Mum-of-three Nicola Wilcock decided to get lip filler to boost her confidence, but the botched procedure only made her feel worse, and she covered her mouth for years afterwards
A woman has said she was forced to spend years hiding her mouth after her lip filler went wrong.
Nicola Wilcock, who suffered insecurities because of her uneven lips, paid £150 to undergo the procedure at a clinic in the North West. However, when she looked in the mirror afterwards, she instantly realised it had gone very wrong.
The mum-of-three, who lives in Hales, Trafford, Greater Manchester, noticed the filler had dropped, pulling her lip down in a way that made her feel like everyone was staring. And this meant she immediately became obsessed with the flaw, convincing herself it was the first thing people noticed about her.
Recalling her experience, Nicola told the Manchester Evening News: “It looked as if the filler had dropped and was dragging my lips. I always felt like everyone was looking at it. I felt as though the first thing people looked at was my dropped lip.
“When I walked out, I was really paranoid, and I sank into myself. I didn’t have a clue. I had no education on it. Back then, there was nothing. I left more dissatisfied and even more paranoid about how I looked. It wasn’t a huge difference, but I was really paranoid about it. It really scarred me.”
Nicola spent the next seven long years hiding her mouth when she smiled, covering it whenever she laughed while avoiding drawing attention to her face. She said the botched surgery had “taken over her identity” as she felt too scared to ask for advice and didn’t know whether it could be fixed, so she “suffered in silence” for a while.
She said: “I would never smile because it would accentuate the lip. If I did, I would cover my mouth. If I laughed, I would cover my mouth. They basically made the small side of my lips even bigger. I was walking around for years with wonky lips because I didn’t really know any different or how to get it fixed or who to turn to for advice.”
But everything changed when she moved to Hale to be with her boyfriend. A new friend in the area, who was an experienced aesthetician, noticed her uneven lips and told her it could be fixed – and this “immediately” boosted her confidence. Nicola said: “One new friend was an aesthetician and she said I could dissolve it or fill over it. She filled over it, and she’s done a perfect job.
“You wouldn’t even tell I’ve had my lips done. It took for me to make friends with an aesthetician for someone to tell me it could be fixed. I got my confidence back immediately. She educated me on it and all the things I could have had done to get it fixed. I thought, I can’t believe I’ve gone all these years too.”
Following her experience, Nicola decided to launch, Costhetix, a platform designed to safeguard clients from rogue practitioners. By implementing a strict vetting process, Costhetix aims to eliminate rogue practitioners and create a trusted space where clients can confidently book with certified professionals.
Nicola says every practitioner who wants to advertise on the platform must provide documentation, certificates and insurance before they are approved. The app is set to launch first in Manchester in just a matter of weeks.
“My partner and I were brainstorming about business ideas I had and I mentioned my lips,” she said. “I said I wished there was somewhere that would educate me and put me in touch with practitioners who were reputable and transparent about their qualifications, insurance and certificates.
“There was nothing. It was like the Wild West trying to choose anyone to go with. My dad is a plasterer and he could make an account tomorrow and claim he does injectables. It took three years, but I built a platform that safeguards people from cowboys. It’s purely for cosmetic surgery and dentistry. Once that’s nailed down, we will grow to the rest of the UK.
“Finding a safe and qualified aesthetics practitioner in the UK is more important than ever due to the severe lack of regulation in the industry. I personally have suffered from negligence in this industry, where a lack of proper education and knowledge about reversing procedures left me without the right support when things went wrong. It made me realise how vulnerable people are when seeking aesthetic treatments, which is why I built Costhetix to protect others from going through the same.”
