A young woman in Scotland was left with third-degree burns on her face after suffering a dangerous reaction to a botched teeth whitening treatment.
18-year-old Abbie Kilbride, from Renfrewshire, woke up feeling like “her gums were about to rip apart” just one day after having her teeth professionally whitened.
In a shocking Facebook post, which has since been shared more than 7,700 times, Kilbride warns others not to make the same mistake she did:
I had wanted to get my teeth whitened as I have recently got my braces out and I noticed a couple of people on my facebook using a woman that is quite local to me so I booked in and went on Thursday night , she done it from home which I never thought anything of as maybe it was just a part time job when she had spare time ( I'm not going to post her name or anything as I don't see the reason for it ).
I sat there for just over 1hour and every 10-15 minutes she would top up the gel on my teeth. No questions were asked like my age , have I had my teeth whitened before , any allergies or patch test.
Even though her mouth felt completely numb and her lips were clearly swollen, Kilbride was told that her reaction was completely normal; the woman even said she could wear lipstick if she wanted.
After icing her mouth and taking an antihistamine, Kilbride went into bed thinking she’d wake up with nothing more than a beautiful smile—but she was oh so wrong.
“I woke up the next morning and my two lips were literally stuck together and the whole right side of my lip was huge as if I had been in the boxing ring,” she wrote.
Two different doctors continued to prescribe Kilbride an antihistamine and she was told to take an oral gel to treat the painful blisters all over the inside of her mouth, but she was still in complete agony:
The next morning I woke up , still the same pain but the swelling on my lips had went down slightly but instead of having lots of small blisters inside my mouth I had 2 huge ones ( one at the top and one at the bottom ) which were a yellow colour , I couldn't open my mouth to speak / eat as it felt like my gums were about to rip apart.
Because of the pain, Kilbride has barely been able to eat or drink since she had her teeth whitened last week.
After everything she’s gone through this week, she’s urging others not to cut corners when it comes to cosmetic treatments, even if it seems like something as painless as teeth whitening.
“The moral of the story is - DO NOT just go to anyone to get your teeth whitened I was completely unaware that only a dentist can you this treatment so if your booked in anywhere other than a dentist / dental nurse please please stay away!” she wrote.
