'My £120 weight loss jabs left me battling horror infection with a giant hole in my stomach'

A mum was left in agony and with a gaping hole in her stomach after caused a horror infection.

Julia Lanni, 59, gained 3st 7lb after her son was born in 2000 and taking steroids for a health condition made it difficult to shed the pounds. After trying a number of diets, as well as weight loss groups, she heard about a weight-loss jab known as Aqualyx and booked a session at a local salon. She paid £120 for the 16 injections across her belly but a week later she developed an abscess the size a fist on her tummy and .

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When she woke up from emergency surgery she had a hole in her belly - 7cm deep and 10cm across. Julia, from Hertfordshire, said: “This treatment was certainly life changing, but not in the way I wanted.

"My confidence is even lower than it was before. My weight was the same after the treatment and I've been left with a scar. The whole experience has been extremely distressing.

“The abscess was huge. I said to the surgeon 'it feels like a baked potato', and he said 'It's worse, it's like a small cabbage.’

“I could accept a reaction needing a course of antibiotics, but an abscess that size and emergency surgery is not okay. All the medical staff I saw said they’d never seen anything like this.”

Julia was told to wait three to four days before going for medical assistance if she had an adverse reaction. She used wet paper towels to try to combat the heat and pain on her tummy which started immediately after the jabs.

She went to her GP on August 29, and was given antibiotics and told to go to A&E. The pain was excruciating when a friend drove her to Lister hospital, in Stevenage, the same day.

She said: “I researched the treatment online for over a month and didn’t see abscess listed as a side effect. I think the form I signed was much too general. The practitioner said the worst that could happen was that the treatment wouldn’t work. I took her word for that.

“The salon appeared clean so I wasn’t concerned. It had 5-star reviews and ten-out-of-ten on Trustpilot. We checked and there were no contra-indications of having the treatment with my steroid medication.

“I’d advise people to be aware that this treatment can have severe consequences - think very carefully before having it, and only go to an aesthetician that has been recommended by someone you know.”

A spokesman for the makers of Aqualyx said: "We are truly sorry to hear of the experience described. While we cannot speak to the specific circumstances of this case, we would like to make it unequivocally clear Aqualyx Cosmetic is a product that must be administered exclusively by trained, qualified healthcare professionals in appropriate clinical environments.

"Aqualyx Cosmetic has a well-established safety record, supported by numerous scientific publications, including a European multicenter study. When used correctly by medical professionals, complications are rare.

"Unfortunately, the UK is one of the few countries where aesthetic procedures can be performed by non-medical personnel. This creates a significant risk for patients, particularly when treatments are offered in salons or other non-clinical settings.

"As a manufacturer, Marllor strictly enforces a policy of supplying its products only to licensed medical professionals. We strongly urge patients to do thorough research and ensure they are treated by medically qualified practitioners, in safe, clinical environments, to minimise risk and ensure proper care before, during, and after treatment.

"Patient safety is, and always has been, our highest priority."

Kasim Usmani, a qualified GP who trains healthcare professionals in safe, aesthetic practice, said: "Fat dissolving injections, as with all medical treatment, carries risk.

"It is important to go to a medically qualified professional who understands the anatomy of the area being injected, as well as the correct depth of product placement and amount of product used.”