I had it done on a Friday afternoon and thought that by Monday morning I'd look ten years younger and absolutely gorgeous.

Kitchen started to obtain serious discoloration around her eyes - "like domestic abuse" - and one of her cheeks tightened. She visited the health facility where she received the treatment, and there, an effort was made to drain out from her cheeks and eye socket the substance used. However, the attempt failed, and to make matters worse, the material started to travel beneath Kitchen’s skin. She finally made a decision to remove the filler by a surgical procedure after many failed efforts of getting rid of it.
It was supposed to be a simple treatment, but it wound up with general anesthetic as, in order to remove the percolating material, a doctor slit open Kitchen’s lower eyelid. She is still scarred even after four surgical procedures and spending a few thousand pounds.

Cosmetic fillers, which come from varying materials, including hyaluronic acid and collagen from cows, are commonly used in Hollywood. These fillers are injected beneath the surface of the skin to fluff it up. Dermal fillers have become an instant solution, thanks to makeover TV shows and magazines, and are less invasive than a full cosmetic surgical procedure. However, fillers are not regulated in UK, in contrast with plastic surgeries, which conform to the rules of the government and industry bodies.

Cosmetic fillers are described as 'medical devices' instead of 'medicine' and, hence, obtaining a prescription from a doctor is not needed. Dr. Barry Jones, who is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and disapproves of the situation, stated,

To inject fillers one doesn't need to be medically qualified, and I'm not sure that strictly speaking you need to have any qualifications at all. They're used in all sorts of premises by all sorts of more-or-less qualified people from highly trained dermatologists and surgeons to others with no official training or qualification of any type.

Fillers themselves are also being questioned. Only eight substances have been accepted for use in the US, known to be the dwelling of advanced cosmetic procedures. However, in UK, about 160 different fillers exist in the market.

The case of Karon Kitchen is not unique. In 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration associated cosmetic fillers to more than 900 'adverse events', which comprise anaphylactic shock, allergic reactions, facial palsy, disfigurement and infection.

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons and consumer groups have turned to the government to control the industry. However, a representative from the Department of Health said "there are limits to the levels of regulation one can expect the Government to put in place when it comes to non-surgical cosmetic procedures that carry low levels of risk and which aren't medically necessary."

Alternatively, the Government founded a website people can confer with before looking for treatments. Also it asked the Independent Healthcare Advisory Services (IHAS) to establish self-regulation for the industry. IHAS director Sally Taber stated,

When we get the self-regulation model in place, all of the people that get the quality mark will be adhering to standards and the training principle. I'm not discouraging anybody to have something that makes you look better, that makes you look younger, but for goodness sake go to the right people.

For the case of Karon Kitchen, those advices are too late. A supposedly simple and quick treatment became a nightmare. "It has completely changed me as a person," Kitchen expressed. "It's taken away four years of my life as they should have been."