A woman who spent £3,000 to have a Brazilian butt lift in the UK feared her child would “end up an orphan” after she contracted sepsis during the procedure, which was “more painful than childbirth”.
Bonnie-Louise Cooper, 27, from Swanage in Dorset, said the mirror who thought she was being responsible when she decided to avoid getting a cheaper deal in Türkiye and have the cosmetic procedure done in England.
The popularity of non-surgical BBLs, which involve injecting filler into the buttocks, has increased significantly in recent years, but doctors have raised serious concerns about the “embarrassing” lack of regulation.
The beautician opted to have a liquid BBL done at Lift Aesthetics in London, an organization that counts Katie Price among its clients. But the night before, he was told it would be held at his clinic in Kent with a different doctor.
After the procedure last November, Bonnie contracted sepsis and spent weeks in the hospital, leaving her fearful that her son could be orphaned.
Although she fortunately pulled through, Bonnie suffered life-altering side effects, including nerve damage, loss of feeling in her legs, and color changes in her feet.
She said: ‘The procedures here can be just as deadly and can also cause lifelong complications.
I have a small son and he could have been orphaned.
Bonnie-Louise Cooper, who feared she would lose her life after suffering a BBL in the UK, is pictured on This Morning in March this year.
After doing her research, Bonnie finally decided to spend £3,000 on the procedure with Life Aesthetics at 7 Harley Street, London, which said it would be “non-invasive, painless and (included) no downtime.”
But the night before the operation, Bonnie says she was sent a postcode for a building in Romford, Essex, and not on Harley Street.
Instead of the two women she thought would do the treatment, it was carried out by a man who, despite saying it would be painless, performed an operation that Bonnie described as “40 minutes of agony”.
Bonnie described it as “the worst pain I’ve ever had in my life” (including childbirth) and screamed throughout the procedure, a reaction the practitioner said he had never seen before.
Despite being under the impression that lidocaine would be used as a pain reliever, the hospital said it was not the prescribed pain reliever. Bonnie also didn’t know what filler the clinic used.
Upon arriving home, Bonnie says she was “raving and crying’. He also claims that he could not stand or sit and was vomiting.
When her sister called an ambulance, the paramedics said there was an infection in a particular section, which Bonnie says felt like it was “on fire.”
It is thought the number of practitioners carrying out the procedure could be between 100,000 and 200,000, with the operations taking place in High Street establishments and in people’s homes.
Mum-of-one Bonnie (pictured) from Dorset thought she was being sensible by having the operation in the UK, rather than Turkey or Prague, where it can be much cheaper.
Fat is first removed from the hips, lower back, abdomen, thighs, and other areas using liposuction. Special equipment is used to prepare it for transfer before it is injected directly into the buttocks at specific points, giving the buttocks a larger, curvier appearance.
Among the potential risks of having these treatments performed by an untrained person is a “significant risk of harm, injury, and possible death,” and these risks may be permanent.
As a result, the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) has said publicly that it fears “out of control” professionals could cause more deaths, with consultant plastic surgeon Professor Vivien Lees, vice-president of RCS England, telling the outlet that the ” situation is out of control in the UK.
He added that when there are people who are not fully qualified to carry out these procedures, the NHS can be left picking up the pieces, costing taxpayers money.
Professor Lees added: ‘Cosmetic procedures should be regulated as soon as possible before another death occurs. “We are supporting this important campaign to work together to protect people seeking these treatments.”
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) and long-standing campaigners Save Face have been campaigning for safer procedures to be carried out for years.
Procedures like BBLs are not the only ones performed by those who are not qualified to do so, or performed under less than ideal circumstances, and the results can be horrible.
In 2024, 33-year-old Alice Webb died after taking a liquid BBL, a tragedy that BAAPS president Nora described as “horrifying” and a “tragic situation (…) waiting to happen.”
He added: ‘We have been saying for years that more regulation is needed. It’s been a problem for years (…) If you don’t do anything about it, there’s nothing that can prevent the same thing from happening again.’
Reacting to the death of 34-year-old mother Alice Webb, a leading UK plastic surgeon told MailOnline: ‘In the UK, surprisingly, it is not necessarily illegal to inject filler when you are not medically qualified.
“This is another tragedy that could have been avoided with better regulation.”
Ms Webb died just hours after undergoing the butt lift procedure, which is believed to have been carried out in the West Country.
The rise in popularity of BBLs has largely been attributed to celebrity culture: as rounder butts have become increasingly popular among stars, more and more people are feeling dissatisfied with their larger buttocks. plans.
Last year, London-based cosmetic surgeon Dr Veerle Rotsaert told MailOnline that she discourages patients from having BBLs and instead recommends they go to the gym and do squats.
She said: ‘In my practice, if people want more volume in the buttock area, I first of all educate them about normal anatomy. I recommend going to the gym to do squats.’
Dr Rotsaert also urged Brits to avoid BBLs, stating that “the Kardashian body type is a trend.”
“And we all know that trends go out of style at some point,” he added.