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Celebs Reveal Dangers Of Illegal Cosmetic Surgery
Celebs Reveal Dangers Of Illegal Cosmetic Surgery

Buzz Feed

time12-07-2025

  • Health
  • Buzz Feed

Celebs Reveal Dangers Of Illegal Cosmetic Surgery

Getting a little work done is totally your call — but make sure you do your homework first. Seeing an unlicensed provider or trying a treatment that isn't FDA-approved (or even FDA-cleared) can come with major risks. In some cases, it can be downright dangerous. Here are 13 celebrities who shared the shocking consequences of their illegal cosmetic procedures: When Cardi B was 22, she got illegal biopolymer butt injections, but at 30, she had 95 percent of them surgically removed and warned her fans to never get the procedure done. In an Instagram Live, she said, "All I'm going to say is that if you're young, if you're 19, 20, 21, and sometimes you're too skinny, and you be like, 'OMG, I don't have enough fat to put in my ass,' so you result to ass shots, don't!" In 2017, the FDA issued a warning against using injectable silicone for body contouring, citing possible side effects such as "ongoing pain and serious injuries, such as scarring, tissue death, and permanent disfigurement; if the silicone migrates beyond the injection site, it could cause an embolism (blockage of a blood vessel), stroke, infections and death." FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. said, "We have significant concerns with unsafe injectable silicone that's being marketed for body contouring by unlicensed providers. We've seen serious adverse events result from products, which are sometimes industrial-grade silicone, being used for these unapproved medical purposes." Several years after getting illegal silicone butt injections, K. Michelle had to have four surgeries and two blood transfusions to remove them. She told People, "[The injector] wasn't a doctor — it was black market, it was these 'hydrogel' injections — that's what they were being called. When I found out my favorite rapper did it, that's when I decided, 'I'm getting it done.'" Five years later, she started experiencing pain in her legs and back, migraines, fatigue, and other unexplainable symptoms. Eventually, her doctors found out that the silicone was spreading down her legs, so one suggested she get liposuction. She said, "He thought that you could go and suck it out, but it spread it. It's definitely a new procedure, so he didn't know... I went on tour about a week and a half later … but after a few performances, I was rushed to the emergency room." Removing the affected tissue required three additional surgeries. She said, "I had these lumps, and I was very disfigured." She planned to get reconstructive surgery. According to Beverly Hills-based plastic surgeon Dr. J. Timothy Katzen, cosmetic hydrogel injections aren't FDA-approved, and he recommends removing them before symptoms develop. At 19, Angela White (aka Blac Chyna) got illegal silicone butt injections from someone who wasn't a real doctor. At 35, she got them removed. In an Instagram video, she said, "I just want all the ladies out there to know: Do not get silicone shots. You can get sick, you can die, have complications, and all this other crazy stuff. Normally, my procedure would've taken four hours tops. My procedure took over 8.5 hours, y'all. Whatever that silicone mass — whatever that was that was in my buttocks — it kept clogging the machine, and breaking it." In 2022, Nicki Minaj told Joe Budden, "Social media was just beginning when I started, so I was a lot of people's guinea pig. I was one of the first people to be shitted on on the internet, on social media, like, non-fucking-stop. Every day I would go on, and there was some new story, made-up story, or bad picture. It wasn't acceptable to have surgery at all or anything. At that time, I had never had surgery. I had ass shots, which till this day, I realize, even what I did, and even with me not consulting with anyone to do something like that, how insane that was. Like, it's not that you go to a doctor, a professional person. No, it's some random person." She felt pressured to change her body because of the other people around her. She said, "I was in Atlanta at the time and… I kept on being around [Lil] Wayne and them. At that time Wayne, he talking about big booties. Wayne would have a new chick in the studio every session, so it was always a new big booty there. They were his muses. But I just was around them all the time, and I was like the little sister with Wayne and Mack [Maine]. … All I would hear them talking about is big butts, and I didn't feel complete or good enough — good as those girls because I'm like, 'Oh my God, this is what you're supposed to look like in the rap culture,' and I don't look like that..." She added, "I think they said stuff sometimes jokingly. But to a young girl or up-and-coming rapper … when it's from someone like Lil Wayne, it matters. So even if they're joking, they don't know that the person … is not finding it funny... They're just joking. They didn''t mean any harm. But it wasn't a joke to me." Later, she felt responsible for perpetuating the idea that female