Pens with hyaluronic acid: after the seizure by the Carabinieri the doctors are alarmed
After the seizure by the Carabinieri’s Nas, now comes the alarm from Aiteb, the Italian Association of Botulinum Aesthetic Therapy. Pens with hyaluronic acid, which cost around a hundred euros on the web, are not suitable for do-it-yourself administration and, if used in the area around the eyes, can even cause blindness. “Pens with hyaluronic acid are all the rage on various social networks, people see tutorials and then do the applications themselves – writes Maurizio Benci of Aiteb – but they don’t know the serious risks they run with DIY. These are devices that inject hyaluronic acid through a jet of pressure that passes through the skin, cases of necrosis have occurred, and it is also possible to cause blindness”.
The Nas kidnapping
The military has withdrawn about a hundred of these pens from the market, which can be purchased online at a cost of 100 euros and which are used to inject the product that promises to reduce wrinkles or shape the contours of the face. “People must understand that the indiscriminate use of these pens can be very harmful. On social media everything seems extremely easy. But do-it-yourself retouching is dangerous because to use that substance you need a doctor – recommends Benci -. These tools must be used by expert professionals: if these hyaluronic acids are inoculated directly into a vessel, necrosis occurs, around the eye, for example, they can also cause blindness because the material can embolize in a vessel and reach the retinal artery, with the risk of causing loss of vision”.
Necrosis and vision loss
“We must stop this do-it-yourself modus operandi, we must rely on professional doctors with high experience to reshape the contour of the face or increase the volume of the lips – Benci appeals -. Another damage is linked to the possible formation of telangiectasias following the trauma caused by high injection pressure. These treatments cannot be done on the couch at home by inexperienced people or non-doctors.”
