
‘I don’t like having my blood taken so I was a bit anxious when I arrived and I wasn’t completely convinced it would make much difference.
‘First, Dr Shirin Lakhani did a thorough consultation and examined my breasts. She said that I had lost soft tissue around the top of each breast and marked on them where she would inject.
Then, she inserted a needle into the crease in my arm and drew out 120ml of blood into a syringe which had an anti-coagulant in to stop it clotting.
Dr Shirin Lakhani with the separated blood components during the vampire boob lift procedure
A centrifuge which is used to separate the components in the blood, a process that takes just over half an hour for 120ml
Plasma from Emily’s blood was injected into her breasts, stimulating collagen production
‘The procedure involves putting 60ml of blood at a time into the Magellan TruPRP centrifuge to separate the blood cells from the platelet rich plasma (PRP).
‘PRP is then injected into the breasts, where it stimulates the body’s natural wound-healing process, similar to how the body heals itself after a cut.’
After just over half an hour, all 120ml of the blood had been spun and separated in the centrifuge, leaving 60ml of plasma ready to be injected back into the breast tissue.
‘There was a slight burning sensation as she injected it into five different locations on the top of each breast but it didn’t hurt,’ Emily said.
The effects of Emily’s procedure are set to last between one and two years
Kim Kardashian after undergoing a vampire facial which works on the same principle as the vampire boob job
‘Afterwards, Dr Lakhani pressed on the area to ensure the blood was spread out. Less than an hour since the procedure started, I was finished.
‘When I looked down at my boobs I couldn’t believe it, they were so much fuller and pert than before.
‘As I put my bra back on I didn’t need to tighten the straps like I usually do to create a cleavage, because I already had one.
The stretch-marks were much less noticeable too. I couldn’t believe what a difference it had made.’
Although Emily’s breasts felt slightly tender for a day or so afterwards, the tenderness soon stopped leaving her to reap the rewards of her Vampire Breast Lift for around 18 months.