Woman nearly blinded after lips swell up then burst

 Mikayla Stutchberry's lips swelled up - and then burst [Photo: A Current Affair]

A woman was nearly blinded when a lip-filler treatment gone wrong saw her lips burst and she swallowed the solution.

Mikayla Stutchberry, a disability worker from Australia, wanted to emulate all of her friends and get the work done to plump up her lip.

But, after her visit to a Laser Clinics Australia Outlet, her lips swelled up and became painful.

Doctors say she had lip filler "injected into the arteries" in the botched procedure - and was incredibly lucky it wasn't worse.

Mikayla told 9News: "And then there was a part where I got blisters and they burst, and I started swallowing the filter and passed out.

"You see horror stories on TV, but assume that would never happen to you until it actually does."

Mikayla claims her doctor told her that her lips were infected, and then she became allergic to the antibiotics she purchased.

This led to her being off work for a fortnight, and losing her job, she said.

 Mikayla said all her friends had undergone procedures [Photo: A Current Affair]

Professor Mark Ashton, the former President of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, spoke to 9News and said Mikayla was lucky.

Prof Ashton said: "In my opinion, there is little doubt that this poor girl has had filler injected into the arteries supplying her upper lip. That filler has then gone on to cause tissue death.

"It could have gone up into her face, up along the side of the nose and into her eye, and she could have been rendered blind instantaneously."

The clinic denies any wrongdoing.

In a statement, it said: "Laser Clinics totally rejects Ms Stutchbery's allegations.

"There is no medical evidence that the Laser Clinics treatment caused any infection."

It said the clinic "followed all appropriate clinical procedures mandated by Laser Clinics and there is no report or finding to the contrary that has been brought to the attention of Laser Clinics to suggest any error."

 The clinic that performed the procedure says there is no evidence of any error on their part [Photo: A Current Affair]

Meanwhile, Cosmetic doctor Daniel Lanzar, who was one of the first dermatologists to bring lip fillers and injections to Australia more than two decades ago, is worried about the widespread emergence of clinics offering the services.

He's spoken out about lip-filler treatments "that really should be done in a medical room" and told 9News that he "never envisaged" such services would be offered in clinics operating out of shopping centres.

Prof Ashton told 9News that he wants a legal loophole allowing qualified doctors to give consultations over Skype or Facetime, to be closed. This means doctors do not have to be on-site for the procedures to take place.

He said: "The Skype consultation or the FaceTime consultation was originally formulated for rural and regional patients who are trying to get access to specialist care.

"It's not designed so that someone in a shopping centre can see a GP who's in the same city simply so that he can make more money."

9News reports that Laser Clinics Australia said all its processes and protocols where reviewed by a medical advisory board of doctors and dermatologists.