A WOMAN claims she suffered second degree burns on her face after getting microneedling to treat her acne – only to be blamed by the clinic.
Melia Nielsen had been visiting a clinic for months to receive chemical peels while battling spots and decided to have a £75 microneedling treatment to treat her acne scars in July.
But the 24-year-old claims her clinician started ignoring her messages when the “entirety” of her left cheek swelled up and became “horrible” and “purple” – so was forced to dash to A&E.
Doctors reportedly confirmed it was a chemical burn and Melia, a payroll officer, was forced to endure months of “soreness”.
She first underwent the microneedling treatment to feel more confident without makeup and has now been left with a “huge scar”.
Microneedling is a cosmetic procedure that uses tiny, sterile needles to puncture the skin and to stimulate the production of collagen and help reduce the appearance of acne scars or wrinkles.
Screenshots of messages appear to show the clinician, who had allegedly only completed a two-day training course, blaming Melia for the burn and asking “you haven’t gone on any medication or changed any products at home?”.
Melia shared the horrifying photos documenting her ordeal on social media and claimed the burns were the result of “incorrect methods by the practitioner”.
She is now speaking out to urge others to “to thoroughly research, have consultations and choose your skincare wisely” – in the hopes that no one else will suffer the same consequences.
Melia, from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, said: “I wanted to feel confident without makeup.
“Now I’m in an even worse position because I’ve got a huge scar across my face instead of just a few spots.”
Melia said she’d been getting chemical peels at the clinic to help clear her acne and had moved onto microneedling to address scarring.
“I’d already had one session of it before that was perfectly fine. When I went for the second one, that was when it happened.
“While she was doing it she was going over and over that same area to a point that it actually wore away the first one or two layers of my skin. So then it was essentially raw skin.
“At the time she never said anything about it but I was actually bleeding.
“She only said five or six days later over a message that she’d noticed that I was bleeding quite a bit.
“Because I was bleeding she was cleaning the area with, I don’t know if it was a toner or something, but it burned that brand new, raw skin.
“At the time it was stinging quite bad and she kept asking ‘are you okay’. Now I understand why she was asking that.
“Afterwards there was a little patch in the middle where it wasn’t red, it was white.
“She just said to me to keep an eye on it and don’t use anything harsh on it.
“By the time I’d driven home, that patch of my face was weeping. I was like ‘surely this isn’t normal’.
“I was panicking the night that it happened. I washed it with water and didn’t put anything on it.”
Melia messaged her practitioner and sent her pictures of her skin, but claims she was ignored until she said she was going to A&E.
It was wet to touch. It was really, really swollen. It was pretty much the entirety of my cheek all the way up to near my eye
Melia Nielsen
“She was completely ignoring my messages, until the next day when I said I was going to A&E because I think I’ve got a chemical burn,” the 24-yearold said.
“When I mentioned A&E she replied straight away.”
Melia took herself to A&E the morning after her treatment was told she had a chemical burn.
She recalled: “When I woke up the next morning the whole thing looked bruised. It had gone all horrible and purple.
“It had stopped weeping but it was wet to touch. It was really, really swollen. It was pretty much the entirety of my cheek all the way up to near my eye.
“I was seen within half an hour of getting to A&E.
“They took me in and said they’d seen me that quick because of the nature of the burn and the fact it was on my face and how bad it must’ve looked to everyone else.
“They confirmed it was a chemical burn. They gave me this water-based cream that I had to apply every hour for 10 days.
“Thankfully it didn’t get infected but they did say if the swelling hadn’t gone down after a couple of days I’d have to go back.
“They said what should’ve happened at the time is if she thought something wasn’t right she shouldn’t have carried on doing what she was doing.
“She shouldn’t have let me leave with my skin the way it was.”
‘No accountability’
The payroll officer, who had been visiting the clinic since November 2023, admitted she was “upset” by the clinician’s lack of “accountability” for her injury.
Melia said: “The thing that upset me the most was that I’d been going to her for seven to eight months and gotten to know her really well.
“As soon as she eventually did reply she was just trying to basically say that it must have been something that I’ve done.
“It absolutely wasn’t anything I’d done. I’d not changed anything that I used.
“All of the skincare products that I was using were what she’d recommended for me to use. I’d not had any problem at all with any of the other treatments I’d had.
“The way it was handled didn’t seem right.
“I asked her if she was insured in case I needed any help paying for treatment elsewhere to rectify it.
“She just brushed it off and just offered me complementary treatments to try and help it.
“I was just like ‘um, it’s okay, I’m booked in with someone esle who’s medically trained. I’m okay thanks’. There was no accountability.”
How to ease acne
Acne is a common skin condition that ranges from a few spots on the face, neck, back and chest, to a more severe problem with solid painful lumps under the skin. It may cause scarring.
Spots often pop up during puberty and most people will experience some form of acne during their lifetime.
In most cases, it goes away by the time you reach your early to mid-twenties.
For others, it can go on for longer.
At present, there isn’t a ‘cure’ for acne but treatments can be very effective, preventing the formation of new spots and reducing scarring.
The first step is to use skincare products suitable for blemish-prone skin, which may be labelled as ‘non-comedogenic’ or ‘oil-free’.
Active topical treatments (those applied directly to the skin) can be bought over the counter without a prescription.
These include benzoyl peroxide, azelaic acid and nicotinamide – speak to your pharmacist for advice about these.
Most treatments take two to four months to produce their full effect.
If you have acne but have had no success with over-the-counter products, then it’s worth visiting a healthcare professional.
Acne treatments fall into the following categories:
- Topical treatments, i.e. those that are applied directly to the skin
- Oral antibiotics, i.e. tablets taken by mouth
- Oral contraceptive pills
- Isotretinoin capsules
- Spironolactone tablets
You can also try other treatments like light and laser therapy for inflammatory acne and to reduce scarring – only go to experienced practitioners for these.
Other techniques may include steroid injections, chemical peels and microneedling, but these aren’t available on the NHS.
Source: British Skin Foundation
Melia admitted she regrets getting the £75 cosmetic procedure as she “didn’t really need it”.
Now she fears the scar will “never fully go away”, leaving her struggling to apply makeup.
Melia said: “It’s made me realise that I actually didn’t really need it and I’ve first hand seen how things can go wrong.
“I wouldn’t ever want to risk going through that again.
“I suffered from hormonal acne. I just wanted to get to a point where it was clear and I didn’t have to keep piling makeup on to try and cover it. I wanted to feel confident without it.”
Instead, Melia was left in agony for weeks and her skin may never be the same.
“It was painful. It was so sore for weeks. It was itchy, it was swollen, it was horrible,” she said.
“Even now if I rub my finger over it now it’s a completely different texture to the rest of my face. It’s never fully going away.
“The first time I put makeup on was only about a month ago. Because it’s such a sensitive area now, even wearing makeup for a day really made it flare up.”
Do your research
The ordeal has permanently put her off cosmetic procedures and she now urges other people to do their research first.
Melia said: “I’ve been going to somebody who has helped me with the journey of trying to heal it. I’ve been going there every month for a rejuvenation peel to try and help it fade as much as it can.
“Other than that I don’t think I’ll really ever put anything harsh on my skin again.
“I just want people to actually look into the background of who is doing things like that.
“The girl who did it to me did two days of training. She did a two day training course and was allowed to put needling tools and chemicals on people’s faces.
“I just want people to go to somebody who might have a little bit more experience or even actually have proper thorough consultations and stuff to avoid anything like that happening.”
