‘I got under-eye filler – then felt like my face was going to explode’
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Twenty-four-year-old Lauren Bateman has been having Botox and filler injections since she was 18 without any issues. But it all changed two years ago when she got ‘tear trough filler’ that went catastrophically awry. But it hasn’t shifted her relationship to injectables, she tells Charlotte Cripps.
![[Lauren on a night out]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/17/10/image0.jpg)
It was my best friend’s 21st birthday and we booked a five-day break in Cyprus. We wanted to get as glam as we could in advance, so we went clothes shopping and got our hair done, and I decided to get some under-eye filler. It’s also known as tear trough filler, and I’d never had it done before.
![[Lauren Bateman’s scars after her filler was drained from under her eye]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/17/10/newFile-1.jpg)
It was a quick way to look refreshed, I thought, and I’d seen tons of girls on Instagram getting it. I already had filler in my cheeks, lips, chin, and jawline, and had injections of Botox all the time, so it was no big deal. I found a lady on Instagram. She had loads of followers and had done cosmetic work on a few of my friends which had turned out fine. I thought, “Let’s go with her” – she also had some good Christmas deals.
A few days after my injection of filler, though, my face was swollen and there was a pain below my right eye. I didn’t worry. You tend to get a bit of swelling after fillers. I assumed it was normal. But then I couldn’t sleep because it was so uncomfortable. I did a video call with the woman who’d treated me – she didn’t have any medical qualifications, but I think she’d done a course. She assured me it would settle down. She’d also topped up my lips and Botox with no issues.
