Kathryn Tumulka has called on the Scottish government to introduce stricter regulations on backstreet aesthetics procedures after a Botox injection forced her to take time off work
A mum who forked out £100 for a backstreet Botox shot says she was left “looking like a stroke victim” and scared to leave her home.
Kathryn Tumulka, 34, from Dalkeith in Midlothian, Scotland, visited a local salon in for a routine dermal filler top-up in 2020, expecting to receive the usual harmless combination of natural and synthetic compounds. But the qualified practitioner delivered a dose of Botox instead, which they roguely injected into her cheek.
The mistake meant that Ms Tumulka spent the next three months appearing as if she had suffered a cerebrovascular accident, and she was left too embarrassed to leave home. The mum-of-two has only just plucked up the courage to discuss the experience, which she said caused one side of her face to “completely collapse”.
Speaking to the Daily Record, Ms Tumulka said the practitioner “decided to stab my cheek with Botox” after she found they didn’t have any lip filler in stock. She said: “I went back to a girl after I noticed one side of my lip being fuller than the other, so asked for a top up. When I arrived, she said she didn’t have any filler in. At that point, my lips looked ridiculous and I just wanted them sorted.
“Instead of suggesting I just wait for the filler to come in, she decided to stab my cheek with Botox because she thought this would somehow fill the other half of my lip out. It left me looking as if I had suffered a stroke – the left side of my face completely collapsed. It was a total disaster.”
Unlike lip filler, there is no reversal procedure for Botox, meaning the hairdresser was forced to wait until the treatment wore off, a process that can take between two and six months. She was out of work while waiting for her face to return to normal, and despite the practitioner saying she “wanted me to come back in” she “wasn’t leaving the house.
She continued: “I was mortified. I looked horrendous and it left me very self conscious. I ended up losing a lot of money because I just couldn’t face going to work with the way I looked. I didn’t socialise and tried to do as much as I could from home.” Ms Tumulka has spoken out following her recovery, and called on the Scottish government to introduce stricter rules on backyard cosmetics.
She said: “I learned the hard way – I jumped at the cheap filler and thought it would be a great deal. It ended up being a complete disaster. There needs to be more stringent regulations in place to stop dodgy practitioners from causing serious damage to people’s faces.
“People working from their kitchen after completing a one-day course should not be allowed anywhere near anybody with a needle. Until these regulations are in place, I’d advise anybody looking to get botox or filler to seriously do their research.” The mum has told anyone considering an aesthetics procedure to check the clinic they choose is registered with Scots watchdog Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS).
