Exclusive:
Ashton Collins, an expert on cosmetic surgery, has called for the banning of liquid Brazilian Butt Lifts following the death of 33-year-old Alice Delsie Preete Webb, from Gloucester, after a procedure
A cosmetic surgery expert has called for ‘liquid BBLs’ to be banned after a woman died just hours after having the procedure at a UK clinic.
Alice Webb, 33, became the first person to die after having Brazilian Butt Lift injections in Britain on Monday following years of warnings about the deadly risks of the procedure.
Unlike the surgical operation, liquid BBLs involve injecting hyaluronic acid and dermal fillers into the backside. Procedures are listed online for £2,500 a time and can be performed in as little as 60 minutes.
Alice became unwell at around 11.35pm on Monday night following the cosmetic procedure and died in the early hours of the following morning at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
Ashton Collins of Save Face, a national register of accredited practitioners who offer non-surgical cosmetic treatments, has long warned of the dangers of liquid BBLs.
A liquid BBL is a procedure often plugged on social media as “risk-free” and a “cheaper” alternative to surgery. And now Ms Collins, director of Save Face, is calling for the procedure to be banned. It’s devastating. We have heard so many of these cases and I’ve always hoped it would never be a death and unfortunately yesterday, that’s exactly what it was,” she told The Mirror.
“Although I knew it was inevitable, it’s still very shocking and extremely devastating for the family and I hope, beyond all hope, that, if the government will do something about it. They need to be banned. They are so, so dangerous.
“We’ve helped over 500 people who have had complications resulting from these treatments, and 50 of the people that we’ve supported have had sepsis and have been told that they may not make it through the night. They have been told to say goodbye to their friends and family. Some of them have been placed in induced comas and have had cardiac arrests. 39% of these people have needed corrective surgery. They’ve been left unable to walk, unable to sit down, they’ve had to have ongoing district nurse care to change room dressings.
“[Liquid BBLS] are just unspeakably dangerous and, of course, the biggest risk is that you can get a pulmonary embolism, where the filler occludes the blood vessel and it travels to your heart or your lungs and it kills you, and so the risk of death with these procedures is very, very high, and especially when you add into the type of people that are carrying them out.
“So in all of those 500 cases that we’ve managed, 100% of them have been carried out by lay people who have no health care experience. They don’t know the anatomy, they don’t know where those nerve endings, the blood vessels, are in the buttocks. They are just playing it fast and loose with people’s lives.”
On her proposal for a ban Ms Ashton continued: “Anybody who isn’t a registered plastic surgeon operating from a hospital setting should be banned from doing these procedures, and it should work in the same way as it would be a criminal conviction if you broke any other law.”
She also urged people to think again if they were considering a liquid BBL. Ms Collins said: “For anybody thinking of having one of these liquid BBLs involving hyaluronic acid dermal fillers, my advice would be don’t – the risks significantly outweigh any associated benefits. And even if you are lucky enough not to have a complication, the risk of you having an unwanted and aesthetically unpleasing outcome is really high, because of the nature of where the filler is.
“Most people have jobs where they sit on their buttocks for most of the day, so it has a very high chance of migrating around the legs and at the back. Even if you escape a complication, the likelihood is that you’ll be left with something that you weren’t happy with the look of for about two years.”
Gloucestershire Police has said that two people have now been arrested following the death of Ms Webb. A force spokesperson stated: “Two people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter following the death of a woman in her 30s in Gloucester. Police had been called by the ambulance service at around 11.35pm on Monday (23 September) with a report a woman had become unwell following a suspected cosmetic procedure.
“She was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and died in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Her next of kin and the coroner are aware. The woman’s family are being supported by specially trained officers. An investigation, led by the Major Crime Investigation Team, is ongoing. The two people who had been arrested have been released on police bail.”
