Elva, 26, injected silicone into her face every day. "I got a little carried away."
26-year-old Elva was born in a small town, a boy named Wojtek. For years, she struggled to accept her appearance and couldn't afford professional help. So, she began performing aesthetic medicine procedures herself, which resulted in numerous deformities. Elva spoke with Dzień Dobry TVN about how she sees herself today. In our studio, Dr. Marek Wasiluk, a physician, and Sylwia Stankiewicz, a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, discussed the black market in aesthetic medicine.
Article in short:
- 26-year-old Elva was born a boy.
- For a long time, the woman struggled to accept her appearance. For years, she performed aesthetic medicine procedures herself, injecting silicone into her face.
- Her actions led to numerous deformities, leaving her no longer resembling herself today. Fortunately, Dr. Marek Wasiluk decided to help the 26-year-old.
Elva performed aesthetic medicine treatments on her own
26-year-old Elva started to tamper with her appearance a few years ago.
"
I started with fat-dissolving injections twice a week. Then, when my face started to get too thin, I slowly filled it in until I got a little carried away. I bought injectable lipolysis and silicone online. It's generally easy to find online," she explained.
"
At first, I was doing silicone injections once a week, and then I got a little carried away and started doing them every day. I was living and working in Warsaw at the time, and all my money went to rent, so I didn't have money for specialists," she added.
Elva's actions left her face disfigured and swollen to monstrous proportions. Dr. Marek Wasiluk, an aesthetic medicine physician, decided to help the 26-year-old.
"The products she's injected with are uncertified. Just because nothing's happening now doesn't mean that in six months, an infection won't set in and some
inflammation will develop, becoming life-threatening . Her eyes are the biggest concern, but she's unaware that if we try to remove something near her eyes, there's a high probability that something will "run down" her forehead," the specialist explained.
Body dysmorphic disorder
Elva admitted that she encounters many curious glances and unflattering comments about herself every day.
"There are a lot of people who perceive me negatively. Poland is a very conservative country, and people are not accustomed to an appearance that deviates from accepted norms," she said. She didn't hide the fact that her actions were also starting to worry her mother.
"My mother was worried about my health, but I explained to her that nothing life-threatening was happening and she wasn't so worried anymore. We reconciled," she said.
Psychologist Paulina Mierzejewska spoke about the problem Elva is most likely struggling with.
"There's a disorder called
body dysmorphic disorder. It's when
we stop seeing what we look like and constantly strive for an imagined image we want to achieve. Our brain quickly becomes accustomed to this. (...) We no longer see ourselves realistically. This can be followed by perfectionism, a desire to live up to social pressure, comparisons, and low self-esteem," she explained.
Dr. Marek Wasiluk pointed out that Elva will have to go a long way to regain her former appearance and health.
"As for what we can do, firstly, a psychiatric consultation to see if she's ready to get help, and then diagnostic imaging, i.e., an MRI, to see how much of it there is and try to assess what's damaged. Without that, we can't move forward," he concluded.
The black market of aesthetic medicine
More and more people are turning to black market products and performing aesthetic medicine treatments themselves, unaware of what exactly they are injecting into their bodies. Dr. Marek Wasiluk, an aesthetic medicine physician, and Sylwia Stankiewicz, a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, spoke about complications, irreversible effects, and body dysmorphia in the Dzień Dobry TVN studio: