Think Botox and fillers are safe? Think again! From lost limbs to painful burns, real women share their horrifying accounts of botched 'non-invasive' procedures

By Tamara Abraham For Dailymail.com

Published: 07:56 EST, 14 April 2015 | Updated: 17:32 EST, 14 April 2015

Non-invasive cosmetic procedures are typically considered less scary alternatives to surgery.

But when performed by inexperienced or unqualified practitioners, injectables, lasers and their ilk can be anything but safe.

These terrifying real-life accounts reveal consequences that vary from infection to lost limbs and even cardiac arrest. 

As Botched returns tonight at 9/8c for a second season on E!, we share five women's stories. 

Near-fatal reaction: A rare side-effect of a dermal filler caused Hailey Terrell to suffer eight strokes and a cardiac arrest

Near-fatal reaction: A rare side-effect of a dermal filler caused Hailey Terrell to suffer eight strokes and a cardiac arrest

I suffered eight strokes and went into cardiac arrest after dermal fillers

Hailey Terrell, from Boulder, Colorado, was studying in London, UK, when she decided to have dermal fillers injected into a line on her chin.

But a near-fatal reaction to the minor procedure in May 2012 caused the pilates instructor, 37, to suffer eight strokes and a cardiac arrest during which her heart stopped beating for 30 seconds. 

Hailey, who had had fillers before, did her research and read up on the side-effects ahead of the procedure. While she was aware of a small stroke risk, it hadn't bothered her.

She said: 'I'd had injections before with no issues and nothing about this practitioner seemed out of the ordinary. She was qualified and a registered nurse so I thought that was all I had to worry about.'

It was the day after the procedure that Hailey's first symptoms appeared.

She said: 'I took a bite of bread and struggled to swallow it. I tried to tell my friend I couldn't swallow my food properly but the words weren't coming out.

'Suddenly I had an awful lisp and it was still there the next day. A friend told me I might have had a stroke.'

Hailey went to hospital where she was diagnosed with a food allergy and sent home. But after almost choking on a subsequent meal, she returned to the ER.

'By this point I couldn't even swallow my own spit and I was drooling profusely,' she said.

'I had to type messages into my phone to 'speak' to the doctors. I had been back in hospital for three days and I was really scared.

'I pleaded for a nurse to stay and hold my hand through the night because I didn't want to die behind the curtain. That is the last thing I can remember.'

The next day - one week after her first hospital admission - Hailey went into cardiac arrest and suffered another series of strokes. Her heart stopped beating for 30 seconds before she was resuscitated.

Fighting for her life: Hailey was placed in a medically-induced coma unable to breathe on her own and transferred to an intensive care unit

Fighting for her life: Hailey was placed in a medically-induced coma unable to breathe on her own and transferred to an intensive care unit

She was placed in a medically-induced coma unable to breathe on her own and transferred to an intensive care unit where she fought for her life for the next seven days.

'When I woke up the left side of my body didn't work at all.' Hailey said. 'It took me a while to learn to walk again and I had to relearn to write too because I am left-handed. For months I would be out eating and my fork would just drop out my hand.' 

After intensive rehabilitation, Hailey has made a full recovery and is now using her experience to urge others to think twice about having cosmetic injections. 

She said: 'I had no idea a filler injection could kill me. When I went to have an injection there was a leaflet with all the side effects listed.

'But it was just like the paper in a paracetamol box - I never thought it would actually happen to me.' 

A fat-freezing treatment left me with agonizing burns 

Graphic designer Sarah Hall, 34, was left with agonizing burns and potentially permanent scarring after she underwent a 'fat-freezing' treatment on her stomach.

The trendy procedure, often known as Cryolipolysis, usually costs around $2,000 per session and promises to kill fat cells by cooling them to near-freezing temperatures without causing damage to the skin. The dead fat cells are then metabolized and expelled by the body.

Painful: Graphic designer Sarah Hall, 34, was left with agonizing burns and potentially permanent scarring after she underwent a 'fat-freezing' treatment on her stomach

Painful: Graphic designer Sarah Hall, 34, was left with agonizing burns and potentially permanent scarring after she underwent a 'fat-freezing' treatment on her stomach

Sarah, from Liverpool, UK, was tempted by a bargain $250 offer at Starbright - what appeared to be a reputable clinic. But little did she know, the practitioner performing the treatment was only trained as a hairdresser.

Just hours after the treatment, the skin on Sarah's stomach became hot, painful, inflamed and red.

I can't take my clothes off in front of anyone now. 

'It was worse than sunburn,' she said. 'I couldn't stand, sit or lie because movement or anything touching the affected area felt like being poked by a hot iron. Sleeping was impossible because I couldn't bear even a sheet on top of me.

'The intense pain lasted six days, during which time the skin began to blister and I wasn't able to sleep or work. It felt like I had been branded.'

A visit to her doctor confirmed that she had serious burns akin to frostbite and she was prescribed a cream to prevent infection, but unsightly marks remain on her abdomen. What's more, she fears permanent nerve damage as the area is now numb to the touch.

Visible burns: Sarah's abdomen pictured one day after the treatment
Sarah's abdomen pictured a week later

Visible burns: Sarah's abdomen pictured one day after the treatment (left) and a week later (right)

Sarah, a divorcee, said: 'After years of having my confidence knocked, I'd just started dating again but I can't take my clothes off in front of anyone now.'

Though the clinic sold the treatment as Cryolipolysis, the term is a trademark of US company Zeltiq, which says it never sold any of its equipment to Starbright. 

In a statement to the Mail on Sunday, the company said: 'We would be concerned to discover that a hairdresser would be involved in a treatment using Cryolipolysis technology. Our providers are all fully qualified, leading plastic surgeons, dermatologists and medical aesthetic specialists.' 

Horrific: Apryl Brown had her buttocks, hands and legs amputated after a black market practitioner injected her with industrial grade silicone

Horrific: Apryl Brown had her buttocks, hands and legs amputated after a black market practitioner injected her with industrial grade silicone

I lost my hands, feet and buttocks after black market silicone injections

In what is perhaps one of the most horrifying examples of injectables gone wrong, Apryl Michelle Brown had to have her buttocks, hands and legs amputated after a black market practitioner injected her with industrial grade silicone commonly used in bathroom sealant.

The Los Angeles hair stylist, 48, who has two children, was tempted to boost the size of her 'flat butt' back in 2004 when a new client claimed she could provide buttock injections.

Apryl agreed to have her perform the procedure. But after two of three sessions, she saw no difference to the size of her butt and put an end to the treatments.

Over the next five years, Apryl began experiencing problems with the injected area. She told Daily Mail Online that she first noticed that her buttocks were becoming discolored.

Next, the area became hard, then they started itching and eventually Apryl was living with excruciating pain.

Apryl made several visits to her HMO during this time, but was told nothing could be done to alleviate her pain.

She eventually reached breaking point one night in 2011.  

'I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I couldn't even concentrate,' she told CNN. 

Evidently in some kind of delirium from the pain, she confessed: 'I literally scratched all of the skin off my buttocks. My nails pulled all of the skin off my body. 

'And when my sister came in, and she saw that, it freaked her out.'

Apryl was admitted to hospital, where surgeons discovered that a massive infection caused by the impure silicone had caused her body to go into severe shock.

Apryl spent a month in a medically-induced coma while life-saving drugs diverted blood flow to her essential organs as her body fought off the infection. But her hands and feet became starved of oxygen and died.

'They were just black and swollen and necrotic and there was gangrene,' Apryl remembers.

Along with her buttocks, too damaged and infected from the impure silicone shots, her hands and feet had to be amputated.

Today, Apryl walks with prosthetics and lives on her own with the support of an aide who comes in to help for a few hours a day. She even successfully completed the Pasadena Triathlon.

While she says doesn't want pity, she does want others to listen to her cautionary tale, and has written a book The Apryl Michelle Brown Story: More Than a Body, which will be released in August.

'Don't ever do anything without researching it and definitely don't ever do anything on the black market,' she warns. 

Agony: Vanda Thomas's face is now scarred for life after an unqualified technician performed laser hair removal on her chin

Agony: Vanda Thomas's face is now scarred for life after an unqualified technician performed laser hair removal on her chin

My face is scarred for life after laser hair removal 

Vanda Thomas's face is now scarred for life after an unqualified technician performed laser hair removal on her chin.

The mother-of-two, 55, from London, UK, had been a regular at her local beauty salon where she elected to have the treatment for the first time.

She had hoped that the procedure, which cost her £50 ($75), would permanently remove the wispy hairs under her chin.

'When she put the laser on, it hurt so much I jumped out of the chair,' Vanda said. 'It was such an intense burning. The woman said it was normal, and did another patch, but that hurt just as bad.

'Then she said that maybe she should turn the laser down. I have a high threshold for pain, but that was absolutely agonizing,' she added.  

After the 20-minute treatment, Vanda left the salon with a burning sensation in her face.

It was only the next day that she realised something was seriously wrong, when her skin broke out in sores and blisters.

Her doctor told her the laser had caused first degree burns and would leave permanent scarring.

Now Vanda is forced to cover her scars daily with heavy make-up. She has since teamed up with a trade body, to call for tougher regulations for laser hair removal treatment.

Scarred for life: Vanda's face pictured shortly after the laser procedure
Vanda's face pictured six months later

Scarred for life: Vanda's face pictured shortly after the laser procedure (left) and six months later (right)

'It was only afterwards that I realized these people didn't need any training, or licencing, to operate quite dangerous machinery,' she admitted.

'My face felt like it was on fire for days - all because she didn't know how to operate the machine.' 

Botox left me with a droopy eye

Fans of Desperate Housewives will remember actress Dana Delany's turn as Katherine Mayfair. But what few now notice is the star's 'droopy eye' caused by botched Botox back in 1993.

In a Prevention cover interview in 2010 she spoke out about the disastrous treatment as a warning to others to be aware of the possibility of doctor error.

'Seven years ago, I had never even heard about Botox,' she said. 'My dermatologist was saying, "You should try it." 

Doctor error: Actress Dana Delany was left with a 'droopy eye' caused by botched Botox back in 1993

Doctor error: Actress Dana Delany was left with a 'droopy eye' caused by botched Botox back in 1993

'He injected my forehead, hit a nerve, and created a huge hematoma. The nerve has been dead ever since. 

'It affected the muscle in my right eye, so my eye has started to droop a little bit. 

'Now that I said this to you, everybody will look for it! I notice it more than anybody else, but I was symmetrical before and now I am not.' 

You won't believe the wild plastic surgery mishaps Dr. Nassif and Dr. Dubrow are tackling on the next season of Botched. Catch up on Season 1 on demand now and watch the Season 2 premiere tonight at 9/8c on E! 

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