She wanted, as she said, to “beautify” her clients: A 25-year-old beautician who was on trial with her sister over hundreds of illegal Botox and hyaluronic acid injections was confronted by civil parties on Wednesday who suffered serious after-effects.
• Also read: Canned sardines cause about ten cases of botulism, including one death
• Also read: Two prisoners escape during a forest excursion in France
This woman, very present on social networks, with carefully braided black hair and a swollen mouth, is on trial and imprisoned at the Valenciennes prison for “endangering the lives of others” and “accidental injury”.
She, like her 22-year-old sister who assisted her, is being prosecuted for “illegal practice of medicine” and “aggravated money laundering.” Each faces up to ten years in prison.
Abscess on the chin requiring emergency surgery, severe rash, partially paralyzed mouth, drooping eyelids, bumps or spots on the lips: the court listed an impressive list of consequences.
“I felt like I looked like a leper,” the only man among the plaintiffs, a fifty-year-old who had been injected with Botox, said at the hearing.
“I couldn’t touch my face, it was so painful. Even today, I still find it difficult to keep my eyelids open after the injections. I will have to undergo surgery,” he continues.
“My Passion”
Selma, 24, says she contacted the woman who called herself “Dr. Lougayne” after a reality TV contestant “participated in an injection session with her.”
“Now I have brown spots on my lips, I’m insecure,” regrets the young girl, who doesn’t want to give her name. “I was stupid, I trusted.”
The gendarmes counted at least 600 customers between January 2021 and July 2023. The beautician “probably recognizes more”. About thirty are citizen parties.
The defendant admits the injections but believes she is not responsible for the serious side effects.
“Did you know it wasn’t legal?” scolds the president. “Yes,” the beautician answers confidently. “It was trending on social media and I was interested in women’s beautification, it was my passion,” she explains. “I didn’t realize the seriousness of the matter.”
The defendant, who recently completed her studies at an aesthetic CAP in 2020, lives with her mother in Wattrelos (North) and is interested in wrinkle filling and lip swelling techniques.
She claims to have completed four training courses, one in Belgium and others with Russian or Ukrainian trainers.
As of September 2021, an account called “Lougayne aesthetic” on social networks offers services that ensure the use of “standard” products.
50,000 subscribers
From 2022 she will call herself Dr. Lougayne and introduces herself as a “beautician,” wearing a white coat with her name on it.
“But the customers knew that I wasn’t a doctor,” she assures. “No doctor gives injections for 200 euros.”
With his 50,000 followers, his activity accelerates together with his sister, and injection sessions are organized in hairdressing and beauty salons and even at home in Hauts-de-France and the Paris region.
But in March 2023, the gendarmerie of Villeneuve-d’Ascq (North) investigated the SnapChat and Instagram profiles of “Dr. Lougayne”, who were particularly active.
The account holder is quickly identified. On May 14, the gendarmes intervened during a meeting in Valenciennes and arrested the two sisters.
They confiscated around a hundred syringes and bottles of hyaluronic acid and Botox from the family home, particularly from Russia and Korea.
The products had bacterial levels up to “fifty times higher than the maximum permitted levels,” the court recalled on Wednesday.
They also found 14,000 euros in cash, luxury items – a Louis Vuitton bag and glasses – and two large cars: a white BMW and a white Audi.
Investigators estimate, particularly based on PayPal deposits, that the campaign brought in at least 120,000 euros in less than two years.
The trial is scheduled to end this evening.