Illegal Silicon Injections Dangerous, Doctors Say
Newsflash: DIY plastic surgery is rarely a good idea.
After yet another woman gets rushed to the hospital for pumping herself with store-bought silicon, doctors again remind would-be plumpers that injections should be done by doctors, not your BFFs.
USA Today pointed this out with the story of a 30-year-old Detroit woman who was rushed to the hospital, coughing up blood, after injected silicon traveled to her lungs and began clotting in her airways.
Why did things go so wrong? Probably because she got the injections at a "pumping party" in a hotel room, possibly with a few friends.
Dr. Malcolm Z. Roth, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, told USA Today, "There are 'pumping parties,' involving high-volume injections to fill up the face, lips, cheekbones, chin or breast. Often it's buttock enhancement and often it's not sterile."
The silicon, the paper writes, often comes from Home Depot or other such home improvement stores (although that was probably not the sort of "improvement" the retailers had in mind).
As Jezebel aptly pointed out, "If people do find themselves in a Days Inn with a few BFFs, a bottle of pinot grigio, and a tube of silicone intended for home improvement projects, [Dr. Roth's] advice is to 'run away.'"
At least they're not doing the Vampire Facelift themselves... that could get seriously messy.
Click over to USA Today -- and read about other plastic surgery disasters below.
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The Huffington Post Ellie Krupnick First Posted: 10/31/2011 8:33 am Updated: 12/31/2011 4:12 am