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Health

25th Jun 2021

Irish doctors’ warning as woman suffered sepsis after buttocks fillers

Ellen Fitzpatrick

The woman is doing much better now.

Medical professionals have issued a warning after a woman contracted sepsis when going for a cosmetic procedure.

The 29 year old went to get bum fillers and ended up suffering from the life threatening disease as a result.

Dr. Siobhan Quirke from St. Jame’s Hospital in Dublin told a conference that the women underwent treatment for the illness 14 months after getting the filler.

The woman had no other medial history, but was rushed to A&E after feeling ill and noticing that her bum had swollen in the area she got the filler.

When the doctors looked at it, they found that she had 15cm of cellulitis in the infection, a skin infection that can be potentially deadly.

Blood tests then showed that she had high levels of white blood cells and C-reactive protein.

The swelling was then drained and she was put on antibiotics, with the infection being caused by the bacteria staphylococcus lugdunensis which can result in the rare tissue infection pseudomonas oryzihabitans.

The filler was removed five days later along with 500ml of dead tissue and she was discharged after 18 days. She is completely healed now, but doctors are still concerned for future incidents.

Dr Quirke said before the European Congress of Clinical Mictobiology and Infectious Disease: “Complications are increasing as fillers become one of the fastest growing cosmetic procedures.”

“It’s something both cosmetic patients and health professionals need to be aware of.”

“The reason for the substantial delay between surgery and infection is not clear but may be due to the unusual organisms that can live on the surface of the dermal filler [known as a biofilm].”

She did reassure the public that treatment for this is not difficult, but wants to remind those planning to get fillers to go to a reputable surgeon.