Warning from doctors who fix DIY plastic surgery

Margot Kim Image
Saturday, October 14, 2017

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Tracie Samara's nightmare innocently started eleven years ago.

"I wanted to get back into modeling," said Samara.

An ad in the paper about a contest that offered free non-invasive facial rejuvenation and Samara jumped at it.

"It took me a while to realize something very wrong was going on."

She says she was bruised, swollen and nearly blinded by the injection around her eyes. A facial plastic surgeon says Samara's story is all too common.

"We're certainly seeing a lot of things that people are injecting or putting into themselves that are not legal and should not be put into your body," said Cosmetic Ophthalmic and Facial Plastic Surgeon John J. Martin, JR., MD

"I'm going to show you how I inject myself."

Dr.Martin says these "do-it-yourself" videos on YouTube are a disturbing trend.

"They watch a video and it makes it look pretty easy, you just put a little injection in here. How hard could that be?" said Dr. Martin.

But experts warn permanent disfigurement is a real possibility.

"So they saved money by doing it themselves and now they're going to have to pay so much more to try and take care of it," said Dr. Martin.

Samara had no idea what she had injected into her face.

"You can ask them what are you using? It should come in a box; it should have the name of the product on it," said Dr. Martin.

After trying to remove the illegal filler along with radio frequency treatments to create new collagen, Samara finally has hope.

"I'm starting to come back, and I hope I come back even stronger," said Samara.

Realizing beauty really is more than skin deep.