(Photo : Pexels/Cottonbro Studio)
A woman shared her "terrifying" experience with face filler that she said resulted in half her nose falling off.
Krysta Carson, 52, revealed on TikTok how a botched filler injection in 2020 for her smile lines caused her flesh to melt off, resulting in lasting disfigurement and immense emotional suffering.
"I was permanently disfigured when my doctor injected dermal filler Radiesse into a blood vessel on my face," Carson said in the video. "I now suffer from depression, PTSD, sinus issues and nose bleeds and am physically, emotionally, and financially devastated."
She said shot caused a vascular occlusion, in which the injected fluid cuts off oxygen and nutrients to the skin.
In a separate video, Carson showed a series of images detailing the progression of her vascular occlusion, illustrating the blocked blood vessel's stages over several weeks.
(Photo : TikTok/disfiguredbeauty)
(Photo : TikTok/disfiguredbeauty)
(Photo : TikTok/disfiguredbeauty)
"My doctor never warned me there were serious risks and had no idea how to treat it when it happened, so my face burned and melted inside and out in slow motion while I watched helplessly," she captioned the video.
The professional entertainer was no stranger to filler injections, having undergone the procedure since 2016 and received Botox injections since the '90s without any issues -- until her October 2020 shot.
"I had been having Botox since the '90s and loved that and had amazing results," she said.
Carson explained that the Botox injections were a response to her frustration over constantly being perceived as older than her actual age. Some even mistook her for her husband's mother, which spurred her further to seek these treatments.
"My husband is 10 years younger than me and after he joined me here [in Seattle], in a period of about two weeks I got mistaken for his mother three times," the woman lamented. "I don't know if it was my neck or my cheek or what was giving away the difference in our ages, but I needed to do something about this."
In October 2020, during her routine injection, Carson's doctor mistakenly injected the dermal filler into a significant blood vessel in her face. This led to necrosis, causing her face to melt both internally and externally, resulting in permanent disfigurement.
"When I got home that day, I started feeling a strange numbing, tingling sensation. And it [my face] started getting really swollen and I started slurring my words," she said on TikTok.
When she returned to the doctor's clinic the next day, the doctor allegedly informed her that he "hit a blood vessel" but that she would be fine in six weeks.
Despite multiple visits to the doctor, he "still never told me that I could get necrosis and lose pieces of my face," the woman claimed.
Carson claimed that just weeks after the procedure, she witnessed her nostril detach from her upper lip, likening it to a "frostbite injury."
After being told by a doctor who specializes in reconstruction surgery that her flesh won't grow back, Carson said she lost her will to live. She shared that she hasn't been able to work full-time since.
"This is not just about 'not being cute anymore,' I have a long list of medical problems -- mental and physical," the woman told her followers.
Carson said she has been wearing a prosthetic nose for over two years as she can't afford reconstructive surgery. She now hopes to buy better fitting prosthetics.
Carson also expressed feeling violated by the justice system, which offered her no compensation for the suffering she endured due to her doctor's mistreatment.
"I feel violated again by the justice system who awarded me nothing for what I endured and continue to live with after being treated so poorly by my doctor, who walked away without so much as a slap on the wrist after failing to warn me of the risks, lying in court, and ruining my life," she wrote in the caption.
Currently, she endeavors to heighten awareness through her TikTok videos, candidly sharing her ordeal and cautioning others to fully comprehend the procedures and products involved before opting for dermal fillers.
She wrote, "I am spreading awareness and looking for a light in this darkness."
