Mother-of-two ‘addicted’ to face fillers left ‘deformed’ after her lips swelled into a beak and began to rot away

A mother-of-two is warning young women of the dangers of lip filler, after botched injections left her with a ‘beak-like’ mouth and caused her lips to disintegrate. 

Nicole McManus, 30, admits she was ‘addicted’ to the procedure, which is designed to add volume and shape to the lips, having undergone it regularly for a decade. 

But two weeks after her most recent treatment in June, Ms McManus, from Lancashire, noticed her lips ‘blowing up’ — leaving the stay-at-home mum embarrassed to leave the house.

Desperate, she found another practitioner who was horrified at the state of her face and told her that her lips had gone into necrosis — the death of body tissue or cells.

Nicole McManus had 1ml of filler inserted into her cheeks and lips ahead of her 30th birthday bash in June

The mum-of-two had been using filler and anti-wrinkle injections for the last ten years without any issues, but these injections caused her cheek to swell and eventually her lips

Ms McManus has since had all the filler in her lips and cheeks dissolved but feels she’s been left ‘deformed and botched’ by her cosmetic procedures. 

She said: ‘I just wanted to get it done to make myself feel a bit better about myself. Then it became an addiction. I would say I was addicted. You look at yourself and think I’ll just get a bit more in.

‘I’d used this practitioner for over a year now and there’d been no issues up until June when everything started to go wrong.

‘I wanted to have a glow up for my 30th birthday so got my cheeks and lips done but then they both swelled up a few months later.’

Horrified by her swollen appearance on her birthday, she refused to let anyone take photos of her.   

She said: ‘I didn’t want my picture taken. I didn’t take any at all that day.’

Desperate, she found another practitioner who was horrified at the state of her face and told her that her lips had gone into necrosis — the death of body tissue or cells

Concerned about a possible infection, she returned to her practitioner who advised her to go to hospital where they warned Ms McManus they had to cut away part of her cheek. But two weeks later her lips also swelled

On noticing the complications, she returned to her practitioner who advised that the filler had been injected into the wrong part of her lips and cheek, and said she should go to hospital.

She said: ‘I went to Preston Royal Hospital because I was so concerned and they thought it was an infection.’

Doctors had to cut away part of her cheek to stop the infection spreading further up her face. 

She returned home with a course of antibiotics but soon noticed that the swelling in her lips was worsening. 

‘I could hardly drink,’ she said. ‘I sent the nurse a message begging her for help. She wasn’t apologetic or concerned, she didn’t care.

‘I was in so much pain. I looked like I’d been battered. My lips were so swollen. I was so embarrassed to walk out the house. My top lip looked like a beak.’

Ms McManus then visited another practitioner who told her that her lips were beginning to ‘rot away’ due to infection.

‘She saved my lips. She told me I could’ve lost them because of necrosis [tissue death]. My lips were starting to rot away.’

After taking a course of antibiotics Ms McManus visited another practitioner who told her that her lips were beginning to ‘rot away’ due to infection

Ms McManus says she has been left with ‘deformed’ lips and regrets ever getting the filler

Necrosis — the death of body tissue or cells — can occur as a result of many aesthetic treatments, but it’s most commonly associated with the injection of dermal fillers.

If filler is accidentally injected into a blood vessel, it can cut off supply of blood and oxygen to the tissue, causing it to die and eventually fall away.

A 2019 poll of some 51,000 13-24 year-olds by VICE UK revealed treatment such as lip fillers are increasingly commonplace. 

More than half said they viewed procedures like lip fillers as comparable to getting a haircut or manicure. 

Ms McManus says she has been left with ‘deformed’ lips and regrets ever getting the filler. 

She said: ‘I’ve been left with deformed lips. They’re still bruised weeks later. I’ve been botched, I hate speaking to people because of how my lips look. They look horrendous.

‘Think twice about getting filler done. I should’ve appreciated my natural looks. I regret what I’ve had done because I’ve been left with this.’