Victim Of Botched Cosmetic Procedure Speaks Out In Support Of Our Take A Good Look Campaign

Laura-Alicia Summers is urging readers to support our petition for better-regulated cosmetic surgery

A victim of a bad cosmetic procedure has spoken out in support of Marie Claire's Take A Gook Look campaign and is urging readers to sign our petition if they care about other women.

Laura-Alicia Summers, 28, had a lip filler procedure which went wrong two years ago. She was working at a trade fair when she was tempted by a £200 deal from a pop up clinic at the event. She says: ‘The night after having the filler done my lips were tingling, and when I woke up the next morning they were five times the size. The whole area was swollen and I couldn’t open my mouth.’ However when she tried to contact the clinic the line went straight to answerphone, and felt ‘fobbed off’ when they finally got in touch. ‘I had to take a fortnight off work and my face didn’t look normal for a month. I do feel stupid - I hadn’t researched what they were injecting’, she adds.

Cosmetic fillers and other procedures that have come to be regarded as everyday treats, such as microdermabrasion and laser hair removal, are not currently regulated – at the moment anyone can buy the equipment and call themselves a cosmetic practitioner. Marie Claire editor Trish Halpin says: ‘At Marie Claire not only do we want the government to take action now, but we also want women to be fully informed so that they are empowered to make the right decisions for them. ‘If you have a procedure and something goes wrong, we want you to know where to turn to for help and not be made to feel like a silly, vain woman.’ Summers encourages Marie Claire readers to sign our petition. She says: ‘I’m in full support of the Marie Claire campaign about regulating plastic surgery, so no one else gets done to them what I had done to me, and to make this world a safer and more beautiful place.’ The #TakeAGoodLook Campaign Demands:

• a register for practitioners and procedures • standardised information for patients • a ban on special offers and procedures as prizes • a code of practice for advertising • training courses for non-surgical procedures • fillers to be made prescription-only • a national breast implant registry • an impartial organisation to turn to when things go wrong

So please, sign our petition if you think women should be empowered, informed and safe about cosmetic procedures.

You can read our full investigation into plastic surgery in the latest issue of Marie Claire – out now.

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