CHECKING her emails in the morning, Dr Nyla Raja notices a strange, sinister pattern.
Between 9pm and 11pm each night, demands for consultations spike, with thousands of young women across the country desperate to get the plumped-up ‘Love Island look’.
As demand for treatments like Botox and filler hits record levels, Britain’s leading plastic surgeons have blasted young people for “losing the plot” in a landmark intervention.
Last year the British College of Aesthetic Medicine performed 282,960 filler procedures – a shocking rise of 100 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Alongside this, a growing trend suggests many who do get fillers are having them reversed – including by regretful Islanders themselves.
One surgeon has warned The Sun that Britain risks becoming the “laughing stock of the world” – while a former star of the ITV2 show tells of the grim reality of chasing the ‘perfect’ reality star image.
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Dr Raja, a top cosmetic surgeon who has previously treated Abbey Clancy and Mel B, says: “When I hold a consultation with the new patients, they reference a contestant from the show’s look.
“If I see patients requesting procedures they don’t need, or altering their natural beauty to look like what they see on social media or TV, it’s heartbreaking.”
The 'Love Island effect'
One devotee of the Love Island look was Sharon Gaffka, who appeared on the show two years ago and fell out with fellow contestant Hugo Hammond in a row over ‘fake looks’.
The 27-year-old, who first had lip fillers five years ago, tells The Sun: “If I had my time again I wouldn't have anything done on my face.
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13“I had the fillers because I thought my lips were too narrow for my face.
"I have quite a round face and, at the time, I didn't see many Asian faces on TV or on social media who looked like me.
“I looked at actresses who were white and considered beautiful and I decided I wanted to look like them.”
In Britain around 900,000 Botox injections are carried out in clinics every year – you can even book in at High Street chemist Superdrug.
The industry is worth a staggering £9.3 billion in the UK alone.
Latest figures from analytics experts Statistica reveal that in 2021, 15,000 cosmetic surgeries were performed in Britain. More than half were boob jobs.
While cosmetic work is illegal for under-18s in the UK, experts fear many teens are opting for treatment in people’s kitchens and living rooms.
'Hooked'
Nicole Kay, 20, spent hundreds of pounds trying to emulate her idol Kylie Jenner.
As a 14–year-old, she used heavy lipliner and social media filters to boost her pout until she turned 18 – and immediately booked in for fillers.
It wasn’t long before she was hooked.
Nicole has had 8ml of filler injected into her lips over the past two years.
She says: “I was getting a millilitre injected every month until the clinic told me to slow down.
“I’d always hated my thin lips and social media didn’t help because I was constantly seeing influencers and celebrities with big lips, especially Kylie Jenner.
I was getting a millilitre injected every month until the clinic told me to slow down
“Before my fillers I'd use Instagram filters to give me a bigger pout on social media.
“They completely changed the way my face looked and I much preferred the filter on. Even now I still use filters to make them look even bigger.”
Nicole, of Cramlington, Northumberland, comes from a generation of women who view cosmetic tweaks and surgery as normal as a trip to the hairdressers.
But in a landmark intervention last month, the country’s top plastic surgeons warned that young people were ‘losing the plot’ and blasted colleagues for fuelling the trend.
Surgeon Dr Ash Labib, who runs clinics in the East Midlands and London, fears the image of perfection seen on Love Islanders can cause mental health issues in young viewers.
He says: “Young girls must be looking at these women saying, ‘I don’t look like that therefore what chance do I have in life?’
“The fact that the industry isn’t properly regulated and you can have work done at a hairdressers or beauty parlour is terrifying. I have seen so many botched jobs.
“I travel to the Middle East and Europe and only plastic surgeons and dermatologists are allowed to do this sort of work.”
'Worst decision ever'
Last summer’s Love Islanders were open about having work done before the show. Ekin-Su Culculoglu, 27, revealed she spent £4,000 on veneers, underwent a boob job and had £1,200 worth of fillers in preparation.
This series it emerged during a challenge that Anna-May Robey, 20, told her parents she was going to the gym, when in reality she was having a boob job.