rappers needed to look a certain way. She said, "I don't think it's the men really anymore, especially. I think it's the women. I think it's the girls, what their perception of a female rapper is. And they think this is what I have to look like. You know, like, I remember I would never see any female rapper wearing pink hair. Pink hair became a part of that 'starter kit.' Every female rapper will put on a pink wig at some point. And I remember that was just the Nicki Minaj thing. That's why when I said, 'Pink wig, thick ass,' it was, 'Oh that's an iconic Nicki Minaj line because that's what she wears.' Now it's everybody — pink wig, thick ass, right?" When Joe asked if she held herself accountable, she answered, "Yes, yes, and I used to say — well, I was one of the first people saying, 'Oh, I'm not these people's parents.' But now I get it. I look at it from a different perspective now because superstars inadvertently become role models, no matter what. You can be the weirdest druggie in the world. If they like your music, they're listening to it over and over and over. It's programming. And they might try some of those things they hear you talk about." Gigi Gorgeous first opened up about her experience with illegal silicone injections in her 2023 book The T Guide. Later, in a YouTube video, she said, "I experimented with silicone injections in probably, like, 2014, 2015, and I was introduced to them by a friend of mine in New York." She explained that her friend recommended "Lisa," who would administer the illegal injections in hotel rooms at "pumping parties." Her clients referred to her as their "trainer" and code-named their procedures as "workouts." Gigi said, "It's something that I seriously, seriously regret. They can have major health effects. They can kill you. There are just so many scary things that can happen with them, and thank God that I'm alive and able to tell my story and warn people." She traveled from Canada to NYC, where she and her friend met Lisa in a hotel room. Gigi regretted not saying something when things started to feel shady — particularly when her friend brought her own silicone. Lisa brought Gigi's silicone in a water bottle, and there was "no rhyme or reason" to the way she injected. Gigi described the process as a "weird pain" she'd never felt before. Lisa closed the holes with Super Glue and Band-Aids. Gigi continued, "We went to a cafeteria, and I remember we were at a table with a bunch of friends. And I went to the bathroom... I remember pulling up my skirt and going pee, and I was like, 'What did I just do?' I think the reality had kinda set in, and I was like, 'This is so weird. This is crazy.' I was like, 'I am not this girl. Like, I think I just made a huge mistake.' So then, I proceeded to take all the Band-Aids off, rub all the Krazy Glue off of my skin, and start squeezing the silicone out. And it's going all down the seat, all down the toilet, on the floor...I could see the product coming out of me on the floor." Later that night, Gigi noticed she had a lot of scabs and feared she'd be left with scars because of her "mistake." However, the scabs fell off the next morning "as if nothing ever even happened." She said, "I literally swore to myself that morning that I would never ever ever dabble in any of that again." However, when work took her back to New York, she "fell back into" attending Lisa's pumping parties. She ended up with a "fucking huge" lump on her right thigh, which is when she finally decided to stop going to Lisa. She said, "I think the risks overweigh the benefits tenfold." When DreamDoll was 20, she traveled to Colombia for her first BBL. However, it later wore off. In 2023, she told NPR, "So I went the illegal route, and it was not the best decision. I do not recommend getting butt shots. Please don't ever do it. It is so painful. It feels like you got ran off by a truck." She ended up in the hospital. She continued, "[The pain was] a hundred. Whatever the highest number you could put, it's the highest number. Like, during the pain, I couldn't take the pain. And I was, like, getting fevers, and I'd be in a hospital. And nobody didn't know what was wrong with me, you know, 'cause I was — I didn't feel comfortable telling them I did that... So I just tried to find somebody to take it out, and they were like, that was the problem. You know, it's a foreign object, so you got to remove it one day." To help other young women, she vlogged the entire process of getting her illegal injections removed and replacing them with a new BBL. In 2024, reality star Lauren Wood told Truly, "I got illegal injections when I was 18, and I regret it so much... I would like to reverse my illegal butt shots. I'm starting to have complications. When I first got the illegal butt shots, I was nervous because this isn't a doctor. You know, it's, like, very much black market, hush hush. You lay down on the table, and they start injecting your butt. At the end of the day, we don't know what it is that they're truly injecting. The side effects of my illegal injections is some slight discoloration, pain, and random tingling in my legs, numbness. I'm worried that, if I don't get the injections removed