UK Woman, 24, Left With Second-Degree Burns And Scarring After Microneedling

A 24-year-old woman in the United Kingdom was left with second-degree burns and permanent scarring after a common beauty procedure went wrong. According to the New York Post, Melia Nielsen underwent a microneedling session - a procedure that involves puncturing the skin with small needles to generate collagen - to "feel confident without makeup". However, things took a turn for the worse as she now has a "huge scar" across her face instead of just a few spots. 

The finance worker from Lincolnshire underwent the treatment in July in a bid to improve her skin complexion. According to the Post, the 24-year-old spent almost $100 (approximately Rs 8,400) for the procedure and was already done with one session before returning for another.

However, things went wrong the second time as the provider went over the same spot multiple times, wearing away at the first few layers of skin. "At the time she never said anything about it but I was actually bleeding," Ms Nielsen recalled. "She only said five or six days later over a message that she'd noticed that I was bleeding quite a bit," she continued. 

Ms Nielsen suspects that while she bleeding during the procedure, the expert repeatedly cleaned the area with toner, that later resulted in a chemical burn on the "new, raw skin". "At the time it was stinging quite bad and she kept asking, 'Are you okay,'" she said. "Now I understand why she was asking that."

The 24-year-old continued to say that she was certain that what was happening was not normal. Even though the expert assured her to just "keep an eye" on the area, she noticed that the skin was "weeping". 

"I was like 'surely this isn't normal'. I was panicking the night that it happened. I washed it with water and didn't put anything on it," she said. Ms Nielsen also claimed that when she raised concerns to the provider, her messages were ignored - but that was until she went to the emergency room. 

"When I woke up the next morning the whole thing looked bruised. It had gone all horrible and purple. It had stopped weeping but it was wet to touch. It was really, really swollen. It was pretty much the entirety of my cheek all the way up to near my eye," she explained. 

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At the hospital, doctors confirmed that it was, indeed, a chemical burn. "They said what should've happened at the time is if she thought something wasn't right she shouldn't have carried on doing what she was doing," Ms Nielsen recounted. 

The 24-year-old also claimed that the aesthetics provider tried to blame her for the chemical burn. She also attempted to offer complimentary services in return for the inconvenience rather than help pay for Ms Nielsen's medical treatments, which Ms Nielsen denied. Ms Nielsen also stated that she regrets ever getting the treatment, saying that the ordeal made her realize she doesn't "really need it".