Love Island’s Mollie Salmon revealed her bruised and swollen eye on Instagram on Friday after undergoing controversial “fox eye” surgery.
The reality personality, 24, who appeared on the show’s summer series last year, took to her Instagram Stories to give her followers an update and admitted she was “difficult to see.”
She wrote, “My surgery went well and @monocosmeticsurgery did a fantastic job for me with the help of my best friend @holliebayles. I really couldn’t have done this without her.
“I’m very swollen and currently struggling to look out of my eyes because that’s where the surgery was, so just wanted to let you all know I’m not ignoring anyone, but thank you all for the lovely messages. I’ll give you all the recovering update photos soon.’
She added, “I promised I would take you on this journey with my, this is my current healing process, my bruising and swelling will subside after a few days. The procedure I had was fox eyes.”
Under the knife: Love Island’s 24-year-old Mollie Zalm revealed her bruised and swollen eye on Instagram on Friday after undergoing controversial ‘fox eye’ surgery
Proceedings: The reality personality, who appeared on Love Island last year, took to her Instagram Stories to give her followers an update and admitted she was “difficult to see”
Work: The £500 treatment uses dissolvable stitches to create almond-shaped eyes with a lifted brow tail, and aims to give women a lifted brow and upper lid lift
The £500 treatment uses dissolvable stitches to create almond-shaped eyes with a lifted brow tail, and aims to give women a lifted brow and upper lid lift without the downtime of surgery, as it only takes half an hour – and completely should heal less than two weeks.
Called fox-eye threadlift, clinics advertise the procedure on social media sites with videos of patients before and after, with the corner of their eyes swept up and back in dramatic fashion.
The looks of American top models Bella Hadid and Kim Kardashian’s sister Kendall Jenner have often been cited as inspiration, and in the UK, models Katie Price and Danielle Lloyd have admitted to undergoing the treatment.
Danielle underwent secret eye-lift surgery in 2021 after being inspired by the Kardashians, but admitted her husband was furious after she told him.
The former glamor model, 39, also opted for a fox eye lift went under the knife for a thread lift on her jawline to remove loose facial skin and give her face a more defined shape.
Speak against Closer Danielle admitted at the time that she was eager to make the changes after being told that several members of the Kardashian family had followed the same procedures.
She explained: “Seeing all these gorgeous young girls on Instagram also made me feel insecure and worried about my age – I’m turning 38 later this year and the prospect of turning 40 worries me.
“I want to look my best, and this procedure prevents things like cheeks and lines, so I thought, ‘Prevention is better than cure!’ I know I’m a little obsessed, but it makes me feel better.”
New look: Danielle Lloyd underwent secret eye lift surgery in 2021 after being inspired by the Kardashians, but admitted her husband was furious after she told him (pictured left before surgery, then right)
Not happy: Former glamor model admits husband Michael O’Neill was furious about her decision to have more cosmetic surgery (pictured in 2019)
Last year, however, ex-Big Brother housemate Ryan Ruckledge warned against fox-eye facelifts after claiming he was left in the hospital with a serious infection following freebie treatment.
Ryan, 31, from Blackpool, told Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield on This Morning how he got the 20-minute procedure, a minimally invasive, non-surgical procedure that raises the eyebrows and outer corners of the eyes.
The influencer, who also previously appeared on The X Factor, said he woke up feeling like he’d been run over by a bus afterwards, and two weeks later his face was so infected it started to swell and leak pus.
He ended up in hospital, with medics at one point worried that the infection, which lasted six months, could have been sepsis.
Ryan explained that after the surgery, he woke up at “6am and said, “When I woke up, I was like, ‘Oh my god, did I get hit by a bus?’ It was horrible.’
Ryan appeared on the program and said he had been offered the £500 fox-eye facelift via a free message in exchange for promoting the company on his Instagram and that he had done no research beforehand.
He described the procedure and said it wasn’t “too painful” because the area was numbed beforehand.
However, he confessed, “It was pretty powerful. She put a thread in my eyebrow but I also had cheek threads done.
“I wanted a more lifted look.”
Trouble: Ryan Ruckledge, 31, spoke on This Morning last year and warned against ‘fox eye’ facelifts after claiming he was left in hospital after treatment with a serious infection
Unwell: The infection started two weeks later, causing his face to swell and land him in hospital, with medics concerned the infection could be sepsis
But after waking up feeling unwell, he explained, “It started to swell after a few days, but I thought, ‘That’s probably normal.’
“The infection started about two weeks after that.”
He continued, “I went to the doctors to get antibiotics and they didn’t work.
‘I ended up in the hospital on an antibiotic drip. Nothing came of it.’
He continued, “My body was actually reacting to the wire that was in my eye.
“It was supposed to dissolve and heal after a few months with this lifted look, but because my eye took it off, it didn’t heal.
“All the pus came out and I had to put it in my own hands.”
In addition to doctors worrying he had contracted sepsis, Ryan has previously spoken about how the procedure could have left him “blind.”
Pain: After the procedure, Ryan said he woke up feeling ‘he had been hit by a bus’ and ended up in hospital
After the program showed pictures of his swollen face and the after-effects of the procedure, Ryan joked, “Imagine trying to pull a guy like that, I look like an avatar!”
When the presenters asked about the clinic’s post-procedure help, Ryan said, “I don’t feel I was supported in post-procedure care, no.”
Ryan added that the experience really affected his mental health. He said, ‘I didn’t want to go out.
“When I went out, people stared at my face like I was a freak. It really hit me mentally.’