Death of Botox and fillers as Brits seek a ‘natural’ look: Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague inspires huge ‘make-under’ movement after getting her own lip injections dissolved
- Number of cosmetic facial procedures done in the UK has dropped by about 7.5%
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Botox and fillers used to be the must-haves for anyone wanting to avoid wrinkles and simultaneously boast a Hollywood-esque pout.
But data suggests Brits are now starting to fall out of love with the injectable age-defying procedures.
Data from plastic surgeons reveals there was a 7.5 per cent drop in the number of cosmetic facial procedures performed in the UK in 2023, compared to the previous year.
Glamorous celebrities and reality stars have often been cited as igniting the trend among women to get both Botox and fillers.
But now they are leading a trend dubbed the ‘make-under’ movement
Friends star Courteney Cox as well as Love Island influencers Molly-Mae Hague and Faye Winter have all paraded their jaw-dropping transformations since getting their fillers dissolved.
Friends star Courtney Cox said she regrets getting facial cosmetic injections (such as in 2015 left) and has since had them dissolved to return to a more natural look (pictured in 2017 right)
Former Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague has documented getting her fillers removed since 2020, having those in her lips and jaw dissolved has also spoken about how ‘blessed’ she feels that she able to ‘fix’ the excessive amount of filler she put into her face. Here she is shown pre-having the fillers removed in 2019 (left) and post (right) in May 2022
Fellow former Love Islander Faye Winter has also spoken about her regrets from cosmetic facial injections, saying she felt she ‘ruined her face’ by using so much lip filler. Here the influencer is shown during her stint on Love Island in 2021 (left) and in January this year (right) after getting the filler reversed
Campaigners have said celebrities’ stories of regret over their cosmetic injections are undoubtedly inspiring other Brits to do the same.
But they added many young Brits may still be seeking the procedures from cheaper unregulated sources, and setting themselves up for similar regrets in the future, but without the funds to reverse it.
Botox is the most recognised brand of Botulinum toxin, a powerful substance used to paralyse facial muscles with the aim of reducing wrinkles.
Fillers, on the other hand, are substances injected into your face which fill lines and wrinkles and add volume to areas like the lips or cheeks.
Neither is permanent. Botox can cost up to £350, while fillers can come with a £700 price-tag, depending on the extent and location of the treatment.
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NuVasive Precice 2 nails work by breaking at least two leg bones in half. Nails are then drilled into either end of each femur or tibia, which is slowly teased apart with magnets over weeks while it heals naturally, resulting in a longer bone. But it can leave patients in agony and wheelchair-bound during the process, with months of physiotherapy needed afterwards
Courteney has famously spoken about her regrets of getting Botox and facial fillers and has since had them dissolved to return to a more natural look.
The Scream VI star’s artificial look in 2015 sparked alarm and she has since said she ‘didn’t realize’ how ‘strange’ she looked.
Now 58, Courteney has said, while she initially tried to beat the clock with various facial injections, she is thankful they could be reversed, allowing her to age gracefully.
Influencer Molly-Mae, who rose to fame on reality dating show Love Island, has also spoken about how ‘blessed’ she feels that she able to ‘fix’ the excessive amount of filler she put into her face.
Now 23, she first got her lips done when she was just 18-years-old.
She has said this sparked a ‘vicious circle’ of topping up the treatment.
The new mum, who gave birth to her daughter Bambi in January with partner Tommy Fury, famously documented herself getting her filler dissolved in 2020.
Speaking in May last year, Molly-Mae said she looked five years younger after getting her lip and jaw filler dissolved.
Fellow Love Islander Faye Winter has also spoken about her regrets from cosmetic facial injections, saying she felt she ‘ruined her face’ by using so much lip filler.
‘They obviously became massive… the only feature you could see on my face was my protruding lips,’ she said.
‘I always had big teeth thanks to my dad and always had small lips so they didn’t really frame my teeth as I would have liked them too, so I decided to have the filler put in to even out the balance.’
The now 27-year-old said her family told her she had had too much but it was only when she saw herself on TV that reality hit.
‘It wasn’t until I saw myself on screen, where I saw myself having conversations with people, and where I wasn’t posing and looking in the mirror,’ she said.
‘We all know we look different when we’re posing in the mirror, I felt I had completely ruined my face.’
While she documented the process of getting the filler dissolved, she said she was ‘too embarrassed’ to show the initial results.
‘It was hard to see my lips had gone really wrinkly, they looked like a deflated balloon because they had been stretched,’ she said.
Faye has previously revealed her lips were so badly stretched from the 4.5ml she used to have injected that after it was dissolved, she needed to have a small amount of filler added back as ‘there was no elasticity in my lips anymore’.
BBC Five Live also showed data from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) suggesting there has been a 7.5 per cent decrease in cosmetic facial procedures in this year compared to 2022.
Dr Kathryn Lloyd-Thomas, an aesthetic practitioner based in Cardiff, told the BBC that she feels some people are ‘too embarrassed’ to have their treatments dissolved.
‘Faye is such an extreme case of such a large amount of filler,’ she said. ‘Her lips may never go back to the way they were — which is worrying.’
But Dawn Knight of the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners, a body dedicated to promoting good practise in the cosmetic industry, told MailOnline celebrity stories of regret had ‘without question’ inspired regular Brits to also reverse the procedures.
‘There were part of the initial drive, the initial problem, and we’re now seeing people trying to redress it,’ she said.
But Ms Knight added the BAAPS figures could be misleading, only representing the higher-end, and regulated, part of the market.
‘That has come from a cohort of regulated members of BAAPS, so I’m not sure that’s a true reflection of where the market is,’ she said.
Ms Knight said with so many unregulated providers offering Botox and fillers in the UK true trends in the sector were hard to determine.
‘It would be difficult to say that in the whole sector that there has been a decline,’ she added.
‘But young people influenced by these celebrities don’t have the disposable income to go to the high end,’ she said.
Under current rules, an aesthetic practitioner in the UK doesn’t need any mandatory qualifications to carry out such procedures.
It means that anyone can go on a training course and then be allowed to perform dermal filler treatments on the public.
The non-surgical cosmetic industry, which includes procedures like Botox injections and fillers has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years.
Last month it revealed that complaints over such procedures had reached a record high.
Save Face, a national register of practitioners and clinics, received 2,824 complaints last year.
The figure, which includes treatment complications, was a quarter higher than in 2020.
A new licensing regime for the industry is being planned but critics say the Government is taking too long to enact it.
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