Urgent warning issued to Australians getting fillers as more than 200 are blinded by the procedure

Urgent warning issued to Australians getting fillers as more than 200 are blinded by the procedure

Australian doctors have issued a worrying warning to people considering getting cheek or lip dermal fillers. 

Almost 200 people around the world have been blinded by the procedure this year, a 94 per cent increase on last year, according to a review in the journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Doctors are urging people to avoid beauticians and backyard operators when getting fillers.

‘Many Australians incorrectly believe that procedures involving dermal fillers are beauty treatments, in the same category as facials,’ Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery president Dr Irene Kushelew told The Daily Telegraph.

‘Complications can and do take place but reports of botched procedures and the use of imported, illegal products are on the rise in Australia.’ 

In the last year, Australians have spent $1billion on cosmetic procedures. The amount is 40 per cent more per capita than the United States.

In one botched procedure in April, a Sydney woman was left blind in one eye after a dermal filler was injected in an artery. 

Doctors are Prince of Wales Hospital were unable to reverse the damage.  

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk