A mother has warned of a need for tight regulations around Brazilian butt lift surgeries after her daughter was given just minutes to live following her procedure by the same man responsible for Katie Price’s physique.
Louise Moller, 28, was hospitalised for four days after receiving £1,500 liquid BBL injections in October 2023.
The liquid BBL procedure is notoriously risky, especially when performed by non-medics.
This is because when injected into or near a blood vessel, filler can block blood flow leading to tissue death. Inadequately sterilising equipment can too, trigger dangerous infections.
She booked via WhatsApp and paid a £435 deposit to ‘beauty consultant’ Ricky Sawyer who boasts about his celebrity clients online, including Katie Price and Love Island stars, despite having no healthcare qualifications.
Sawyer has also been exposed for his dangerous practices in a BBC investigation in February.
When Louise had arrived for the procedure, she was greeted by a different surgeon to the one she had been communicating with over WhatsApp who was no where to be found.
She felt ‘stuck’ and wanted to take some time to reconsider her decision but ultimately decided to go through with it as to not waste the money she had already handed over.
However, after the receiving the injections she started to feel a ‘shooting pain’ down her leg which left her screaming in agony, according to a police statement.
Louise Moller, 28, was hospitalised for four days after receiving £1,500 liquid BBL injections in October 2023
Her heartbroken mother Janet Taylor (left) recalls receiving a distressing call from her daughter who had phoned her to say ‘goodbye’ after the excruciating pain from the injections left her believing she was going to die
The liquid BBL procedure is notoriously risky, especially when performed by non-medics (Pictured: the needles used on Louise)
Her heartbroken mother Janet Taylor recalls receiving a distressing call from her daughter who had phoned her to say ‘goodbye’ after the excruciating pain from the injections left her believing she was going to die.
In the days following her appointment, the hairdresser, from Bradshaw, experienced intense swelling, pain and red inflammation all around the injection site.
When Louise complained to the clinic they simply instructed her to take a routine course of antibiotics.
She was left unable to walk and forced to take sick leave from her job.
Her family rushed her to Salford Royal Hospital’s A&E department where she made the harrowing ‘goodbye’ call to her mother after doctors said they needed to operate on her leg or she would die
‘Mum, I think I’m going to die,’ she said.
Speaking to The Bolton News, Janet said: ‘I remember getting a call from the hospital, they said they needed to operate on Louise, or she was going to die, there was no doubt about it.
‘They were preparing Louise for surgery, she was refusing because the surgeon couldn’t tell her what he was going to cut off, she was so frightened and rang me for advice and to say goodbye.
‘Knowing what we know now, if she had not gone to the hospital when she did, Louise wouldn’t be here.’
She booked via WhatsApp and paid a £435 deposit to ‘beauty consultant’ Ricky Sawyer (pictured) who boasts about his celebrity clients online, including Katie Price and Love Island stars, despite having no healthcare qualifications
Raw footage shows ‘beauty consultant’ Ricky Sawyer — whose celebrity clients include Katie Price — offering to inject hundreds of milliliters of filler into clients’ buttocks, despite not having a single healthcare qualification, according to the BBC
Sawyer boasts of his celebrity clientele online and was last month caught on camera offering to inject hundreds of millilitres of filler into clients’ buttocks, despite not having a single healthcare qualification, according to the BBC investigation
Doctors were left fighting to save her leg as her blood pressure kept rising due to the severe amount of pain she was in.
The infection was travelling through Louise’s body so quickly that medics believed they only had 10 minutes left to start operating before it would have been too late.
Luckily, surgeons managed to remove all the dead tissue from her left buttock in time and she survived.
However, she will still need to undergo further corrective surgeries to fully repair all of the damage done.
Janet also said her daughter has become ‘a lot quieter’ since the ordeal and ‘doesn’t talk about it.’
She added: ‘I think it’s taken it out of her, she hasn’t been able to work since. It’s affected her mental health and her self-confidence massively.’
Janet said regulations must be tightened so people cannot set up an aesthetics practice just to make money without fear of consequences.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed they received a police report on Louise’s surgery claims and are investigating them.
A spokesperson said: ‘When we were made aware of this incident, we took a statement from the victim and passed this evidence onto our colleagues in Essex.
‘They have primacy in this investigation due to the reported offence location and will lead on enquiries in terms of any further action.
‘We will continue to support their investigation as required.
‘As with any investigation, if new information comes to light officers will conduct further enquiries and provide assistance where possible.’
It is understood Lift Aesthetics in Essex where it took place is Ricky Sawyer’s clinic.
Sawyer boasts of his celebrity clientele online and was last month caught on camera offering to inject hundreds of millilitres of filler into clients’ buttocks, despite not having a single healthcare qualification, according to the BBC investigation.
Other women treated by Sawyer also told how they needed emergency hospital treatment after their procedures to tackle serious complications including potentially fatal sepsis.
One woman claimed she felt at the time she would rather ‘have died’ than continue with the pain she was in, following the jabs — which contain ‘plumping’ hyaluronic acid.
Cameras also capture Mr Sawyer illegally handing out antibiotics.
All of the hard-hitting clips were secretly captured by an undercover reporter who had booked a consultation with the beautician through his Instagram page.
Experts slammed the ‘shocking’ practices that were found in the BBC probe.
Save Face – which campaigns for greater regulation to cover non-surgical procedures – also revealed it had received complaints from 39 women about Mr Sawyer, all of whom needed hospital treatment.
Its founder Ashton Collins said each had a BBL and suffered complications such as sepsis, necrosis and disfigurement.
‘We’ve encouraged these women to report their experiences to the police,’ she added.
‘Some have, and nothing has been done. He just moves on to different areas of the country and carries on.’
In the new BBC documentary, one woman known only as Joanne, told how she travelled seven hours from south Wales to Essex for the liquid BBL treatment.
The mum-of-two said she had undergone other cosmetic treatments previously and had been persuaded to get a ‘peachy bum’ by Mr Sawyer’s adverts and celebrity endorsements.
However, when she arrived she claimed his clinic was in a block of flats in an industrial estate and she waited in a ‘dingy little hallway’ for roughly half an hour.
‘I should have turned and ran but I had paid £600 deposit and travelled all this way,’ she said.
After parting with the additional £1,400 for the treatment, she then stood in front of him while he sat on a stool and injected her with a litre of filler.
‘I felt dizzy, sick and like shaky. My legs didn’t even move properly. And that was all within a minute of him starting,’ she said.
‘I remember looking round and he had white gloves on that were full of blood.’
By the time she returned to South Wales hours later, the swelling had begun and she could hardly walk, she claimed.
‘I messaged Ricky loads of times to say how bad I was feeling and how worried I was. He just told me to take my antibiotics,’ she added.
‘My temperature kept on going up and I felt terrible. I had to phone 999. I was dripping with sweat and screaming.’
In hospital, she was diagnosed with sepsis and attached to intravenous antibiotics. Medics fortunately did not need to operate.
The probe also saw an undercover reporter pose as a potential client, booking a 45-minute consultation with Mr Sawyer through his Instagram page.
They told him they wanted a 200ml liquid BBL injection costing £1,200 and paid a £200 deposit.
Upon visiting the clinic in an office block, they claimed that despite having advertised that all liquid BBLs would be carried out under the guidance of an ‘ultrasound specialist doctor’, none was present.
Within five minutes of being in his office, Mr Sawyer had also begun to encourage the reporter to think about increasing the amount of filler.
‘You might be surprised about how much product you can have and still look natural,’ he said.
By the end of the appointment, the video showed Mr Sawyer had offered to inject a litre of filler – 500ml per buttock – for a cost of £2,000.
