“All she wanted was a big booty.” Seems like a simple request right? However, it also seems like this simple request is continuing to cost many young women their lives. This week in Texas, there was another young victim who lost her life because she allowed two criminals to inject her with black market butt injections. The 34 year-old, professional nurse Wykesha Reid, had become addicted to the “booty injections” according to her 70- year old step mother who had raised her since an infant. Her step mother had even warned her that her butt was getting too large and this was her fourth visit to the massage parlor to receive these injections. They found the body of Wykesha still on the table – the next day at 7:00 am – meaning the two women who implanted these injections didn’t even bother to call the police. Officials believe that Wykesha suffered some sort of medical emergency during the procedure and died.
When women LITERALLY risk their lives and their limbs for bigger “assets”, what does that really say about us as a culture? We all have imperfections and many of us wish there was a fast fix for these qualities. This isn’t an article to protest against plastic surgery or cosmetic enhancements – this is a judgment free blog, so if having a nip or a tuck makes you feel better about yourself, then more power to you. However, this blog will open a conversation that we need to continue to have regarding self-love and issues with our self-images, especially with people of color. At what point does a person put the size of their ass above the safety of their health and their life? At what point to do ignore all of the risks and warning signs, forget to check the backgrounds of the people who will be performing these “surgeries”, and subject yourself and your body to unsanitary and hazardous conditions all because you want to look “right” in those jeans.
If you love yourself, yes you should be happy with your slight imperfections, however we live in a world where Amber Rose gets more attention than Esther Okade. There are MANY females that are getting these procedures, normal everyday women. To those women, we encourage you to not only love yourself, but do what makes you feel good. If having a cosmetic procedure makes you feel good, please take extreme precautions. Here are some tips:
1) Many of these injections are NOT FDA approved. Many of the people performing these procedures are NOT physicians so if something goes wrong, they will not know what to do.
2) The safest butt injections involve using your own fat. (they call this the natural way) – save your money, this costs more, but Doctors say this is the safest option. ANY material other than your own fat can be hazardous to your health.
3) Doctors also claim that a butt implant is safer than injection materials into your system
4) Is the person performing the procedure a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, with a plethora of before and after photos on their resume. If not, don’t trust them!
5) The gels they inject can have serious infectious consequences, see the Essence Magazine picture above of Apryl Michelle Brown who lost all of her limbs because she was injected with “pumpers”
6) They say Spanx and Body Shapers work too #IJS
By the way, the two suspects who killed Wykesha Reid are still at large. Alicia Clarke, formerly Jimmy Joe Clarke (transgender), and Denise Rochelle Ross are still wanted for practicing medicine without a license.
Source: NY Daily News
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