TikTok user goes viral over enormously swollen lips caused by discount lip filler procedure

October 28, 2022

A woman went viral on TikTok after her lips swelled to three times their normal size due to a botched lip filler procedure.

On Oct. 22, user Basia Query shared images of the procedure’s results via a TikTok post, which has since been viewed over 23.7 million times.

The video, which shows different angles of Query’s swollen lips, also indicates in her hashtags that the $350 procedure was done with a hyaluron pen instead of needles.

Compared to the needles and cannulas typically used to inject filler, hyaluron pens use pneumatic pressure to push hyaluronic acid into the skin. While Hyaluron pen treatments are typically cheaper, they offer less control over the speed and depth at which the filler is delivered.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a safety communication last year to warn against the use of needle-free devices like hyaluron pens for filler injections.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning the public and health-care professionals not to use needle-free devices such as hyaluron pens for injection of hyaluronic acid (HA) or other lip and facial fillers, collectively and commonly referred to as dermal fillers or fillers,” the statement reads. “The FDA is aware of serious injuries and in some cases, permanent harm to the skin, lips, or eyes with the use of needle-free devices for injection of lip and facial fillers.”

In a follow-up post, Query is seen with the swelling in her lips having subsided significantly, although they remain “very bruised.”

She says the swelling in her lips was caused by an allergic reaction to the topical numbing cream Lidocaine, an anesthetic she had never received in previous procedures.

Query told Daily Mail that her boyfriend, Gage Dodds, rushed her to an emergency room where doctors gave her an EpiPen to calm the reaction. She was discharged three hours later.

“I was terrified and thinking ‘what if they cut my lips off, or stay this way forever?’ I didn’t know what to do,” she was quoted as saying. “I had never seen lips this big, and the woman who did my lips said other people had had a reaction but never that big.”

According to Query, she no longer intends to do any more procedures and has decided to cancel a Botox procedure scheduled in November.

“I have learnt to always do research into what I am putting into my lips, it’s the same thing with botox or getting a boob job, it’s different for everyone,” she added.

In her most recent update, Query says she has learned her lesson and asks for advice from her followers on what to do next. While her lips still have minimal bruising, they are no longer as swollen as before.

Featured Image via Basia Query

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