Dozens of patients over in Brazil are suing a plastic surgeon for leaving them with disfigured faces.
The victims allege that Dr. Wesley Murakami convinced them to undergo the 'treatment' to improve their looks and help to heal their acne scars. Instead they were left with irreversible facial damage - and they paid thousands for the efforts.
The Metro reports that the procedures were carried out using a filler called Metacryl, the synthetic resin PMMA, at Murakami's clinic in Goiania, west central Brazil.
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FYI, Metacryl is a filler and is not used by UK and US clinics who consider it to be a highly dangerous substance. And even though the use of the substance is warranted in certain areas, apparently Murakami's not even qualified to be carrying out the specialised treatment.
As a result of the botched surgeries, a number of patients have come forward to share before and after pictures in a bid to warn other people against this 'doctor' and to get him banned permanently from the medical field.
A number of the victims are also seeking retribution - including Alexandre Garzon, who has already sued Dr Murakami for the 7000 reais (£1,500) he paid for the surgery. Although he's still waiting for compensation.
Perhaps even more shocking is that many of these patients have been suffering in silence for years. Garzon received treatment from Murakami back in 2014, stating: "Dr Wesley told me I was going to look really good and all the pimple marks on my face would disappear."
Although he didn't look into the procedure thoroughly beforehand, Garzon explained, "At no point did he explain to me that it was irreversible. I thought it was like Botox and would gradually come out over time.
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"When I saw the result in the mirror I was horrified. My face was gigantic and you can see in the photos.
"He said the swelling would go down quickly, but it stayed like this for months."
Only now has the patient mustered the courage to show the damage caused by the treatment. Same goes for a 28-year-old teacher who chose to remain anonymous. She paid 5,000 reais (£1,000) for the procedure and the disfigurement that resulted caused her to come close to taking her own life.
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She said: "My face was distorted. I was ashamed to go to into school and the stress of teaching caused my face to swell even more.
"I would cover my face with my hair and people looked at me strangely because I would always be looking down when I had to speak."
Another anonymous victim came forward with details about the treatment, claiming the doctor persuaded her to treat her whole face.
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She said: "I went in to fill my chin and left with a face full of PMMA. By the time he finished my face was bleeding, it was painful all over and badly swollen."
Although the substance is legal to use in Brazil, according to Brazil's Medical Council, Metacryl should only be injected by doctors within prescribed limits of five millilitres.
Dr Sérgio Conceição, of the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery (SBCP), told the Metro: "Although it seems like a simple, risk-free procedure, what we have seen in our clinics is patients coming to us with complications resulting from practitioners who are not specialists.
"This product is not an absorbable substance and causes an inflammatory reaction. It is imperative to stress that people should never do these procedures with those who are not specialists."
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