Fat-dissolving injections left a mother-of-one with a cricket-ball-sized abscess in her abdomen that required emergency surgery.
Julia Lanni, 58, paid just £120 for 16 Aqualyx injections to target her stomach fat (a procedure that can cost up to £400) in the hope it would boost her body confidence.
But just a week later, the Hertfordshire social worker developed a fist-sized abscess above her belly button and had to be rushed to hospital for surgery.
The cosmetic procedure cost her £2,500 due to time off work and left her with a golf ball-sized scar on her abdomen.
Clinics market Aqualyx injections as a “non-surgical alternative to liposuction that also tightens the skin.”
Julia Lanni, 58, paid just £120 for 16 Aqualyx injections into her abdomen – a procedure that can cost up to £400 – in the hope it would improve her body confidence.
But just three days after the procedure she began experiencing severe pain that developed into an abscess.
The websites claim that the injections work by dissolving the membranes around fat cells, which are then triggers for the immune system to “remove” them from the body.
Clinics warn that, as with many procedures, there is a “rare” risk of developing an infection or abscess, as well as experiencing bruising, swelling and pain at the injection site.
“This treatment certainly changed my life, but not in the way I wanted,” Lanni admitted.
She said: ‘My confidence is even lower than before. My weight is the same after the treatment and I’m left with a scar. The whole experience has been extremely distressing.
“The abscess was huge. I told the surgeon, ‘It looks like a baked potato,’ and he replied, ‘It’s worse, it looks like a small cabbage.'”
‘I could accept a reaction that required antibiotic treatment, but an abscess of that size and emergency surgery are not okay.
“All the medical staff I saw said they had never seen anything like this.”
After treatment, Ms Lanni was the same weight as before and was left with a 4cm scar from the emergency operation.
Ms Lanni gained 22kg after the birth of her son in 2000 and lost confidence in her appearance when she finished going through the menopause in 2018.
She also said that taking steroids for her health condition, congenital adrenal hyperplasia (which causes swelling of the adrenal glands), made it impossible for her to lose weight through conventional means like diet and exercise.
She finally discovered the weight loss injection, Aqualyx, in July 2023 and booked a session at a local salon.
The doctor injected 16 measures of the substance into Ms Lanni’s stomach on Tuesday, August 22.
Clinic staff told her to wait three to four days before seeking medical help if she had an adverse reaction, she says.
Immediately after the injections she felt pain in her abdomen and began using wet paper towels to try to combat the heat.
But just three days after the procedure she began to feel severe pain.
She said: “After a week I was in so much pain that no one could touch me and I could barely move – it was unbearable.”
She went to her GP on 29 August, who prescribed antibiotics and told her to go to the emergency room.
But Ms Lanni was in such excruciating pain that she asked her friend to drive her to Lister Hospital in Stevenage that night.
At 3am, Ms Lanni underwent emergency surgery for the abscess. She then spent the next five weeks in her GP’s office getting the wound bandaged and covered.
“It was very painful when they touched it, like hundreds of bee stings,” he said.
Unable to work, she was forced to use £2,500 of her savings to survive.
But because she signed a consent form that listed an abscess as a possible side effect of the treatment, she cannot claim compensation, he said.
The salon she used has already closed.
Ms Lanni says she researched the treatment online for more than a month but did not see the abscess listed as a side effect.
“I think the form I signed was too general,” he said.
“The doctor told me that the worst that could happen was that the treatment wouldn’t work. I believed her.”
She added: “The salon looked clean so I wasn’t worried. It had five star reviews and ten out of ten on Trustpilot.
‘We reviewed it and there were no contraindications to doing the treatment with my steroid medication.
Clinic staff told her to wait three to four days before seeking medical help if she had an adverse reaction, she says.
‘I would advise people to be aware that this treatment can have serious consequences: think carefully before doing it and only go to a beautician who has been recommended to you by someone you know.
‘Do not wait the recommended time to seek medical attention and, if possible, start taking antibiotics before treatment.’
Kasim Usmani, a qualified NHS GP who trains healthcare professionals in safe cosmetic practices, said: ‘Fat-dissolving injections, like all medical treatments, carry risks.
‘It is important to see a qualified medical professional who understands the anatomy of the area to be injected, as well as the correct depth of product placement and the amount of product to use.
‘Unfortunately, many fat dissolving injections are purchased online and have questionable ingredients that can lead to complications such as abscesses, tissue necrosis and damage.
‘These complications are also present with approved and safer products such as Aqualyx, but are greatly reduced when performed in a medical environment monitored by a qualified medical professional.’
Aqualyx has been contacted for comment.