A mother-of-one has called for a ban on “liquid BBLs” after a botched procedure left her bottom with black holes and pain “worse than childbirth”.
Monique Sofroniou, 30, from London, made an appointment at what she thought was a reputable salon to have her bottom enlarged after undergoing a ‘Brazilian Butt Lift’ in 2021.
The beautician spent £3,000 on the non-surgical procedure to inject a liter of filler into each cheek – and was excited to finally have her dream look.
But when Monique turned up for the appointment in September 2022, she felt “weird” being directed to a nearby hotel where she underwent an hour-long filling procedure.
Later that night things took a turn for the worst when she discovered her bum was “swollen” and “very red” and had reached a temperature of 41C.
Monique was rushed to A&E where she was told she had sepsis.
Monique Sofroniou (pictured), 30, called for a ban on ‘liquid BBLs’ after a botched procedure left her buttocks with leaking black holes and pain “worse than childbirth”.
Pictured: a recent picture of Monique’s buttocks more than a year after getting a nasty scar filler
She recalls: “After the procedure, I was really passed out, then that night I woke up and I was sick all over.
“I felt so sick. I had a temperature of 41 but I was shivering, freezing. I was sick all night.
“My bum was swollen and very red around the area where you could see where the filler was. It got redder and redder.
“I went to hospital and stayed for a week on antibiotics but just went home on oral antibiotics.
“It just kept getting worse and worse to the point where I woke up and there were lumps of blisters with fluid in them.
“I didn’t want to look at it, it made me feel sick. It was really burning to the point where I had to have ice packs on it, but even putting the ice pack where it was to the touch was agony. It burned and stung.
“It was the worst pain I’ve ever been through in my life and I gave birth.”
The surgery – popular with celebrities – requires a person to remove fat from their abdomen and move it to their hips and bottom to create an hourglass shape.
Monique booked the procedure on a friend’s recommendation, assuming it would be at a clinic.
Monique was rushed to hospital where doctors tried to correct the situation (pictured: the mother of one after surgery at the hospital to repair the damage caused by the filler)
The beautician spent £3,000 on the non-surgical procedure to inject a liter of filler into each cheek (pictured: Monique’s bottom two weeks after ‘liquid BBL’ with blood pouring from her wound)
However, she claimed she was only given the address of the procedure a day before the appointment – and the pair walked her to the local hotel.
Although he regretted not “leaving” at the time, he said he knew friends who frequented the interns’ services, so he went ahead.
She revealed: “I didn’t know it wasn’t going to take place in a clinic.
“When I got there they met me [at the address] and he took me to a hotel across the street, I thought, “oh, this is a bit strange”.
“I think I probably should have walked away at that point and said no, but because I knew quite a few people who had been there before, I thought it would be OK.
“I thought filler would be a less invasive procedure, it’s not supposed to be dangerous.”
The morning after the injections, he was rushed to Stoke Mandeville Hospital A&E in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
The mum-of-one was told she had developed sepsis and that the practitioner had used non-dissolving silicone, rather than the hyaluronic acid normally used for fillers.
Sepsis occurs when the body reacts to an infection by attacking its own organs and tissues.
She said she felt “weird” being directed to a nearby hotel for an hour-long filler (pictured: Monique three months after her repair surgery, still in pain with scars showing)
After a week in the hospital, the mother returned home, but the respite was short,
To her dismay the skin on her bum had darkened and was leaking the injected filler.
The poor result began a three-week cycle of doctor and hospital visits where Monique underwent painful procedures to extract the filler that left her “crying” in pain.
“A surgeon syringed some of the stuff out to see what it was,” Monique explained.
“I was crying in agony while he was doing it, I said ‘it’s too painful, you have to stop.’
“I went home with a plaster where he had put a small hole in one of the blisters – it was filler mixed with blood.
“The next morning when I woke up, where he had put the hole to take some things out, the skin had collapsed on its own and [the whole area] it had turned almost black.
“It was awful, I didn’t even want to look, I felt sick. It was so abnormal, I thought ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?’
“The surgeon said he thought it was likely because a large volume of this filler was placed and there was no room for it to go.
Mum shares her story in bid to ‘ban’ ‘high risk’ procedure or at least encourage stricter regulations
“That filler just had to come out somewhere where it made my skin die, there was too much pressure on the skin.
“They didn’t tell me it wasn’t soluble. If they did, I would never have done it.”
After the horrific ordeal, Monique has been left with permanent scars around her buttocks.
Now the mum is sharing her story in a bid to ‘ban’ the ‘high risk’ procedure or at least encourage stricter regulations.
She said: “I’m a very strong person, even though I get angry, I know there are other people who have it much worse.
“I’m not looking for sympathy but I just want to spread awareness because I think it needs to be regulated more. I don’t think it will be banned but personally in my opinion I think it should be banned.
“Regardless of who performs it or how it’s regulated, the procedure itself is so high-risk that it’s not worth it.
“Thankfully it’s much better now, it’s not difficult anymore. There really are signs.
“I’m pretty fat. I’m thankful it didn’t turn out worse. I’ll probably get a tattoo to cover it up.’
The government-sanctioned register Save Face reported that since 2022 there have been 214 complaints of non-surgical BBLs and breast augmentations, with 87% of these complaints requiring hospital treatment.
They also stated that in 100 per cent of cases, the procedure was performed by non-health professionals and so are now calling on the government to ban ‘liquid BBL’.
