A 29-year-old woman in China has suffered paralysis in the left side of her face after having wrinkle fillers injected at a cosmetic clinic. Doctors fear that the symptoms may be permanent.

On September 12, Ms. Zhao, from Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. went to the local cosmetic hospital for a procedure she had undergone several times in the past – filler injections to remove some visible wrinkles on her face. Only this time things didn’t go as smoothly as usual. On September 19, a week after getting the filler injections, the 29-year-old woman woke up with half-face paralysis. Her mouth was crooked, she had a permanent frown in her left brow, and she couldn’t completely close her mouth and her left eye. She is still unable to chew food correctly or drink liquids, and has to use a straw.

Photo: GMW.cn

“Every day I see myself in the mirror with an expressionless face and I just want to die,” a desperate Ms. Zhao told Chinese website GMW.cn.

Upon visiting a specialist hospital for examination, Zhao was diagnosed with facial nerve paralysis, commonly known as facial paralysis. Unfortunately, doctors couldn’t tell the woman how long it would take for her face to return to normal, or if it ever will. The recovery process can take months, even years, and there is also the possibility that the woman’s face will never recover.

Ms. Zhao told Chinese journalists that she was a regular at the cosmetic hospital, and that she had had filler injections several times. This time, however, the procedures were done by two doctors, one who she had worked with before, and another who she had never seen before. She is convinced that the latter is responsible for her half-face paralysis.

Photo: Sam Moqadam/Unsplash

The young woman filed a complaint against the cosmetic hospital, after the two parties failed to reach a compensation agreement. A spokesperson for the hospital said that Mz Zhao’s medical diagnosis did not mention cosmetic fillers as the cause of her facial paralysis, so her company cannot agree to compensate the woman, because they don’t have a reason to do so.

The woman has filed a lawsuit against the hospital and the matter will be decided in court.