A leading, Glasgow-based cosmetic doctor has issued a warning following a rise in the number of people injecting fillers and other anti-ageing treatments at home using kits purchased online.
Dr Usman Quereshi said he was treating increasing numbers of men and women who had experienced serious complications including blocked arteries and abscesses.
In one case he says he helped a man who had injected his forehead with dermal fillers and the tissue had started to necrotise or die.
Dr Qureshi, who runs a clinic in Glasgow City Centre, said that in some cases patients had been left with permanent scarring despite his efforts to reverse the damage.
His practice charges upwards of £350 for fillers, while some websites are stocking kits for as little as £25.
The Scottish Government announced last year that it plans further regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures including dermal fillers after acknowledging the serious health risks they carry.
A public consultation found that 98% of respondents felt that non-surgical cosmetic procedures should be conducted by trained, qualified and regulated healthcare professionals.
READ MORE: Five questions before getting botox or fillers as ministers warn about health risks
Clinics that provide treatments are regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). However, there is no regulation on who can practise injectables in locations such as beauty salons, pharmacies, hairdressers and aesthetic clinics.
"Fillers are the most dangerous thing you can inject yourself, even more than Botox," said Dr Quereshi.
"There are people who are buying dermal fillers on the internet and injecting it into themselves.
"They are buying kits and then looking up Youtube tutorials.
" In some cases you can fix it but in others it causes permanent scarring.
"They are coming in with blocked vessels and abscesses.
"One guy who came in had injected filler into his forehead and it had resulted in a blocked artery and it had started killing the skin around it.
"He approached a few practitioners who tried to improve it as much as they could but there was damage.
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"Another guy came in who wanted me to dissolve filler. Once I did it, he told me he had done it himself."
He said people were able to purchase Botulinum online, which requires a prescription and must only be administered by someone who is medically trained.
He said others were buying PDO threads, which are inserted into the skin and used to stimulate collagen growth.
They dissolve within the body over four to six months.
"Sometimes they put them in too superficially," said the Dr, who runs Luxe Skin on Ingram Street."It's not a dangerous thing but is unpleasant aesthetically."
He said he had also treated people who had been to practitioners trained on "two-day courses".
He said: "There are cases where they experience complications but the practitioner is not able to resolve them.
READ MORE: Scottish Government licensing plan for aesthetic treatments 'will open a can of worms'
"Sometimes there are jobs that haven't been done properly, other times it is complications they can't correct or control."
Experts say young people now view “tweakments” such as Botox and fillers, as a status symbol.
Dr Michael Prager, known as the “king of Botox”, said that while older patients sought a subtle approach when seeking anti-ageing solutions, a “visibly enhanced” look had become popular with clients aged 30 and under.
The clinician stated that younger people are “being overly injected and proud of it” and in many cases had, “lost the plot”.
Dr Quereshi said he had refused to treat patients but said there would always be a willing practitioner somewhere else.
He said: "Older people want to look better for their age but the younger crowd want a more exaggerated or glamorous look.
"But they end up looking distorted.
"I think people just don't know when to stop. If one doctor refused to do more, they will just go and find someone else."
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