Open wounds and eyes that can't close - women warn about cheap bleph eyelid surgery

Warning: Graphic images and descriptions of surgery

"Everyone made it out to be so easy, but my face felt like it was on fire and there was a horrible smell of burning skin," says Nikita Morgan, as she describes her eyelid surgery.

She decided to get a blepharoplasty, or a "bleph", removing skin from just above the eyes - after seeing videos about it on social media. Even though she was given a local anaesthetic, Nikita felt extreme pain.

Oculoplastic surgeons - doctors specialising in surgery around the eyes - say a concerning number of patients are reporting problems from cheap bleph surgery, typically carried out abroad.

They have told the BBC the demand for this procedure, which normally costs thousands of pounds in the UK, has increased as part of a wider aesthetic trend to tighten, smooth and lift the face.

Surgeons say complications have been linked to clinics across mainland Europe, Africa and Asia, and, when they occur, the lack of aftercare puts a burden on the NHS.

As well as Nikita, we have spoken to dozens of people who have experienced problems - including one woman who had to tape her eyes shut to sleep because too much eyelid skin had been removed, while another feared she was losing her sight.

UK surgeons have also told us they have seen patients unable to close their eyes properly after treatment abroad.

Nikita, from Dublin, wanted to make her eyes more defined, but could not afford upper eyelid surgery in Ireland that she was told would cost more than €4,000 (£3,400).

Then the 31-year-old discovered on TikTok that she could get a bleph with Dutch company, Faceland for €750 (£650).

She described its clinic in Düsseldorf as "like a conveyor belt, just one in, one out constantly".

The company says it has performed more than 2,950 bleph procedures on UK patients at its clinics in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland since October 2024.

It says it offers "safe and quality" treatments and told us "less than 1% of procedures have led to a complaint", although this does not include everyone who needed revision surgery.

The majority of patients who spoke to the BBC about problems with their blephs had been to the company's clinics - but we do not know how many complications in total have occurred at Faceland.

Nikita, who went for her bleph in November 2025, says she did not realise how invasive the procedure would be, believing it to be like "getting your lips or Botox done", she says.

She was injected with local anaesthetic, but when the doctor began cutting delicate eyelid skin, she felt pain she had never experienced before.

"I went into shell shock, it was horrible," Nikita says. "When she was stitching me I could feel the needle going through my skin."

Faceland says all patients have consultations and sign consent forms before procedures, to ensure they are "well informed and well prepared".

It added that Nikita's doctor had said Nikita was "very anxious and uncertain" during her procedure "which can influence the perception of pain".

Within hours, a "traumatised" Nikita was boarding a plane home. Flying on the same day of surgery is not advised by medical experts as well as Faceland, but she saw lots of people doing it on social media.

"I was struggling to see," says Nikita, "if I looked up, my stitches would bleed so it was like I was crying blood."

She really regrets flying on the same day as her surgery and advises others not to.

In the past three years, videos about blephs posted by UK social media accounts on four leading platforms were viewed nearly 150 million times, BBC analysis has found. This figure is five times greater than the previous three years.

Many people report positive results in their posts, and a lot have been treated at Faceland.

One woman told us her droopy eyelids had been restricting her vision and causing her headaches. She was not eligible for NHS treatment and could not afford to go private in the UK, but now she says, after going to Faceland, her issues have been resolved.

The company's website claims it is changing the market by focusing on "affordable, accessible and high quality care". Treatments are carried out by accredited medical doctors who receive internal training by Faceland in surgical procedures, it says.

Surgeons in the UK told us upper eyelid surgery typically takes about three hours, including preparation, surgery and post-operation care. But Faceland patients we have spoken to say they spent less than an hour at the clinics.

Faceland says allowing practitioners to perform a higher volume of treatments helps significantly lower costs.