I had cheek and chin filler – I looked like a ‘terrible, disgusting gargoyle’

A woman claims she ‘looks like a gargoyle’ after a former tattoo artist posing as a doctor gave her botched facial fillers.

Andrea, 60, visited Reshape U cosmetics clinic in Hull in December 2021 for a ‘liquid breast lift’ – which uses injectable fillers to enhance the bust.

Two months later, she returned to the clinic where she was encouraged to purchase facial fillers: hyaluronic acid used to fill wrinkles and add volume to the skin.

Now, two years later, she covers her face when she leaves her house because she is afraid people will laugh at her.

“I see a gargoyle… something horrible, disgusting,” she said told the BBC. “I live a nightmare every day.”

Before undergoing the cosmetic procedures, she checked the clinic’s reputation online and was reassured to discover that it had won Best Aesthetics Clinic in Yorkshire at the 2022 England Business Awards.

The clinic would be run by Mr. Sean Scott, who called himself “Dr. Sean Scott Clinical Director” mentioned in posts on Reshape U’s social media pages.

Videos posted by the same accounts in January and April 2023 – a year after Andrea’s treatment – ​​show a plaque on his door at the clinic that reads Dr. Sean Scott, PhD, Clinical Director.

Andrea said she “trusted” Mr. Scott because he “was the doctor.”

However, Mr Scott has denied portraying himself as a doctor and claimed he told clients who asked that he was not medically qualified.

In 2024 he stopped using the medical title after Hull City Council (HCC) advised him it was ‘misleading’.

According to the General Medical Council, which oversees doctors, only healthcare professionals can prescribe medical products such as fillers.

However, it is not illegal for non-medical professionals to administer cosmetic injectables such as fillers and Botox – a loophole that campaigners have long been trying to change.

Andrea claimed Mr Scott prescribed her two doses of antibiotics in December 2021 and January 2022, following her breast fillers.

But Scott told the BBC that he had not prescribed the antibiotics himself, but used a registered prescriber at a pharmacy to obtain the drug online.

Before her facial filler procedure in February 2022, Andrea recalled Mr. Scott telling her that her cheeks were “uneven,” but filler could fix that.

Andrea had filler in her cheeks, chin and jaw, but says her face started to swell and dark spots appeared.

She told the BBC that Mr Scott encouraged her to have more treatments after he told her the swelling was caused by an insect bite.

Andrea underwent around thirty non-surgical procedures over the course of ten months with Mr Scott and other members of his team, including further fillers, Botox and threads.

Mr Scott denied carrying out any treatments while his client showed signs of swelling or bruising.

He added that Andrea only complained that she was “not completely satisfied” with the results and made more follow-up appointments.

Andrea admitted selling jewelery and borrowing money to pay for the large number of treatments, which cost her thousands of pounds.

Mr Scott, who was a tattoo artist for 33 years before opening Reshape U in 2019, said Andrea had visited other clinics for treatment during this period, including one that damaged her skin.

In October 2022, Andrea went to the hospital because she could barely open her eyes.

Letters from plastic surgeons showed that her reactions were caused by the procedures. A cosmetics expert who examined Andrea also explained that the reactions were caused by an infection.

These infections can occur as a result of cosmetic procedures, but are rare in a clean environment with good techniques.

Andrea said she has been scarred both mentally and physically; she has facial pain and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Save Face – a government-approved register of accredited practitioners – received two further complaints about Mr Scott and his use of a false qualification.

Director Ashton Collins said the customers who reported him chose him because they were under the impression he was a doctor.

Mr Scott, who also runs an aesthetic training company, the Yorkshire Aesthetics Training Academy, was visited by health and safety officials from Hull City Council in 2024 after concerns were raised about his credentials.

Although they said a number of issues were found that required improvement, no formal action was taken as the company was responsive to his requests.

Mr Scott told the BBC the clinic had learned its lesson.

“While we may have made mistakes in the beginning, we have always given 100 percent of our assets to our customers. We have learned valuable lessons and made progress with ongoing training and development,” he said.

But warnings have been raised about the aesthetics industry for years.

In 2022, the Health and Care Act gave the government the power to introduce licensing for practitioners who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England.

However, this has still not been introduced.

Currently, anyone in the UK can legally provide Botox and fillers, including non-medical professionals such as beauticians.

However, because Botox is a prescription drug, it must still be prescribed by a medical professional, such as a doctor, dentist, pharmacist, or nurse prescriber.

Campaigners want to see a licensing regime for companies and private individuals offering these treatments to protect Britons.

An estimated 900,000 Botox injections are carried out in the UK every year, most of which are done without any complaints from patients.

But Save Face received almost 3,000 complaints in 2022 alone, with more than two-thirds of those complaints related to fillers and almost a quarter to Botox.