Jessica (42)

Chino, CAlifornia

At Home Med-Spa Guru

The pandemic was a catalyst for many Americans to learn a new hobby: homemade bread, foreign languages, gardening, knitting...but for Jessica, it was at home DIY skincare treatments that are usually done by licensed doctors and nurses at medical spas. Yes, that’s right Jessica taught herself a litany of at home treatments injecting herself with a myriad of non-American products such as botox and lip filler, micro-needling, microderm abrasion. You name it she’s done it. And she’s all self-taught and unlicensed. No, she’s not a doctor or a nurse nor does she have a medical background. She buys products from international manufactures that are not FDA approved, but approved in their respective countries and does the various procedures on herself in the comfort of her own home.

With no prior training, Jessica turned her passion of at-home injectables into a business for herself - sharing new products and methods with her followers online as a DIY beauty blogger. Not only does this fuel Jessica to push the limits of at home DIY skincare she’s also directly or indirectly dispensing potential risky elective medical-beauty advice with the public.

As if doing one’s own injections wasn’t enough, the frequency is also alarming. Jessica does some type oftreatment on herself every day without fail. From botox, fillers, microneedling, peels, fat dissolving, threads, fibroblasting, and more. Jessica uses Korean-approved skincare instead of FDA-regulated skincare, which is legal in America for individual use and offers her a more varied range of products, including salmon PDRN (which comes from salmon sperm), ethically sourced placenta, and other types of strange and unusual skincare products that are uncommon in America. She allows herself to make mistakes, for example adding too much cheek filler, because she has all the necessary products to dissolvethat filler if needed without the additional cost of going back to an office, quite literally playing and shaping her own face. Sometimes the mistakes are more consequential, though, from heavy bruising, to swelling that prevents Jessica from driving because she can’t see, to medical concerns like when she gave herself a vascular occlusion on her hand from filler.

Not only is she in control of her look she is saving a ton of money by doing it herself. Injecting herself at home is significantly less expensive than going to a doctor’s office, which frees up money to purchase designer handbags, shoes and apparel. It’s all about feeding her need for beauty.

Naturally Jessica has her critics, but her rebuttal is always her education and knowledge surrounding what she is doing. She is always well researched and is therefore, according to her, 100% safe. Not everyone inher life is entirely convinced. Her best friend Sadie, for example, doesn’t feel comfortable condoning Jessica’s habits (including her online presence) because she fears that even if it hasn’t become dangerous yet, it will someday. The longer one plays with fire the more likely they are to get burned. Of course it’s nearly impossible for Sadie to comment her concern without risking a fight or risking their friendship.

Jessica’s fiancé, Thomas, loves the way she looks - but is worried about the frequency and dependence on the procedures. He pleads with her to slow down to a once-weekly habit as he believes that she’s perfect the way she is. Every time Thomas makes a comment about her looks or face in hopes that will quell the need to keep going it seems to backfire on him. She responds with changing her look on him, opting for a thinner lip or a different shaped eye-brow. It’s always shifting and changing without an end in sight.

Thomas and Jessica are planning to get married later this year, and they have three weddings to plan for. First on a cruise ship, then with a big family-and-friend-filled-ceremony, and finally in Paris in front of the Eiffel Tower. Of course Jessica is in pursuit of the perfect bridal look, and is trying new things in preparation of the weddings with her injectables. Thomas hopes not only that Jessica isn’t covered in bruises for each of the big days, but that she doesn’t finally take the injectables one step too far and go overboard...