Did Kylie Jenner Get Lip Fillers For All The Wrong Reasons?

It was the worst kept secret in reality TV history, so when 17-year-old Kylie Jenner confessed to getting lip fillers, none of us were really surprised.

But the bigger question to come out of this whole debacle is not why she lied about it the whole time – but why she felt the need to have work done in the first place?

We spoke to Dr Carolyn Berry, Medical Director and Founder of Firvale Clinic, to find out why young girls including Kylie feel the need to alter their looks so drastically – and the risks that come with altering your features at such a young age.

First things first, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is very strict about lip fillers has only given approval for those over the age of 21 to have them.

However, neither Kylie (nor her injector) have broken US law because it’s legal to get lip fillers under the age of 21 with the consent of a doctor, patient and parent.

"The most common lip filler is hyaluronic acid and this is not bad per se for the body as it is produced naturally but declines with age.  However with young people under the age of 18 years, there are other factors to consider,” said Dr Berry.

“They may be having treatments for the wrong reasons, to boost low self esteem, they tend to follow celebrities and not consider what suits their face, quite often believing the bigger their lips, the more attractive they will be.”

The ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ star admitted herself that she is ‘insecure’ about her lips so it’s no shock that uses more than just seven shades of MAC lip pencils to make them look bigger. But are lip fillers really the answer?

And if critics think they can turn a blind eye to the issue because it happens in the States, think again, because there is little to no legal guidance surrounding the non-surgical treatment in the UK.

The FDA has approved just two dermal fillers in the US, whereas in the UK (where it’s not properly regulated), young people are more likely to seek out a cheap injector.

“What this means is a young person can go to a non medical person and have their lips injected with cheap fillers acquired over the internet,” said Dr Berry.

“This leaves them much more open to complications such as infection, or even death of tissue as poor technique can lead to injection into an artery and cut off blood supply to an area.

“When things go wrong, the injector has no knowledge to put them right and they are not properly insured to compensate the patient."

There is no clear legal guidance, Dr Berry told us, but most good doctors wouldn’t inject anyone under the age of 20, certainly not under-18, without parental consent.

“Most young people look better without any enhancements and I always make this clear to them.  At a young age, most people’s lips suit their facial shape and are in proportion to their other features,” she said.

So with more than twenty two million followers on Instagram and nine million followers on Twitter, we sincerely hope Kylie’s army of fans know better than to try and emulate their role model.

We don’t need another #KylieJennerLipChallenge on our hands.

[Kylie Jenner confesses to lip fillers]

[The Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge is trending]