My lips are too thin, I sighed looking in the mirror.
Longing for the look some of my friends had achieved with lip fillers,
I made an appointment at a clinic I found online.
My mum, Susan, 49, was horrified.
‘It’s dangerous, don’t do it!’ she begged.
‘It’ll be fine. None of my friends had problems,’ I assured her.
So I went along for the procedure. At $600, it wasn’t cheap, but
I couldn’t wait to have luscious lips!
The nurse who worked there quickly stabbed my lips a few times with a needle. Without any anaesthetic, it stung like 
hell.
‘All done,’ she said.
I was stunned – I’d been there five minutes!
Is it meant to be so quick? I wondered.
I left, but my lips were so sore I rang the clinic.
‘I’m in pain, is this right?’ I said, anxious.
‘Yes, it’s normal,’ she replied. ‘Take paracetamol and you’ll be fine.’
Within hours, my top lip had swollen to double its size. Desperate, I rang the clinic again.
‘You need to check my lips,’ I begged. ‘There’s something wrong!’
‘We’re too busy to see you now,’ I was told. ‘Send me some photos.’ So I did.
‘Take antihistamines and the swelling will settle,’ she advised.
But they made no difference. In agony, my lips were turning black.
Terrified, I rang my mate Gabriella, 26, who’d had regular cosmetic injectable treatments.
‘My lips are black, swollen, and I’m in agony,’ I sobbed. ‘Is this normal?’
‘No!’ she said.
She rang the clinic she always used and the manager, Laurisa, who was also a registered nurse, told me to come
in immediately.
‘You have a vascular occlusion in your lips,’ she said. ‘That’s a blockage of a blood vessel.
‘If untreated it could lead to tissue necrosis, which means your lips could die off.’
Laurisa injected me with a dissolver while
I sat there in tears.
After four hours, I was relieved as the swelling started going down.
Laurisa monitored my lips daily, and they finally returned to normal.
She didn’t even charge me. I was so grateful.
Six months later, I nervously tried again with Laurisa and was pleased with the result. I urge others to check a clinic’s credentials. I didn’t, and could have lost my lips. ●
Lip fillers
• 
Only doctors or registered nurses can legally administer injectables.
• Lip fillers last around sixmonths and if done too often, can cause lipsto sag.
• Most common fillers contain hyaluronic acid, which is produced naturally by the body.