that they'll continue to deteriorate. You just don't know what will happen. My message to girls who are looking to do the same procedure is don't do it. It's illegal for a reason, and it's just not worth it." In 2023, Christina Ashten Gourkani, who gained fame as a Kim Kardashian lookalike and OnlyFans creator, hired unlicensed cosmetologist Vivian Gomez to fly across the country and administer illegal butt injection in a California hotel room. Sadly, as a result of the procedure, Christina died the next day. Vivian was charged with felony involuntary manslaughter. She was also charged with practicing medicine without a license, resulting in death. Her trial date is set for November 2025. Dr. Lisa Hwang, who's a licensed plastic surgeon, told ABC 7 Eyewitness News that there is no correct way to administer the free-floating gel used in such injections, making it risky. She also highlighted the importance of finding a certified practitioner and having a consultation. She said, "There are very specific boards, so a lot of times people will say board certified, but it's actually really important you look into which board." In 2015, Zonnique got her eye color surgically changed (like her mother, Tiny Harris, previously did). She got the procedure done in Tunisia because it hasn't been FDA-approved in the US. Zonnique told Mosaique FM, "After surgery, I couldn't see my eyes, but this morning, I got to, and I really loved them, and I thought they looked pretty." However, on a 2018 episode of T.I. & Tiny: Family & Friends Hustle, she revealed that she'd been experiencing eye pressure. She said, "It's been a week since I got my surgery, and I took the eye implants out so that I wouldn't have any permanent damage. When I first found out how serious the situation was, I was so emotional. It's really not something that I wanna go through again." Later, when an Instagram commenter asked her about the surgery, she reportedly said, "I've never liked to recommend anyone to do it. I can say that the experience wasn't the best in the long term but everyone is different." In 2024, the American Academy of Ophthalmology issued a warning against eye color-changing surgery. Complications could potentially include injury to the cornea, inflammation, light sensitivity, increased eye pressure leading to glaucoma, cataracts, reduced vision, and blindness. Priscilla Presley was a victim of Daniel Tomas Fuente Serrano, who wasn't licensed to practice in the US. According to the Guardian, he made himself a millionaire by promising to help his wealthy clients "permanently" erase their wrinkles. However, the injectables he used were actually industrial-grade silicone (the kind used to lubricate car parts) and medical silicone that was only approved for certain eye procedures. He smuggled the silicone from Argentina, used an unclean table and bottles, and didn't wear gloves. In 2006, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. In a 2008 statement, Priscilla's representative said, "Priscilla Presley was one of many documented victims of Dr. [Daniel] Serrano. An investigation which uncovered his misconduct ultimately lead to his imprisonment. Ms. Presley dealt with this matter years ago, and everything is well." Actor Shawn King, Larry King's wife at the time, was also a victim of Daniel Serrano. According to the LA Times, in 2003, she paid him $7,000 in cash for the injections, which he gave her at her house. However, her lower lip was damaged, and the injections left a "displeasing hard bump" behind. She had difficulties speaking and drinking liquids. In 2007, Shawn told the Washington Post, "I got a letter saying when he was going to be arraigned, and wish I would have gone back and just said, 'Daniel, tell me what you put in my face so I know what I'm living with the rest of my life.' I have two small children, and I'd like to know what I'm in for." According to the LA Times, Diane Richie, Lionel Richie's ex-wife, was another client and victim of Daniel Serrano. However, the Washington Post later reported that she was also his girlfriend, and she was arrested for allegedly referring clients to him and letting him administer the illegal injections in her bathroom. And finally, over the course of ten months in 2005, actor and activist Rajee Narinesingh paid Oneal Ron Morris — who was unlicensed — $3,000 for illegal injections that turned out to be a mixture of Fix-A-Flat and cement. She told Barcroft TV, "I got injections in my face, my breast, and my hips, and my buttocks... Initially, I was fine. But then the nightmare started... My message to anyone that would consider doing what I did is not to do it. Don't do it, because you could die from it, or you could end up like me, disfigured." However, on a friend's recommendation, she sought help from plastic surgeon Dr. John Martin, who worked with her to remove the injections. The process was documented on Botched Seasn 3. In 2013, Oneal Ron Morris was sentenced to 366 days in prison for practicing healthcare without a license. Then, in 2017, she was sentenced to another ten years in prison for administering illegal injections as well as a manslaughter charge for a procedure that led to a woman's death.

