A NURSE has told how she spent £5,000 a year on face fillers in a quest to look like “Barbie”, but only stopped when she could no longer recognise herself.
Emily Spence, 28, first got hooked on dermal fillers when she was 18 and began spending thousands of pounds on cosmetic surgeries to look like her plastic idol.
In 2018, she opted to get her lip filler built up to 5ml, while upping filler in her jaws, chin and cheek.
Spending £5,000 a year in the process, she believed the procedures would enhance her appearance and complete her desired look.
But any initial feelings of joy soon gave away to anxiety as she noticed alarming changes in her facial structure and jaw line.
It was so bad that she didn’t even recognise herself when she looked in the mirror.
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Now Emily believes her obsession was down to her insecurities with her body and says she hates how she used to looked with fillers.
She has now had most of them dissolved and has opened her own clinic, but makes sure to chat to clients before allowing them to have any significant changes.
Emily, from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, told Yorkshire Live: “I was obsessed with how I looked and I could never be happy. I had jaw filler to make my face square and made my lips massive.
“I realise now it was because I was so insecure about my appearance and my body. I had body dysmorphia. I turned myself into a Barbie. Now I’ve had a lot of it stripped back.
“I won’t let clients go ahead with any filler if I can’t see the benefit. I chat to them to make sure they are doing the right thing.”
Emily, who now works as a nurse and clinician, said she started suffering from body dysmorphia as a teenager and was obsessed with her weight from an early age.
She said: “I’d hardly eat and then binge at the end of the day.
“I became more self-conscious as I hit 18 and started going out. I felt fat.”
Emily quick resorted to costly cosmetic treatments including boob jobs and lip fillers – receiving top up injections on a regular basis.
She explained: I just went bigger and bigger each time.”
“I had jaw filler and I just didn’t look like me anymore. At that point I was spending about £5,000 a year on dermal fillers and antiwrinkle.
“Something twigged and I realised I’d taken it too far. I started to have therapy and realised I was struggling with body dysmorphia.
“I had all the jaw and chin fillers dissolved so my face looked like me. And now I just have a little bit of lip filler in.”
Emily now runs her own aesthetic business and has utilised her experience as a qualified nurse to advise women seeking fillers and cosmetic surgeries.
“I enhance people’s natural beauty whilst keeping them looking like their own identity, she said.
“I would never let a client take it too far so that they didn’t look like themselves anymore like I did. I’ll always have an initial chat with them first and ask why they want fillers.”
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She added: “I want to make sure others don’t change themselves when they are not happy within. If I don’t think it’s beneficial for them or there not doing it for the right reasons then I’ll refuse to do it.
“When I had filler done no one ever thought to do these checks or question if the reasons I was getting it done. I think it’s so important to check that clients are having fillers done for the right reasons.”