Mum-of-one Chloe Godland spent £500 in her bid to get the perfect Love Island pout, but regretted it when her lips became swollen, lumpy and infected.
The 29-year-old from Melton Mowbray had worked extra shifts as a nightclub manager to afford the treatment in March 2021 but says it was the “worst decision she’s ever made”.
“I am a huge Love Island fan and wanted ‘the look’ – lip filler was in my price range, so I had 3mls over a six month period,” she says.
“After I had the second injection my lips became very sore, and within 24 hours they’d turned lumpy and hard.
“Two days after that I got an infection inside my bottom lip and couldn't eat properly for a week.”
She now plans to have her filler dissolved.
“When my little girl was born in April last year I became even more convinced that my Love Island lips were the worst decision I’d ever made,” she admits.
“I don’t want her growing up thinking a Love Island face or body is the only appearance that’s acceptable. I felt ashamed.”
'Laughing stock'
Dr Michael Prager – known as the King of Botox – fears Britain will become the “laughing stock of the world” unless colleagues stop “giving youngsters whatever they want”.
He says: “I go to cosmetic conferences and look around at my younger colleagues and sometimes think ‘you’re all mad’ because they are happy to do whatever youngsters want.
“It used to be that little tweaks here and there enhanced what you had, but that’s not the case anymore… 18 and 19-year-olds are having facial threads, bum lifts and huge amounts of filler.
It used to be that little tweaks here and there enhanced what you had, but that’s not the case anymore… 18-year-olds are having facial threads, bum lifts and huge amounts of filler
“A lot of them are used to seeing a filtered version of themselves on social media and want that reality.
“I have clients who bring in their teenage daughters and ask if they can have work done but I won't do it.
"Many of the girls are anxious and shy and fixated on something they perceive to be wrong with themselves.
"But you can’t fix an inner problem with a syringe. At 54 I might be a grumpy old surgeon, but who is going to set boundaries here?
"We need to look at this before the whole industry becomes a laughing stock.”
Reversal trend
Tellingly, as young fans are blown away by the gym-honed bodies and immaculately sculpted faces on-screen, a flock of ex-Islanders are openly reversing their work.
Over the last year Molly-Mae Hague, Faye Winter and Sharon have had their lip fillers dissolved.
Jessie Wynter, one of the favourites to win Winter Love Island with partner Will Young, previously admitted she regrets going under the knife, telling New Idea: "I honestly wish I could go back and tell younger me, 'Dude, don't get a boob job, you're fine the way you are'."
Sharon explains she had a stressful job as a civil servant when she got her lip filler, but is in a "much better place now".
"I realised that, when I looked in the mirror, I wasn't being entirely honest about who I was. I now feel happier and healthier than I've ever been," she says.
"I know it's tough being a teenager or a young woman, seeing all these hyper glam images on social media and TV, but I don’t think I’d have lip fillers again.”
Sharon was left shocked when she had her lips dissolved and discovered there was still filler in her lips from three years earlier.
She says: "My doctor suggested we put a bit of dissolving fluid in my chin just in case and I was amazed to find out I still had some fillers in my face which I thought were already gone.”
My doctor suggested we put a bit of dissolving fluid in my chin just in case and I was amazed to find out I still had some fillers in my face which I thought were already gone
Dr Osman Bashir, who runs a London clinic, reckons around 20 per cent of clients are now asking him to remove or reduce their filler.
But with more young people than ever still demanding procedures, fears over their physical and mental safety remain.
Antonia Mariconda, founder of the Safety in Beauty campaign group, said: “The dominant Kardashian-type trends appeal to those as young as 14 and below 30.
“It’s illegal for any clinic to carry out procedures under 18 but many youngsters are having it done under the radar.
“While the medical profession has accountability, there’s nothing stopping unscrupulous people from doing this in their homes.
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“It’s not uncommon to see botched procedures in teens who are getting fake IDs to have work done.
"I won't do any work unless someone provides real proof of age such as a driving licence or passport.”
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