Fat dissolving injections left a mother-of-one with a cricket-ball sized abscess in her abdomen that required emergency surgery.
Julia Lanni, 58, paid just £120 for 16 Aqualyx injections to tackle fat on her stomach — a procedure that can cost up to £400 — in hope it would boost her body confidence.
But just a week later the child support worker from Hertfordshire developed an abscess the size a fist above her navel and had to be rushed to hospital for surgery.
The cosmetic procedure left her £2,500 out of pocket, due to missed work, and she has been left with a golf-ball sized scar across her tummy.
Clinics market Aqualyx injections as a ‘non-surgical alternative to liposuction which also tightens the skin.
Julia Lanni, 58, paid just £120 for 16 Aqualyx injections across her belly — a procedure that can cost up to £400 — in hope it would improve her body confidence
But just three days after the procedure she started to experience severe pain which developed into an abscess
Websites claim the jabs work by dissolving membranes around fat cells which are then triggers ‘flushed out’ of the body by the immune system.
Clinics do warn that, as with many procedures, there is a ‘rare’ risk of developing an infection or abscess and well as experiencing bruising, swelling and pain at the injection site.
‘This treatment was certainly life changing, but not in the way I wanted,’ Ms Lanni admitted.
She said: ‘My confidence is even lower than it was before. My weight was the same after the treatment and I’ve been left with a scar. The whole experience has been extremely distressing.
‘The abscess was huge. I said to the surgeon “it feels like a baked potato'”, and he said “It’s worse, it’s like a small cabbage”.
‘I could accept a reaction that needed a course of antibiotics, but an abscess that size and emergency surgery is not okay.
‘All the medical staff I saw said they’d never seen anything like this.’
Following the treatment Ms Lanni was the same weight as she started and was left with a 4cm scar from the emergency operation
Ms Lanni gained 3st 7lb (22kg) after her son was born in 2000 and lost confidence in her appearance when she finished going through menopause in 2018.
She also said taking steroids for her health condition, congenital adreno hyperplasia — which causes swelling of the adrenal glands — made it impossible to shed the pounds through conventional means like diet and exercise.
Eventually she discovered the weight-loss jab, Aqualyx, in July 2023 and booked in a session at a local salon.
The practitioner injected 16 measures of the substance into Ms Lanni’s tummy on Tuesday August 22.
Staff at the clinic told her to wait three to four days before going for medical assistance if she had an adverse reaction, she claims.
Immediately after the jabs she felt pain on her tummy and started using wet paper towels in attempt to combat the heat.
But just three days after the procedure she started to experience severe pain.
She said: ‘After a week it was so painful nobody could touch it and I could hardly move: it was unbearable.’
She went to her GP on August 29, and was given antibiotics and told to go to A&E.
But Ms Lanni was in such excruciating pain she had her friend driver her to Lister hospital, in Stevenage, that night.
At 3am Ms Lanni had emergency surgery on the abscess. She then spent the next five weeks getting the wound packed and dressed at her GP surgery.
‘It was so painful when they touched it – like hundreds of bee stings,’ she said.
Unable to work, she was forced to use £2,500 of her savings to survive.
But, because she signed a consent form which listed an abscess as a possible side effect of the treatment, she is unable to claim compensation, she said.
The salon she used has since closed.
Ms Lanni claims she researched the treatment online for over a month, but didn’t see abscess listed as a side effect.
‘I think the form I signed was much too general,’ she said.
‘The practitioner said the worst that could happen was that the treatment wouldn’t work. I took her word for that.’
She added: ‘The salon appeared clean so I wasn’t concerned. It had 5-star reviews and ten-out-of-ten on Trustpilot.
‘We checked and there were no contra-indications of having the treatment with my steroid medication.
Staff at the clinic told her to wait three to four days before going for medical assistance if she had an adverse reaction, she claims
‘I’d advise people to be aware that this treatment can have severe consequences – think very carefully before having it, and only go to an aesthetician that has been recommended by someone you know.
‘Don’t wait the recommended time before seeking medical assistance, and if possible, start taking antibiotics before the treatment.’
Kasim Usmani, a qualified NHS GP who trains healthcare professionals in safe, aesthetic practice, said: ‘Fat dissolving injections, as with all medical treatment, carry risk.
‘It is important to go to a medically qualified professional who understands the anatomy of the area being injected, as well as the correct depth of product placement and amount of product used.
‘Unfortunately, many fat dissolving injections are bought online and have questionable ingredients which can lead to complications such as abscesses, tissue necrosis and damage.
‘These complications are also present with approved, safer products such as Aqualyx but is greatly reduced when done in a controlled, medical environment by a qualified medical professional.’
Aqualyx has been approached for a comment.