Maisie-Jane Southwell, now 19, lost confidence in her appearance and turned to fillers after seeing others around her with them and liking the way they looked.
She paid £100 to have it injected into her mum’s living room – and soon became obsessed with its appearance.
Despite some experts advising 0.5 or 1ml of filler, she had 4ml injected in just nine months and said her lips “lost their shape” and “a lot of people pointed out the migration”.
She became addicted to the filler, getting the injections whenever she felt down as they made her feel better and gave her a confidence boost.
Maisie returned for injections every three to four months, but when the filler migrated her lips lost their shape, defined contour and color, she said.
She had the filler dissolved to prevent long-term health problems, such as loss of movement in her lips.
But she said she has left her lips flat and now has fillers twice a year to “keep them the same shape”.
The law changed in October 2021 making it illegal to give botox or lip fillers to young people in England.
But charity Save Face has now warned that under-18s are traveling to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to circumvent the ban.
Maisie doesn’t think legislation banning fillers for under-18s will stop young people finding ways to inject themselves.
Maisie said the focus of regulation should be less on age and more on how much filler you are allowed to take in a short period of time.
The SEN classroom assistant said: “I was earning my own money.
“My mum didn’t want me to do it but I was very disappointed with my appearance so this was my confidence boost.
“I liked it very much. It made me feel so good and they were so nice too. But then I got addicted and it was downhill from there.
“I think I got 4ml over nine months.
“Today you could probably take the identity of someone who looks like you and go do it.
“Age restrictions are good. I was young and didn’t know what could go wrong. I didn’t read it. But I think there should be a limit to how much you can take.
“I did my lips in October and texted again in November asking for another million.”
Maisie had her first lip filler in October 2020 for £100.
At the time it was legal for under 18s to get lip fillers in England.
She quickly became addicted to the sensation of freshly plumped lips and was injected with 4ml of filler in less than a year.
Just before her 18th birthday, Maisie’s lip filler migrated.
An esthetician told her the filler had moved from her upper lip to the skin above the lip line.
“I took them apart and my lips became even smaller than before,” she said.
“I absolutely hated it. It was awful.
“I also lost the color of my lips.”
Maisie waited a few months and then received 1.5ml of filler injection, followed by 0.5ml eight months later.
Now she only gets lip fillers to fill out her lips to keep them the same shape, rather than increase their size, she says.
She estimates she has spent around £1,000 on fillers, also getting a round of fillers on her cheeks and chin.
Maisie was the first person in her friendship group to have lip injections, but the majority of her friends have now had the procedure.
She believes that social media influences her decisions to get cosmetic enhancements much more than when she first got the enhancement.
The teenager was also trolled when she posted a TikTok about being addicted to lip filler at 16.
But Maisie let it go and said she would advise young girls considering fillers to wait and try less invasive methods of plumping up their lips.
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