A client who almost loses his nose after injections, a needle that breaks a teenager’s face, fake IDs… The latest documentaryCorrespondent condemns the practices of clandestine aesthetic medicine.
“They want to be like Kim Kardashian, Nabila or Kylie Jenner.” To achieve this, some young women resort to surgeries to resort to facial injections. Instead of going to a surgeon or esthetician registered with the National Board of Physicians, they are lured by the profiles of unqualified “estheticians” who advertise themselves on social media and offer unbeatable prices. competition. It is this growing phenomenon of “fake syringes” that points to Correspondent dedicated its new edition, which was broadcast on Thursday, February 23, on France 2.
Illegal entities
In the first part of the documentary, the reporter goes to an underground gym advertised on Instagram that boasts of having the “#1 injection technique”. He says he signed up for it by sending a simple message on the platform. In the hidden camera pictures, we see that the “trainers” are perfectly aware of the illegal nature of their activities. When asked by one of the students what the risks are, one of them laughs and answers that it all depends “if you ruin your face”, thereby justifying that you should “remain discreet”. It should be noted that practicing illegal medicine is punishable by two years of imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros.
Guinea pigs at their own risk
Calculated at €1,280, paid only in cash, of course, the training offers just one day of three hours of theory in the morning and a practical workshop in the afternoon… on real people. Hyaluronic acid injection exercises are really designed for a few volunteers who want to reduce their wrinkles or plump up their lips. If they agree to be the guinea pigs of these apprentices, it is because they are attracted by the attractive prices of these amateur services – four times cheaper than real doctors.
The tests lead to unbelievable situations, such as the moment a needle broke during an injection into an 18-year-old girl’s chin. “It’s nothing. It happens,” he tries to reassure the “coach”. It’s impossible to know if the broken tip of the needle stuck into his skin or if there were complications afterward, as the teenager left neither his name nor his address. A few minutes later, the young woman’s mouth swells abnormally after the injection. One of the “beauties” also advised her to “go to the pharmacy to take granulated arnica” and first of all, “not to respect the dosage”.
At the end of the course, all participants receive an “injection certificate”, or rather, a piece of paper with no value. Even the masked journalist, who, however, insists that he did not inject anyone.
disabled customers
This quest for the perfect face at a bargain price can turn tragic. Witness the touching story of Fedila, who nearly lost her nose as a result of these illegal injections. A young woman from the Cote d’Azur made an appointment with one of these so-called professionals on Instagram. Thanks to the images captured on his phone, we witness the unfolding of this hallucinatory session, which quickly turns into a disaster (sensitive souls beware). The scene takes place in an apartment temporarily rented and occupied by the “injector’s” friends, where we even see a child sleeping in the room. The video proves that the procedure violates all hygiene rules. the injector wears fake fingernails, no gloves, and taps Fedilla’s blood with his fingertips while using toilet paper as a compress.
“I used to like myself a hundred times better than I do now. I can’t even smile anymore, everything is frozen.”
fedila
To heal the necrosis caused by this accident, Fedila had to undergo intensive treatment, this time by a real doctor. Without it, she would have lost “half of her nose,” explains Dr. Philippe Cestemont, the cosmetic surgeon who “saved” her face. “I was almost on the verge of suicide. “I could not be here without him,” says the victim. Today, she only needs a bit of make-up to cover the scar, but she admits she “regrets” the experience. “I used to like myself a hundred times better than I do now. I can’t smile anymore, everything is frozen,” he laments. After this unfortunate episode, Fadila filed a complaint against the injector, who then threatened her over the phone.
Unknown long-term effects
“It’s an explosive phenomenon, there are incredible numbers of illegal injectors and there are more and more victims,” warns Dr. Adele Luafi, a plastic surgeon and president of the National Society of Plastic Surgery, who claims to see “every day” in this report. “People in his office were disabled in this way.
Dr. Laurent Lantieri, a plastic surgeon at the George Pompidou Hospital in Paris, also laments the “intelligent women who have been deceived and harmed” by these injectors. He adds that if he’s injured, “it takes a long time to recover (his pre-Ed physique).” “We’re getting there eventually, but we don’t know what the long term will be like. We don’t know if there will be consequences,” he warns.
The two doctors also condemn the availability of injectable products based on hyaluronic acid, which are sold legally, without a prescription and at any pharmacy.
“Being a woman is expensive.”
The final segment of the report features many young women obsessed with their physical appearance. Like 19-year-olds Julia and Mae, who flaunt and proudly flaunt their new plump lips on the streets of Marseille. To change their appearance, young women say they spend up to 400 euros a month. A budget that includes injections, eyelash extensions, manicures or hair removal sessions. “Being a woman is expensive now,” Julia tells the camera.
His girlfriend reveals that she funds these services due to her activities as an “influencer” on social networks, specifically on TikTok, where she has more than 10,000 followers. Every month he thus offers himself lip injections, which are done in a secret closet. The cost of this cheap operation is 180 euros, twice as expensive as a doctor’s. When asked by a reporter if she would prefer that her daughter see a real doctor, Mae’s mother communicates. “To be honest, I didn’t even know that the doctors did it. It’s not medicine for me. He is not sick. It’s aesthetic,” he says.
Juicy business
Manon, a 23-year-old influencer in south-west France, who also has a complex about her lips, which she “didn’t like” and found “really very thin and not full at all”, goes: apartment rented by a woman who describes herself as a “nurse syringe”. Once again, it is the attractiveness of the prices (€120 for a touch-up) that prevails to visit a real aesthetic practice. And after all, “there is no such thing as zero risk,” he adds.
This so-called expert who agrees to sting Manon on cameraCorrespondent, says he takes care of five clients a day and claims it earns him between €5,000 and €7,000 a month. Amounts collected in cash that will not be declared.
Upset viewers
He reports on social networksCorrespondent did not hesitate to respond to Internet users. “Horrible”, “sad”, “surreal”, we read among the countless messages flowing on Twitter. Shocked viewers expressed their outrage at these secret syringes. “Until your influencers [contraction des mots «influenceurs» et «voleurs», NDLR] make ads for secret cabinets, faces are destroyed and these fake practitioners get rich from beauty complexes and standards protected by the networks, it’s a shame,” we can read in many outraged tweets.
The National Society of Plastic Surgery has filed a dozen complaints against illegal injectors, whose victims are increasing. In France there would be more than a hundred.
In the video, the trailer for Not So Beautiful, a documentary that denounces scandals in the beauty industry
Source: Le Figaro
