This article is written for someone reading it at speed. The clinical part comes first, then the evidence part. Everything else can wait a week.
Symptoms that need attention now
Some complications are time critical. Contact the treating practitioner immediately and, if you cannot reach them quickly or if symptoms are severe or worsening, contact NHS 111, attend an emergency department, or call 999.
- Severe or escalating pain that is out of proportion to the procedure, particularly if it comes on during or shortly after injection.
- Blanching, mottling or a dusky, blue or grey discolouration of the skin, particularly in a pattern that follows a line rather than a bruise.
- Any change in vision, including blurring, double vision, pain behind the eye or loss of vision. This is an emergency.
- Spreading redness, heat, fever or discharge, which may indicate infection.
- Difficulty swallowing, speaking or breathing, or drooping affecting the eyelid or face beyond what was expected.
- Signs of an allergic reaction, including swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or a widespread rash.
If you are unsure how urgent something is, treat it as urgent. Time matters more than dignity here, and no clinician minds being contacted about a complication that turns out to be minor.
Contacting the practitioner
Contact them by a method that leaves a record: text, WhatsApp, email. If you telephone, follow it with a message summarising what was said and when. This is not because you expect a fight. It is because memory of a stressful week is unreliable and contemporaneous messages are not.
Ask three things: what they think is happening, what they propose to do, and when they will see you. A practitioner who responds quickly, sees you promptly and manages the problem is doing their job, and most complications are managed by the person who caused them.
If the response is delay, dismissal or an assertion that this is normal when your symptoms are on the urgent list above, escalate to NHS services immediately rather than waiting for a follow up appointment.
What you are entitled to right now
- Urgent care through NHS services, regardless of where the treatment was carried out or what it cost.
- A copy of your clinical records under a subject access request, normally within one month.
- A service performed with reasonable care and skill under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and remedies where it was not.
- Candour from any registered healthcare professional involved, as a professional duty.
- To seek a second opinion from anyone you choose, without returning to the original practitioner.
You do not have to accept remedial treatment from a practitioner you no longer trust.
What to record, starting today
Photographs. Multiple angles, consistent lighting, every day. Include something for scale where possible. Keep the originals with their metadata rather than only screenshots.
The product. Name and batch number. Ask for it if you do not have it. You are entitled to your records.
Every message. Do not delete anything, including messages that are friendly. The tone of early messages often matters later.
A dated diary. Symptoms, what you were told, appointments, medication taken, time off work, costs incurred. Write it daily. Reconstructed timelines are much weaker.
Your records. Make a subject access request in writing to the clinic for your full records, including consultation notes, consent form, treatment record and prescription. Do this early, and do it in writing. Under UK data protection law you are generally entitled to a copy, usually within a month.
An offer of a refund or free treatment conditional on signing something, deleting posts or agreeing not to discuss it. Take advice before signing anything that limits what you can say or do. A settlement is a contract, and it can extinguish rights you have not yet valued.
Getting a second opinion
You are entitled to be seen by someone else, and there is no requirement to keep going back to the person who treated you. For anything vascular, infective or involving vision, an NHS route may be the fastest and is the right one in an emergency.
For assessment of a poor cosmetic result rather than an acute complication, seeking an opinion from an appropriately qualified clinician is reasonable, and it is worth asking that person to document what they find. Independent documentation close in time to the event is one of the most useful things you can obtain.
The financial side, in the right order
Do not start with money. Start with the clinical situation and the evidence. But do not leave the financial side so long that options close.
If you paid by credit card, section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 may make the card provider jointly liable with the trader for breach of contract or misrepresentation for qualifying transactions. If you paid by debit card, a chargeback may be possible through your bank, subject to time limits set by the card scheme. Both have deadlines, so check them early even if you do not act immediately.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a service must be performed with reasonable care and skill, and remedies can include repeat performance or a price reduction. Whether you want the same person to perform anything again is another matter, and you are not obliged to accept remedial treatment from someone you no longer trust.
Then, and only then, the complaint
Once you are clinically stable and have your evidence, decide where the complaint should go. That depends on what went wrong and who did it, and the routes are set out in how to complain and to whom. If a medicine or a device was involved, report it to the MHRA through the Yellow Card scheme as well, which is covered in reporting to the MHRA.
If you are considering a claim, take advice from a solicitor with clinical negligence experience. Limitation periods apply, and while three years from the date of knowledge is the general position for personal injury in England and Wales, the rules have exceptions and should be checked rather than assumed.
One more thing
Complications from cosmetic treatment are distressing in a specific way, because the injury was elective and people frequently feel they cannot complain about a problem they chose to risk. That reasoning is wrong. You consented to a procedure performed competently, not to any outcome whatsoever, and seeking help is not an admission of anything.