Victim of botched eyebrow procedure from Milton Keynes warns people to not rush into cosmetic treatments

The victim of a botched cosmetic procedure from Milton Keynes is warning people not to rush decisions and to do their research before booking aesthetic treatments.

Katy Adams spent over £1,200 trying to reverse the semi-permanent eyebrow tattoo procedure she treated herself to for her 19th birthday. Katy booked the treatment – known as micro-blading - after looking up a practitioner on Instagram.

Microblading is a semi-permanent form of cosmetic tattooing, using a blade-like tool to create fine hair-like strokes by hand.

She explained: “At the time, I was 19 and extremely impulsive- if I wanted to do something, I would try to do it as soon as possible.

“Microblading was one of those things that I wanted to try at the time, so once a friend of mine let me know their friend offered microblading services and would do it for me, I jumped at the chance.”

However, the now 22-year-old was devastated at the result. The ink used on her brows was too dark compared to her fair hair, with uneven outlines and spots of ink along the outside of one brow.

Katy has since spent over £1,250 over the course of two years trying to rectify them.

Two months after the procedure, she underwent saline removal sessions where a tattoo gun with salt and water is used to lift the ink. The reverse procedure made her brows fade to a grey-blue colour.

During the early 2020 lockdown, Katie switched to home remedies, using lemon juice and salt before undergoing two sessions of laser removal which removed the dark ink. Unfortunately, it left Katie with a red ink undertone.

She explained: “By 2022, I was so insecure about my eyebrows, so I found a specialist laser removal for semi-permanent makeup in Milton Keynes. I had in-depth consultation and eight additional sessions for laser tattoo removal. I was told that the tattooing had gone too deep into my left eyebrow, so would never go back to normal, however, after a range of frequencies and lasers, they were able to remove the red ink.

“Now I am left with a slight orange-yellow tinge in my left brow, but feel good about myself and confident again.”

Katy’s experience inspired her to build her own eyebrow business which offers more natural and temporary brow treatments, as well as helping people with similar experiences to her own by using henna to reshape and colour-correct botched brows.

She added: “I advise anyone thinking about getting a semi-permanent treatment to do their research and make sure it is really what they want, not just a trend. There are some amazing semi-permanent brow artists out there, just be sure to do your research.”

According to a study by beauty retailer Justmylook, microblading was the tenth most complained about beauty treatment in the UK.

And 89 per cent of those who filed complaints regarding an aesthetic treatment going wrong to accredited practitioner register Saveface in 2022, found their practitioner on social media while 84 per cent were ignored by them when they tried to seek help.