Five ops in six years after fake fillers

Woman who had fillers injected into her face has since undergone six surgeries to correct the damage.

Reem Mohammed has undergone six surgeries to correct the damage caused by fillers injected into her face. Pawan Singh / The National

Reem Mohammed had no idea a cosmetic choice made 10 years ago would cause trouble to this day.

In her early thirties, she decided to have semi-permanent dermal fillers to give her face definition.

"The only reason I agreed to do this was because it was temporary," said Ms Mohammed, a British expatriate. "I figured that if I didn't like it in six months the effect would go away.

"But it's been 10 years now and I'm still battling with what was injected into my face."

Ms Mohammed heard about a clinic in Dubai where several of her friends had been treated.

"It looked like a normal clinic and the woman there was dressed like a doctor in a white jacket," she said. "She was doing loads of people at the time and they looked good when she did it."

Ms Mohammed asked the woman to show her the fillers and after looking up the brand written on the label, she trusted it was authentic. But it was not.

"It was fine at first but then stuff started happening," she said. "People started getting slightly disfigured and having serious problems, my friends included. I was lucky I didn't have any infections or disfigurement."

Nearly a year after the procedure, Ms Mohammed felt a hard lump on her left cheek and sought out doctors at the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery Hospital.

Using MRI scans, the medics found particles gathered in different parts of Ms Mohammed's face and operated to remove what they described as "colonies" of the filler. They still cannot identify the contents of the substance.

"I was very lucky to find someone who was willing to treat me," she said. "Many doctors refuse to touch these cases because they consider them a liability.

"But the doctor only agreed to help me after I promised I'm committed to taking care of my face."

Ms Mohammed had five operations in six years. Every time she finds another lump she goes back to the hospital to have it removed, at a cost of thousands of dirhams.

There are small scars near her mouth and nose where doctors made incisions to remove the fake fillers.

By the time Ms Mohammed had undergone the first corrective surgery, she discovered that the woman who injected the fillers had been arrested and the clinic shut down. She now wishes she had done more research.

"I'm always worried that anything might trigger an infection and every time I get some kind of skin reaction on my face I'm afraid it might be linked to the fillers," she said.

"It also made me hate having photos taken because I feel like I don't match the pictures. In reality I'm OK but I feel the photos enhance the unevenness of my face."

The pressure for aesthetic perfection is exacerbated in a society where not only is there an emphasis on appearance, but cosmetic surgery is also more socially acceptable, Ms Mohammed said.

"People here will tell you why don't you try this procedure or that one, whereas in the UK, the reaction would be more like, 'really, you want to put that in your face'?"

She hopes her experience will be a lesson to other women.

"Do your research, look into what you want to do and make sure you're doing it for the right reasons," she said. "I wished I had a slightly fuller face but now I'm paying for it. Ask yourself, would you prefer to have that minor imperfection or live with a distortion for the rest of your life? Do the benefits outweigh the risks?"