Transcript: Scott Gottlieb on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," June 29, 2025
Transcript: Scott Gottlieb on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," June 29, 2025

CBS News

time29-06-2025

  • Health
  • CBS News

Transcript: Scott Gottlieb on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," June 29, 2025

The following is the transcript of an interview with former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, Pfizer board member and non-executive chairman of the board at Illumina, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on June 29, 2025. MARGARET BRENNAN: For a look now at some of the changes to America's public health policies under the Trump administration, we're joined by former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who sits on the board at Pfizer and is now the Chairman of the Board at Illumina. Good morning. Good to see you. DOCTOR SCOTT GOTTLIEB: Good morning. MARGARET BRENNAN: You know, Dr. Gottlieb, you worked in the first Trump administration. This second Trump administration seems very different in its approach to public health on a lot of fronts. One of them was really laid bare this week with this newly remade Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. Secretary Kennedy had dismissed about 17 members of the existing board and put in some members of his own choice. And in a video, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said federal immunization policy is, quote, 'no longer a credible process' and it's being politicized at the expense of children. That's a pretty stunning statement. Do you agree with the Academy of Pediatrics? DR. GOTTLIEB: Look, you're right. I worked in the first Trump administration. I was fortunate to do that and proud to serve in that administration. I think we did a lot of important things on public health. We presided over the first cell and gene therapy approvals. The president tried to expand access to those treatments through the Right to Try legislation that he championed. He supported the FDA on an effort to try to keep tobacco products out of the hands of kids, record number of generic approvals, and a lot of other accomplishments. I think a lot of people on my side of the political aisle feel that a lot of these policies that Secretary Kennedy is championing are- are going to be contained to vaccines and not bleed into a broader public health doctrine. I think that's not right. I think there's a lot of people now who don't think these things are particularly political, or shouldn't be, and don't think these decisions should be politically decided, who are going to find when they go to the doctor's office that vaccines that they may want to protect their lives or the lives of their families aren't going to be available. This does look like a political process right now. The secretary is going after issues that have long been bugaboos of him and his anti-vax group, Children's Health Defense. I don't think that's mistakable at this point. I think that he would probably acknowledge that. That he's taking on issues that he's championed for the last 20 years to restrict access to certain vaccines. That's going to grow. The list is growing, and it's going to start to be very tangible for people and go well beyond just the COVID vaccine, which is, I think, what most people think about when they perceive this administration's, or the secretary's efforts, to try to restrict access to vaccines. MARGARET BRENNAN: So one of the specific things from this meeting was advice to avoid flu vaccines containing an ingredient called thimerosal. Right around the same time as the meeting, the CDC removed information from its website that debunked claims that this ingredient was linked to autism. Secretary Kennedy says it's- it's journalists who are obscuring the truth. What do people need to know about the flu vaccine and this ingredient? DR. GOTTLIEB: Yeah, so this is an old ingredient. It's a preservative used in multi-dose vials of flu vaccine, primarily. Only a very small percentage of flu vaccine vials still contain it. What it is is an ingredient that's added to multi-dose vials because those vials you're going to go in and out of with different needles as you administer the vaccine to different patients. So they're not single dose injections. They're multi-dose vials that primarily used in some busy clinics, almost exclusively in adults right now. Back in the early 2000s, I was at FDA when we reformulated the vaccine, so we compelled manufacturers to reformulate the vaccines to take this preservative out. Not because we thought it was unsafe, but because there was a lot of consternation among anti-vax groups that they thought that there was a link between this ingredient and autism. The ingredient does contain small amounts of ethylmercury, not methylmercury, ethylmercury, which is the same kind of mercury found in fish, in very small- very small amounts. And so we compelled the manufacturers to reformulate the vast majority of vaccines, still four percent of flu vaccines that get administered, mostly to adults, are from these multi-dose vials. This has long been a bugaboo of the secretary and his group, the Children's Health Defense Fund. In fact, the only presentation at the ACIP meeting was from the head of that group. And you're right that there was a countering analysis from the CDC officials asserting that there's no link between thimerosal and autism. That- that analysis was taken down from the website. The secretary put out a statement that said that it wasn't- it didn't go through proper review. MARGARET BRENNAN: We're going to take a break, Dr. Gottlieb, and talk more with you on the other side of this. These are complicated issues I want to dig into with you. So we hope all of you will stay with us. