Beauty treatment nightmare for women who want to look like stars

Treatment promises to shape their eyebrows but leaves hideous chemical burns and scars.

Eyebrow shaping is favoured by stars like Kim Kardashian, 33, and Cheryl Versini Fernandez, 31. People desperate to look like their idols get their eyebrows dyed and shaped for a copycat glamorous look. But there have been “horrendous” reactions to dyes used in the process, resulting in women seeking hospital treatment for serious allergic reactions.

The Sunday Post can reveal Scottish law firms are being inundated with people injured by the treatment. One, Digby Brown, already has a huge client list of people left disfigured by the process. Their solicitor Jennifer Watson revealed companies have been forced to pay out four-figure sums to clients who suffered after they were not properly allergy tested beforehand.

Tracy Anderson’s searing burns were so bad she was forced to seek emergency treatment at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. The gran from Dalkeith, Midlothian, says that the beauty assistant who carried out the £15 treatment ignored a reddened reaction to patch testing a day earlier.

“I was tested with the tint a day earlier and my skin was red and irritated but the assistant dismissed this and went ahead with the brow shaping and tint,” she said. “The next day my eyes swelled up … they were swollen almost shut. I had blisters and pus oozing out and felt horrendous. I was in real pain and people were staring because I looked so awful.”

Tracy, 51, was told by an A&E doctor to go back to the brow bar to get the chemical’s name and her daughter Lauren, had to help her. Once there the assistant showed her the tint but she could barely read the list of ingredients as her eyes were swollen virtually shut. “I had to leave the shop, I was so upset,” she added.

The next three weeks were spent in agony recovering with antibiotic creams to kill eye infection and steroids to reduce the swelling. Even 10 months later, she is still waiting for her eyebrows to grow in properly and she can barely wear any make-up in case she has another bad reaction. The tinting has triggered sensitivity to so many cosmetics now,” she adds. She is desperate for it to calm down for her daughter Sarah’s wedding later this month.

Last night a specialist NHS dermatologist warned women to be wary. She said: “I see increasing numbers of people burned by these beauty treatments. Henna tattoos throw up the same problem and it all comes down to a lack of reaction testing and people suffering bad reactions.”

Legal eagle Watson who helped one client settle for £4,000 after a nightmare reaction cites a lack of industry regulation as the root cause of the problem.

“These clients have suffered badly because the beauty industry is not regulated and at present there is no obligation for therapists to have insurance. Too often we see injuries caused by insufficient patch testing or inexperienced staff, leaving clients exposed to severe allergic reactions. We are proceeding with Mrs Anderson’s claim for damages.”Have you suffered side-effects from beauty treatment? Call Janet Boyle on 01415672776 or email jboyle@sundaypost.com