I’ll regret viral eye-bag treatment for the rest of my life – it left me disfigured & looking 30 years older

MY big, brown, almond-shaped eyes had always been my best feature. They were the one part of my face I felt truly secure about, so when noticeable eyebags suddenly appeared in my early forties, I was devastated – and made a decision I’ll regret for the rest of my life. Nilufer Atik opted to have dermal filler to treat her eye-bags… but she had made a monumental mistake Credit: Lorna Roach Nilufer pictured before having any treatment Credit: Supplied At the time, not even the heaviest, most expensive concealers masked my dark circles. So, too terrified to undergo a surgical blepharoplasty – the traditional operation to remove eye bags – I began looking into alternative solutions. That’s when I discovered non-surgical tear trough treatment. Championed by celebs including Katy Perry and Gemma Collins, it sounded like the answer to my prayers. It involves using a specialised type of dermal filler injected beneath the eyes to mask the appearance of bags, which occur when the fat that naturally surrounds the eye migrates downwards. The minimally invasive procedure promised to restore lost under-eye volume, eliminate dark circles and completely refresh the face. Best of all, there was zero downtime and the results were supposedly immediate. At the time, I had just gone through a highly stressful breakup. My self-esteem was at rock bottom and I desperately needed something to make me feel attractive and confident again. I figured this would be the perfect pick-me-up. But I was terribly wrong. There was a time when women would get a new haircut after a relationship ended to lift their spirits. Nilufer immediately after the treatment, which involved dermal filler being injected beneath the eyes to mask the appearance of bags Credit: Supplied Nilufer pictured one year after the initial treatment Credit: Supplied Today, with so many affordable tweakments readily available, they routinely turn to fillers or Botox instead. But as my story proves, rushing into a non-surgical cosmetic treatment on an emotional whim can be a monumental mistake. We are living in an era where these procedures have become dangerously normalised, yet the reality behind the clinic doors is alarming. Recent figures from Save Face, the government-approved register for medical aesthetic practitioners and clinics in the UK, show that complaints about botched non-surgical procedures continue to skyrocket, with dermal fillers accounting for a staggering 69 per cent of all aesthetic complaints in the UK. Worse still, data from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) reveal that demand for dermal fillers has jumped by 27 per cent.We are pumping these substances into our faces at unprecedented rates, often completely blind to the long-term consequences. I see this pressure everywhere, especially when looking at famous women in the media. Photographs earlier this year of France’s former First Lady, Carla Bruni, highlight just how precarious our relationship with aging and cosmetic intervention can be. Usually remarkably youthful in appearance, recent images show the 58-year-old looking visibly exhausted, with pronounced bags beneath her eyes and deep marionette lines framing her mouth. Two years after her initial treatment, everything started to go wrong for Nilufer as her filler started to harden and migrate Credit: Supplied My once-lovely eyes were ruined and my confidence plummeted to an all-time low., says Nilufer Credit: Lorna Roach While the former model has long maintained that she would never contemplate plastic surgery or tweakments, attributing her smooth complexion to superior genetics, the sudden change makes me highly sceptical. To me, those pictures suggest that she may have previously succumbed to the syringe, or even a facelift, and the effects are now wearing off. What many people don’t realise is that emotional turmoil and high-stress levels can cause dermal fillers to wear off at an accelerated rate. Chronic stress releases higher levels of cortisol, a “stress” hormone believed to break down hyaluronic acid fillers, sometimes shortening their lifespan by several months. When you are under enormous emotional strain, the cosmetic scaffolding you rely on can collapse, leaving you looking decades older almost overnight. I think that may be exactly what has happened to Carla, who now looks more like a woman in her late sixties. When I booked my own treatment in September 2015 I knew none of this.Because the tear trough procedure was relatively new at the time, I couldn’t find any independent reviews online from past patients. However, one clinic located in London showcased an impressive gallery of before-and-after photographs. I reasoned that since the filler wasn’t permanent, I wouldn’t have to live with the results forever if I disliked them. And at a cost of £400, it was a fraction of the price of surgery. At my consultation, the aesthetic practitioner I met was incredibly enthusiastic, telling me I was the perfect candidate. He assured me my bags weren’t bad enough for surgery, so a little bit of filler would help disguise them nicely. I booked the procedure for the very next day. My under-eye area was numbed with a topical cream, and the doctor began injecting the filler into various points. Nilufer thinks the exact same thing may have happened to France’s former First Lady, Carla Bruni Credit: Getty Recent images of Carla show the 58-year-old looking visibly exhausted, with pronounced bags beneath her eyes Credit: AFP Even with the numbing cream, it stung, but it wasn’t unbearable. The whole process took mere minutes. Afterwards, despite some localised redness and tiny pinpricks of blood, my eyebags had virtually vanished. I was absolutely delighted. Within a few days, the mild bruising and swelling subsided completely. The bags were totally invisible and I genuinely felt like a 30-year-old version of myself. Then, two years later, everything started to go wrong. I had been explicitly told that the filler would naturally dissolve within 18 months. Instead, mine hardened, migrating and settling into prominent, unsightly lumps just above my cheeks. They looked significantly worse than the original bags I had tried to hide. I returned to the clinic to complain, but I was simply told to massage the area daily to help break the product down. This did absolutely nothing. I began to hate the way I looked. I dreaded it when friends suggested taking selfies, and I refused to post photos on social media without applying heavy filters to conceal what felt like a disfigured face. My once-lovely eyes were ruined and my confidence plummeted to an all-time low. In pure desperation, I visited a different clinic last year, begging them to fix the mess. The practitioner explained that the only option was to dissolve the remaining filler using a specialized enzyme solution. Tragically, this enzyme also dissolved a significant amount of my own natural collagen in the area. I was left with severely hollowed-out sockets that made me look about 80 years old. Distraught, I felt I had no choice but to have a small amount of filler re-injected, praying that this time it wouldn’t slip or harden in March last year. It took only six months for history to repeat itself. The product migrated again. Today, I am left with hard, uneven lumps under my eyes that no amount of concealer can camouflage. I am forced to use heavy, specialist scar makeup just to face the world. The only way to permanently correct this damage now is through complex surgery, which I simply cannot afford. Looking back, I didn’t do enough research on clinics because I was so desperate for a quick fix. They were properly licensed but the treatment was very new when I first had it so practitioners didn’t know the long term results. Now a lot of practitioners warn against this treatment. The aesthetics industry frequently glosses over the long-term risks of fillers, and many clinics fail to fully inform patients about what can go wrong. I had that tear trough treatment hoping to enhance my eyes, not destroy them. Now, I wish I had just allowed myself to age naturally. More than that, I wish I had taken the time to heal properly after my breakup instead of jumping into a cosmetic procedure to make myself feel better. It was the inside I needed to work on, not the outside. I urge any woman going through a difficult life event to pause before booking a cosmetic appointment. Wait until you have processed your emotions, whether through therapy or simply through the passage of time. Botox and fillers can go disastrously wrong and – as I can prove – they may leave you looking and feeling far worse than before.