Arrested in July in Valenciennes (North), the two young women aged 22 and 25 are notably accused of “illegal practice of medicine”, “fraud” and “endangering the lives of others”.
At 32, Julie had never thought about getting Botox injections. But on Instagram, advertisements regularly refer her to the profile of a so-called doctor with thousands of subscribers. Seeing the thousands of subscribers, the insistent advertisements and the advantageous photos, she confides: “I said to myself that indeed, there are good results, the ‘before and after’ is quite incredible… The price is not cheap, but it remains more accessible than surgery, so why not?“
>> Botox: the danger of clandestine injections
Behind this Instagram account, two young women, accused of illegal practice of medicine, fraud and endangering the lives of others. These sisters aged 22 and 25, arrested last July, were tried on Wednesday September 13 in Valenciennes, in the North, accused of having illegally injected botox and hyaluronic acid on at least thirty people.
“My face has become complex”
Very quickly, Julie gets an appointment near her home, in Roubaix. The first injection goes well, but with the second injection, the unpleasant surprises begin. “My top lip is bigger than the bottom and I have the left side that is a little more swollen than the right side. Afterwards, I also still have the red marks from the injections. I set out to improve my face, and today I have a complex. It is not possible“, she regrets at the franceinfo microphone.
But beyond the aesthetic consequences, Julie fears above all for her health. The investigation revealed that the products used were mostly foreign, expired, with a bacteria level up to 50 times higher than the maximum authorized threshold. “We don’t know how the product may react later, if the syringes were really changed between clients… We can imagine everything. I’m in total limbo and it’s very complicated. I have a psychological follow-up and I see my doctor very regularly to each time ask new questions that cross my mind,” specifies the thirty-year-old.
Dozens of accounts on social networks
Among the 31 victims identified, some have already suffered serious complications: infections, and even cases of necrosis. However, these cases of injections illegal multiply. “Unfortunately, this is extremely common, notes Maître Laetitia Fayon, representative of the union of cosmetic surgeons, civil party in this case. We try to identify as many illegal injector accounts as possible, but it is impossible to list them all: when you report an account, it can be reopened under another nickname. In any case, today we have more than twenty complaints in progress.”
Complaints that do not prevent scammers from prospering. During the searches, the gendarmes found in the two sisters more than 14,000 euros in cash, two high-end cars and several luxury items, for profits estimated in total at more than 120,000 euros.
“I still have red marks from the injections”, testifies Julie, victim of illegal Botox injections