Aged 25 and 22, they were accused of having illegally injected botox and hyaluronic acid on hundreds of clients, at least 30 of whom filed civil suits.
They advertised on Instagram: two sisters, very present on social networks, were sentenced Wednesday September 13 by the criminal court of Valenciennes (North) to prison and suspended sentence for hundreds of illegal botox injections and hyaluronic acid.
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Aged 25 and 22, they are accused of having illegally injected botox and hyaluronic acid on hundreds of clients, at least 30 of whom filed civil suits. The eldest, Selma, a 25-year-old beautician who presented herself as “Dr Lougayne” on social networks, was sentenced to four years in prison, three of which were suspended for “endangering others” or “exercise illegal from the profession of medicine”. The criminal court requested his continued detention, considering that there was “not enough consideration given the seriousness of the facts”. Her younger sister, 22 years old, who admitted to having assisted her, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence.
The court followed the requisitions of the prosecution, which had compared the injections to a “drug trafficking“. The defense lawyer, Me Julien Bensoussan, stressing that his client had recognized the facts and understood their seriousness, denounced a decision “scandalous“, indicating to think”seriously” to a call.
“I didn’t understand the seriousness of the thing”
At the hearing, the court listed the after-effects presented by some of the 30 civil parties: abscess on the chin requiring emergency surgery, severe skin rash, partially paralyzed mouth, drooping eyelids, lumps or spots on the lips. On franceinfo, a complainant, Julie, testified: “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 possibleConfident that she was in “a total limbo”, the young woman indicated that she was being “monitored psychologically” and “see my doctor very regularly to, each time, ask new questions that cross my mind.“
Black hair carefully pulled back and lips swollen with hyaluronic acid, the two sisters assured that they wanted “embellish“their clients, recognizing the injections, but not the serious side effects.”It was a trend on social networks and I was interested in beautifying women, it was my passionthe elder justified himself. I didn’t understand the seriousness of the thing“. Graduated from an aesthetic CAP in 2020, she offers injections from 2021, and claims to have followed four training courses, one in Belgium, and others with Russian or Ukrainian trainers.
600 customers
The gendarmes, who identified and contacted certain victims themselves, count at least 600 clients between January 2021 and July 2023. With its 50,000 subscribers on social networks, its activity is accelerating, and injection sessions are organized in hairdressing and beauty salons, or even at home in Hauts-de-France and the Paris region.
But in March 2023, the gendarmerie of Villeneuve-d’Ascq (North) looked at the SnapChat and Instagram profiles of “Dr Lougayne”, particularly active, and identified their owner: on May 14, during a session in Valenciennes, the police arrested the two sisters. From their home, they seized around a hundred syringes, as well as vials of hyaluronic acid and botox from Russia and Korea, as well as 14,000 euros in cash, luxury items and two large cars. Investigators estimate that their activity brought in at least 120,000 euros in less than three years.