Why Silicone Lip Treatments Turn Ugly

Jan. 28 -- Theresa, who asked that her last name not be used, was hoping that the liquid silicone injection she paid for would make her lips fuller and sexier — and for a while it did. But then ugly bumps surfaced on her mouth.

The silicone had hardened, forming two white bumps on her lips that required two reconstructive surgeries to remove. Her plastic surgeon said the bumps were her body's attempt to reject the silicone, which should never have been injected.

"You get bumps, you get extrusions which is the silicone's attempt to leave the body," New Jersey plastic surgeon Paul Rosenberg told WABC-TV's Sarah Wallace. "The body tends to want to eject any material that is annoying in any way and silicone is one such material."

In the back rooms of beauty salons and in private homes, a growing number of women who want fuller lips, fewer wrinkles or fuller buttocks are paying to have unlicensed practitioners inject them with illegal liquid silicone, which is supposed to build up their tissues. But in their efforts to plump up their pouts or improve their appearances, the customers are putting their health and looks on the line.

The Food and Drug Administration has not approved the marketing of liquid silicone for injection for any cosmetic purpose. Injected liquid silicone can move through the body, causing tissue inflammation and discoloration, bumps and deformities. The government prohibits manufacturers and doctors from selling it or advertising for it. Like Theresa, some women who have undergone the procedure have had to get the silicon removed and have needed cosmetic surgery to repair their lips.

Scam Artists Scatter Quickly

One New Jersey woman who had the procedure done said she didn't directly know the woman who injected her lips with silicone. A friend had referred her and the woman came to her home with a syringe.

"We sat at my kitchen table, she numbed me and then she injected me with silicone," said the New Jersey woman, who asked that her name not be used. "I really didn't know much about her. I knew that a friend of mine had it done and she looked really well."