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return to our conversation with former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb. Dr. Gottlieb, just to pick back up, we were talking about the meeting that took place this past week with the newly reconstituted Advisory Committee on Immunization. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, you know him, he's a doctor. He has oversight and chairs the Health Committee. He called for the meeting to be canceled because he said there's no CDC director in place. And when it comes to these appointees, he said many of them 'do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology' and they may have 'preconceived bias' against mRNA vaccines. It's- I'm not a doctor, but it seems to me that experience in immunology would be important if you're advising on immunizations. His counsel was ignored here. Is there any check on Secretary Kennedy, at this point? Is there a need to get a CDC director in place quickly? DR. GOTTLIEB: Yeah, well, the CDC director had a confirmation hearing this week, and hopefully she'll be in place soon. I think she's quite strong and a good pick for that job. The board, this ACIP board, isn't fully constituted. There's only seven members on the board. At its peak membership, it has about 15. And you're right, a lot of the people who have been appointed don't have deep experience, or any experience, quite frankly, in vaccine science. They are people who have been ideologically aligned with Secretary Kennedy in the past and worked with him, many of them, not all of them. And I think that that isn't something that even the secretary would probably dispute at this time, and it did lead to some awkward moments at that meeting. For example, you know, one member had to have explained to him the difference between an antibody prophylaxis and a vaccine. So there were evidence in that discussion where the CDC directors had to provide some, quite frankly, remedial assistance to help brief these members on the basis of vaccine science. So it did show, hopefully, once they fully constitute that board, you're going to get more balance on it. I think some people are skeptical. I remain hopeful that there will be some good members that get seated eventually. MARGARET BRENNAN: You know, one of the things about the American health system is that question of continued innovation. Earlier this month, the FDA approved a twice yearly injection of an HIV prevention drug called lenacapavir. How significant is an innovation like that, and given the environment you're talking about, will these new advisors get in the way of being able to get those kind of things to market? DR. GOTTLIEB: Yeah, this shouldn't come before ACIP. So this is a therapeutic. It's a long acting antiviral that provides six months of protection against HIV and was extremely effective at preventing HIV infection in a population that was high risk of contracting HIV. So it's a change in the formulation of an antiviral that allows it to be administered just twice a year and provide sustained exposure to the benefits of that antiviral. We're seeing a lot of innovation like this. There was also news this week from a small biotech company that I don't have any involvement with, that they had developed a pill that could provide sustained protection against flu. So it's an antiviral, but it is formulated in a way where it- it could be administered once ahead of flu season, to provide protection across the entire season, and also look to be very effective. So we're seeing a lot of innovations like this. What I'm worried about is innovation in vaccine science. I work on the venture capital side, where we make investments in- in new companies, and there has been a pullback of biotech startups that have been looking to develop new vaccines, for example, vaccines for Epstein-Barr Virus, which we know is linked to certain B-cell lymphomas, and maybe is linked to multiple sclerosis. That- that's a new area of science, the potential to vaccinate children against that, much like we vaccinate kids against HPV right now and prevent cervical cancer and other types of cancers. Maybe in the future, we may be vaccinating for EBV, but there's been a lot of pullback to that kind of investment. So I think we're going to see less innovation in vaccine science as a result of the environment we're in. MARGARET BRENNAN: Quickly, Secretary Kennedy was asked this week about the declarations in some states to start removing fluoride from water. Oklahoma made some moves that direction. He said you're going to see 'probably slightly more cavities,' but 'there's a direct inverse correlation between the amount of fluoride in your water and your loss of IQ.' What should parents be thinking about when they hear things like that? DR. GOTTLIEB: Well, look, this has been a long standing issue, another issue that Secretary Kennedy has championed over his career, this perceived- perception that there's a link between fluoride and water and some neurotoxic effects of that. That's been studied thoroughly. It's been, I think, fully debunked. There's very small amounts of fluoride in water, and at the levels that it's put into the water supply, it's been demonstrated to be safe. CDC's- has data showing that there's a 25% reduction in dental caries as a result of fluoride that's added routinely to the water supply. It's not just a question of increased dental cavities, but also oral health more generally, which we know is correlated to systemic health. MARGARET BRENNAN: Dr. Gottlieb, good to get your insight today. We'll be right back.

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