'My facelift went so badly wrong I had to postpone my wedding'

A mum whose facelift went horribly wrong, forcing her to postpone her wedding, has spoken out about her ordeal, saying "all I want is to go back to how I was before". Katie Lowden, 34, a stay-at-home mum, underwent the procedure, which involved dermal fillers and botox, in July 2022, hoping to boost her confidence.

However, she developed granulomas - small clusters of immune cells - on her face, which she suspects was caused by the clinic using an unsuitable filler. Despite the clinic's attempts to dissolve the filler, Katie's condition worsened, causing regular swelling and making her unrecognisable, leading to her being prescribed antidepressants and postponing her wedding.

In December 2022, she discovered a hard lump on her neck, which doctors initially feared could be cancer, but was later confirmed to be migrated filler. Katie is now undergoing corrective treatments at Revere Clinic in London and hopes to regain her pre-procedure appearance.

Katie, who lives in Braintree, Essex, with her four children and fiance Aaron, 33, a landscaper, said: “I’ve never felt pretty, but all I want is to go back to how I was before, before I had that stupid facelift. Once it is all sorted, I’ll be happy, I won’t moan about my appearance and I’ll be grateful. I will live in the moment and know that I’m beautiful, and I never needed the facelift in the first place.”

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Katie underwent an eight-point facelift in July 2022 after “always having a problem” with her appearance. She explained: “I was bullied through the whole of my school life.

“So, for me, I never really had confidence, and obviously just seeing people having stuff done kind of made me feel like I want to look like that to give me a little bit of confidence. I’ve aged a little bit – I started having my children when I was 18, so I feel like it took a toll on me. I really did not (feel) great about myself, so I thought I could give it a go.”

The procedure was done at a licensed clinic where she had previously had lip filler with satisfactory results. However, Katie soon realised it was the “worst decision” she had “ever made.”

Almost immediately after the procedure, Katie noticed small, pea-sized lumps, known as granulomas, forming on her face at the filler injection sites. She does not wish to disclose how much the procedure cost. She suspected that the clinic used a filler not meant for certain areas of the face but claims she has received no response from them when seeking confirmation.

“You couldn’t recognise me, and it was so painful, it was like having rocks sunken into my skin,” Katie recalled. Although she was reassured by the clinic that the lumps would smooth out after two weeks, a month went by without any improvement.

After another month, her entire face swelled up “like a balloon”. Initially, Katie didn’t link the swelling to the procedure, assuming it might be a reaction to a bee sting or insect bite.

So, Katie went to A&E, where she was prescribed antibiotics in case of an infection, but her condition did not improve. She contacted the clinic again, who suggested she was experiencing a delayed reaction to the procedure.

In September 2022, they attempted to dissolve some of the filler, but this only worsened the situation. Her face swelled even more, and she began experiencing flare-ups almost every two weeks.

In an attempt to help, a practitioner at the clinic gave her antibiotics, but shockingly, she claimed the medication was under another patient’s name. “At the time, I just didn’t care, I wanted to get my face sorted,” she admitted.

When her condition still did not improve, the clinic advised her to visit an hospital. Around the same time, in December 2022, Katie discovered a hard lump in her neck. After undergoing scans and consulting with NHS doctors, she had a biopsy on December 23 2022, as there were concerns it could be cancer.

She said: “It was a fairly big lump for your neck, if that makes sense. I could hold it and it was rock-hard. It was very draining, worrying about it, and I just had a lot of humiliation as well, about having it done and it going wrong, it’s been horrible.”

Fortunately, in January 2023, the biopsy results confirmed it was not cancer, which was a “huge relief” for Katie and her loved ones. Instead, the filler that the clinic had unsuccessfully attempted to dissolve had migrated from her jaw to her neck. Amid this ordeal, Katie made the difficult decision to cancel her wedding, which had been planned for April 2025.

“I cancelled because if I spend all my money to have that perfect day and that gets ruined by my face, I wouldn’t want to get married,” Katie explained. “And I know it sounds horrible, but the one day you want to look beautiful, amazing, I’d be let down by swelling. So we cancelled it until I could fix my face… my fiance was amazing about it, but it was so upsetting.”

She was also prescribed antidepressants by her GP to cope with the mental strain caused by her experience. “I wanted to cry every day and it hurt to screw my face up and made it so much worse,” Katie said. “I didn’t want to go out and get questions about my face, so my partner would do the school run – I was so scared of being judged.”

Determined to repair the damage, Katie began researching clinics and discovered in Harley Street, London. The founder and celeb cosmetic doctor, Dr Sach Mohan, met with Katie and made her feel comfortable, with corrective procedures making up approximately 15% of his clinical workload. Since August 2024, she has undergone several corrective procedures and is on the road to recovery.

She said: “When he dissolved it, I could feel a crunch of him hitting the granuloma and it actually dissolved properly. It’s just been amazing. I can’t thank him enough, I didn’t feel judged and he knew exactly what he was doing, and it’s making me feel good again. He can help repair the tissue as well, so it’s looking good.”

Although she is unsure how much the total cost will be for the repairs, she expects it to run into the thousands. Now, Katie is looking forward to re-planning her wedding and is hopeful that her face will return to how it looked before she had the facelift.