DIY Aesthetics, where women share their at-home Botox and fillers

Hundreds of women are quietly giving themselves Botox and microneedling treatments at home after learning how from one of Reddit’s fastest-growing beauty communities. 

While many boast about their results, a plastic surgeon has revealed to the Daily Mail just how dangerous this practice is.

Forget pricey appointments – a rapidly growing corner of the internet is taking beauty into its own hands, quite literally.

The Reddit community r/DIYaesthetics has amᴀssed more than 70,000 members who swap product recommendations, compare before-and-after pH๏τos and discuss at-home cosmetic procedures that would typically be performed inside a dermatologist’s office or med spa. 

The community describes itself as a place for DIY and professional skincare and cosmetic procedure enthusiasts to share experiences ‘in the spirit of education and self-improvement.’ 

The moderators stress that the information is used ‘at your own risk’ and is ‘not a replacement for licensed medical professionals.’

People often share horror stories, including droopy brows, wonky smiles, displaced filler and overfilled lips. 

Some of the Reddit threads are quite shocking, like self injecting ‘bum filler’ or hitting blood vessels, complete with graphic pH๏τos. 

Hundreds of women are quietly giving themselves Botox at home after learning how to from one of Reddit’s fastest-growing beauty communities (stock pH๏τo)

Many involved in the community are looking to save money or maintain professional results between appointments.

One curious member asked, ‘Anyone else feel like the DIY aesthetic rabbit hole is getting deeper by the week?

‘Between TCA peels, exosomes, and people microneedling at home it’s kind of wild what we’re all experimenting with,’ they explained, adding that there was no judgement but they have been ‘thinking a lot lately about where the line is between smart at-home care and stuff that really should be done by a pro.’ 

Trichloroacetic acid peels can lead to third-degree burns when done at-home and microneedling can end in bacterial infections and permanent scarring.  

The Reddit user posited the question: ‘How do you all decide what’s “safe enough” to do yourself vs what you’d rather go to a clinic for?’

Some aspiring beauty gurus explained that filler was out of the question without ‘professional training.’  

‘I’ve considered trying PDO threads, but the idea of rooting around that deep in my face kinda squicks me out,’ one commenter wrote. However, Botox, chemical peels, skin boosters and microdermabrasion are all fair game. 

The Reddit threads are not for the faint of heart. Images include needles, botched procedures and details about syringes and injections. 

However, plenty of women share their success stories, bragging that they no longer have to spend thousands for beauty procedures. 

One user summed it up: ‘Safety matters, but not everything needs to come with a $500 price tag and a white coat.’ 

Some aspiring beauty gurus explained that filler was out of the question without ‘professional training’ (stock pH๏τo) 

Board-certified plastic surgeon Frank Agullo performs these procedures and has fixed complications gone wrong.

The Clinical ᴀssociate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University warned that the most dangerous at-home cosmetic procedure is filler because it is ‘a blind injection into a face that is loaded with arteries’ which could lead to disfigurement. 

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‘When it is injected into a vessel, it can stop blood flow to skin or an eye, leading to death of the tissue or permanent loss of sight,’ Dr Agullo warned.

Dr Agullo explained that trained injectors are aware of these areas, make sure to minimize risk and they keep a reversal agent nearby. 

‘A person who is injecting themselves while sitting in their own bathroom has none of those advantages,’ Dr Agullo advised. 

That has not stopped women from showing off months of filler results. One recently shared pictures of her progress, explaining she started by experimenting with Botox and fat dissolving injections before building up the courage to start using pyriform fossa filler, which she called ‘risky.’ 

Pyriform fossa filler is a deep injection of filler into the bony hollow beside the nostrils that lifts the midface and softens smile lines. She explained she started ‘slow’ and at one point gave herself a ‘witch chin’ because it was ‘sticking out unnaturally.’ Eventually, she got it right. 

She did advise ‘arnica does help a lot with the bruises, don’t skip it.’ 

One woman took to Reddit for emergency ᴀssistance , posting ‘I did some cheek filler last night, and woke up this morning with an eye so swollen’

A witch chin isn’t the worst thing that could happen. One woman took to Reddit for emergency ᴀssistance, posting ‘I did some cheek filler last night, and woke up this morning with an eye so swollen, it doesn’t hurt to touch isn’t H๏τ to the touch, just is soooo swollen!’ After seeing the shockingly swollen pH๏τo, commenters urged her to get to the emergency room warning that she could be permanently blind. 

Dr Agullo explained that the risks of self-injected Botox are not quite as horrific but could still be disturbing. ‘The product you find online is sometimes counterfeit or not FDA-approved, so you do not know how much product is in the syringe or even what substance you are injecting into yourself,’ he cautioned.

If Botox is not injected correctly and strategically, it can result in nightmare results: drooping eyelids, double vision and even trouble swallowing. 

One Reddit user ‘attempted’ their ‘first tox treatment’ with Innotox, a South Korean injectable botulinum toxin type A that is not FDA approved.

‘It was sooo difficult to squeeze the product into my skin and the more I pushed the more it hurt,’ they complained. ‘I ended up with a swollen bump of Botox under my skin that eventually flattened out.’

Another concerned beauty lover posted about their ‘tox blunder,’ writing ‘I did a few units of tox under my eyes bc it’s my most problematic area.’ They explained that while it helped with crows feet, it caused issues with fluid under their eyes.

Even the chemical peels can be dangerous. One user reported that after doing a 50 percent glycolic acid peel it started burning for an hour and caused ‘small white patches’ on their face. 

Images on Reddit include needles, botched procedures and details about syringes and injections

While Dr Agullo understands the frustration with the rising cost of Botox and filler, he said the products are ‘expensive to buy wholesale and legitimate practices have expenses like sterile needles and wipes, staff wages, emergency drugs and follow-up appointments.’

‘Skin boosters and microneedling have a lower risk profile, but infection, nodules and permanent scarring still occur when they are done without sterile technique,’ the surgeon warned. 

Much of the online chatter revolves around where to find vendors willing to send amateurs their forbidden Botox and fillers.

These beauty lovers use Telegram, Discord, Korean search engine Naver and sometimes Alibaba, although they warned that is most likely to be a scam. 

According to the insiders on the page, Amazon sources are said to contain ‘residual contamination’ but sometimes cannot be avoided due to import issues. 

Some have distributors they work with directly in Nevada and Florida. 

While it might seem like a money saving technique, it is not ideal for the risk averse.  

‘DIY buyers are saving in dollars up front by essentially paying with risk, because the heavily discounted vial that you buy from an offshore seller carries absolutely no guarantees that it is genuine, sterile or was properly stored,’ Dr Agullo advised.