BBCVideos of a beautician performing surgical procedure liposuction in a beauty salon have been shared with the BBC after several women complained they were left injured and disfigured by the treatment.
Luxury Medical Aesthetics and Academy based in Clapham, south-west London, have been running one day training courses for beauticians advertised as a “fat reduction masterclass”.
In the UK it is not illegal for a non-medic to perform surgery as long as they’re not claiming to be a surgeon and have consent from the client.
The BBC’s File on 4 contacted salon owners Daria and Monika Wisniewska about the complaints but they have not responded and blocked the messages.
Sarah Guy, a beautician from South Wales, paid £1,500 to Luxury Medical Aesthetics and Academy for a “one day fat reduction masterclass” after being impressed with the company’s before and after photographs on Instagram.
Ms Guy, 34, was told she was going to be trained up in a new type of Lipolysis.
Lipolysis usually refers to injections where chemicals break up fat cells and the fat is removed naturally by the lymphatic system and the liver.
‘Blood splatter’
When Ms Guy arrived she was shown into the salon where she said there “was blood splatter up the walls” and “gauze swabs lying around that had still got blood on from the previous person”.
During the training course she was told she could take videos. But afterwards she was so worried by what she’d seen, she shared these with the BBC.
In the videos one of the owners, Daria Wisniewska, can be seen injecting a solution into a woman’s chin who has agreed to be a model for the procedure.
Ms Wisniewska then uses a scalpel to make a small hole and inserts a long cannula attached to a suction machine on the floor and begins to suck out fat.
Ms Guy saw the same method being used on another model’s chin, and a third woman’s stomach.
Consultant plastic surgeon and member of the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners (JCCP), Dalvi Humzah, said that basic hygiene protocols were not being followed in the salon, increasing the risk of infection and putting lives at risk.
“It’s a catalogue of disasters all waiting to happen here,” he said.
When watching the first model have her liposuction procedure Mr Humzah said he noted that the client had a high risk of infection, if not septicaemia, and potentially could have major complications after this procedure.
Ashton Collins from Save Face, a voluntary register of accredited aesthetic practitioners, has been supporting some of the women who have complained of complications and injury after fat reduction treatment at Luxury Medical Aesthetics.
Ms Collins told the BBC that the women were all told they were having non-surgical fat dissolving treatment not liposuction.
She said: “It’s only when they’ve been numbed and they see the actual device coming out and they feel it prodded in their skin, do they realise what’s actually going on?”
Save Face said one woman ended up in hospital after their internal organ was “hit”.
Despite refusing to practise on one of the models Sarah Guy passed the training course and was given a certificate from Luxury Medical Aesthetics.
Ms Guy complained to the company that the procedure they were teaching was unsafe.
She said her messages were ignored and she found herself blocked from contacting the company on Instagram.
The company has refused to respond to BBC requests.
Additional reporting from Matt Pintus.