Celebrity butt-lift injector who left women with sepsis exposed by BBC

A self-styled "beauty consultant", whose celebrity client list includes Katie Price, is offering potentially dangerous cosmetic procedures to clients and handing over medication illegally - a BBC investigation has discovered.

Ricky Sawyer specialises in liquid Brazilian butt-lifts (BBLs) - which involves injecting dermal filler into buttocks to lift them and make them look bigger.

BBC News has spoken to five of his clients who needed emergency hospital treatment after their procedures. We have also been shown the testimonies of more than 30 women who say they have been left with serious complications such as sepsis and necrosis (tissue death).

Several local authorities have banned Mr Sawyer from practising in their areas.

Uundercover filming captured Mr Sawyer handing out antibiotics without a valid prescription - a criminal offence. He is not qualified to prescribe and the pills were not labelled for a specific patient.

He also offered to inject increasing doses of local anaesthetic without a prescriber present - again illegal - and did not ask for our reporter's weight, thus putting her at risk of an overdose.

Reviewing the footage, plastic surgeon Dalvi Humzah, who sits on the Joint Committee of Cosmetic Practitioners, said Mr Sawyer's actions were "shocking", "very dangerous", and putting patients at a huge risk of infection and potentially fatal complications.

"Putting that volume in, in one sitting, is really dangerous," said Mr Humzah. "The buttocks are such a large area that if they become infected it can overwhelm the body and could end in sepsis - or even death."

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Source: BBC News, 4 February 2025