A woman horrified after lip filler left her unable to close her mouth has urged others to “do their research” before getting cosmetic surgery.
Harriet Green, 23, wanted plumper lips after being influenced by videos on TikTok and influencers from Love Island, and went to a salon to get 1.1ml of filler in December 2022.
Immediately after the procedure, which entailed a substance being injected into her face, Harriet’s lips started to swell up and bruise but she claims she was assured it was normal and they would go down within weeks.
But three months later, her lips were still swollen and Harriet claims she was left with two painful lumps in her lips and unable to properly close her mouth.
Harriet had to undergo three corrective procedures, costing £700 in total, to get her lips back to normal.
Harriet, a council worker, from Acle, Norfolk, said: “This was the first time I had anything done.
“On the way to my appointment, the woman at the salon told me to numb my own lips which now I realise you should not do.
“When I was getting my lips done, it was painful but at that time I didn’t realise it is only painful when not done correctly.
“Straight after they were very sore and started to bruise.
“After all the bruising had gone, I had two hard lumps on my lip - one on the left and one on the right.
“It made me feel so much more self-conscious - it was painful and uncomfortable.”
Harriet got her lips done in December 2022 and paid £100 for 1.1ml of filler.
After the procedure, Harriet thanked the aesthetics practitioner and headed home but started experiencing swelling and bruising on her lips - which she originally thought was standard.
Harriet said: “I was assured that the bruising was normal, and it would go down.
“But, after all the swelling and bruising had gone, I was left with two hard lumps.
“I stopped going to the woman as I was annoyed, and people close to me started commenting on how my lips didn’t look good.
“They said they could see unevenness in my lips and could see two lumps on the top tip.
“I’d wake up in the mornings and my lips would be swollen.”
Harriet found Dr Raja - a GP who runs her own aesthetics clinic in Norwich and underwent three corrective procedures - used to tissue to dissolve any hyaluronic acid-based filler - costing £700.
Harriet said: “I had to get my lips dissolved three times as too much filler was put in and it was injected into the wrong place.
“I had to go back three times before she could add new filler to my lips.
“I have been lucky, don’t get me wrong, I still have lumps in my mouth, but people have had it a lot worse.
“After getting my lips done it made me feel so much more self-conscious, it is painful and uncomfortable.
“But now you can’t even tell I have had them done as I have had them done properly.”
Originally, Harriet was injected with 1.1 mil and Dr Raja inserted 0.6 mil into her lips the second time around.
Harriet said the world of cosmetic surgery is a “minefield” and it has put her off any cosmetic procedure for life.
She said: “It is so common nowadays.
“I don’t judge people - when you have never had anything done before, you don’t know what you should be looking out for.
“Looking for what should go wrong and what should go right.
“It is important to research the person, don’t just go off social media pictures like I did.
“Look for healed pictures of someone’s lips, not just fresh off the needle as they will look nice and plump straight after.”
Harriet believes that social media and reality shows like Love Island play a major role in people wanting to get cosmetic procedures.
She said: “I won’t have anything done to my face now, at one point my TikTok was full of jaw filler and Botox which swayed me into wanting to get it done.
“It seems like such a normal thing to do now - that is the problem.
“Shows like Love Island, all the girls on there have had something done to enhance their look which is not natural.
“You don’t really ever see anyone there who is ‘natural’ and not had something done.
“It feels more common and appealing to others that if you have filler and botox you are seen as more attractive.”
