Surgeons Warn Cheap 'Bleph' Eyelid Surgery Abroad Is a Great Way to Pay Less and Get More, Like Open Wounds

In news that will surprise absolutely no one who has ever been tempted by a €750 eyelid surgery advertised between dance trends on TikTok, oculoplastic surgeons - the doctors who specialise in the bits around your eyes - say a worrying number of patients are coming home from cheap blepharoplasty with problems. The procedure, which normally costs thousands of pounds in the UK, has surged in popularity as part of the wider aesthetic quest to tighten, smooth and lift the face, and clinics across mainland Europe, Africa and Asia are happily obliging.

Nikita Morgan, 31, from Dublin, wanted more defined eyes but couldn't afford upper eyelid surgery in Ireland, which she was told would cost more than €4,000 (£3,400). Then TikTok introduced her to Dutch company Faceland, offering a "bleph" for €750 (£650). She described its Düsseldorf clinic as "like a conveyor belt, just one in, one out constantly." Faceland says it has performed more than 2,950 bleph procedures on UK patients at its clinics in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland since October 2024, insists it offers "safe and quality" treatments, and notes that "less than 1% of procedures have led to a complaint" - a figure that, helpfully, does not include everyone who needed revision surgery.

Nikita went under the knife in November 2025 and says she did not realise how invasive it would be, assuming it was more like "getting your lips or Botox done." It was not. Despite a local anaesthetic, she says: "I went into shell shock, it was horrible. When she was stitching me I could feel the needle going through my skin." Faceland says all patients have consultations and sign consent forms, and that Nikita's doctor described her as "very anxious and uncertain" during the procedure, "which can influence the perception of pain." Within hours she was on a plane home, despite flying on the same day of surgery being advised against by medical experts and, indeed, by Faceland itself. "If I looked up, my stitches would bleed," she says, "so it was like I was crying blood."

She is far from alone. The BBC has spoken to dozens of people with problems, including one woman who had to tape her eyes shut to sleep because too much eyelid skin had been removed, and another who feared she was losing her sight. Over the past three years, videos about blephs posted by UK social media accounts on four leading platforms were viewed nearly 150 million times - five times more than the previous three years. Many posts report positive results, and plenty of those patients were treated at Faceland. One woman said her droopy eyelids had been restricting her vision and causing headaches; ineligible for NHS treatment and unable to afford private UK care, she says Faceland resolved her issues. The company claims it is changing the market with "affordable, accessible and high quality care," using accredited medical doctors who receive internal Faceland training. UK surgeons note upper eyelid surgery typically takes about three hours including prep, surgery and aftercare; Faceland patients told the BBC they spent less than an hour at the clinics. Faceland says higher treatment volumes help significantly lower costs.

Then there's Laura, not her real name, who eight days after her June procedure at Faceland's Amsterdam clinic made the first of four visits to A&E because her eyelid wounds had reopened. Her stitches - removed back home in the UK, as many patients do after treatment abroad - had been holding together crescent-shaped cuts that came apart, exposing raw, red, infected wounds. UK surgeons say this should hardly ever happen with a properly trained practitioner. Laura, in her early 40s, called Faceland's emergency helpline several times and could not get through. "When I closed my eyes for too long the tension would cause my wounds to open up again," she says. "I was scared to go to sleep and was in constant agony." She offered to fly back for assessment - "I was crying, literally begging: 'You can't leave me like this'" - but Faceland said the best course was local treatment. An NHS eye specialist said "excessive skin" had been removed. Asked how she feels about the NHS footing the bill for fixing her cheap surgery: "I feel guilty... People will think 'it's your own fault', but I would never have gone had I known what could happen." Faceland cannot comment in detail because Laura is pursuing legal action, but an independent complaints committee working with the company offered her €175 (£150) as a goodwill gesture, which she rejected.

A survey for the BBC, answered by 63 members of the British Oculoplastic Surgery Society (Bopss) in the UK and Ireland, found the most common issue after overseas procedures was patients unable to close their eyes properly. "Removing too much skin from the eyelid is dangerous because it leaves the eye exposed to the elements," says consultant oculoplastic surgeon Colin Vize, who sits on the Bopss executive committee. "Correction can be difficult and expensive." He likens eyelids to "a pair of curtains" - open them and there needs to be a pleat, so when you close them there's enough skin to cover the eyeball. Other reported issues include scarring, uneven eyes and wounds opening up, plus complications from unregistered UK practitioners, including blepharoplasties carried out in living rooms.

On Christmas Day 2024, Caryn Harte woke up struggling to see. Days after her bleph at Faceland's Amsterdam clinic, her swollen left eye was weeping blood and the wounds above both eyes had started to open. "I was terrified I was going to lose my sight over a bit of excess skin," she says. She went straight to A&E, seeing no point in calling Faceland because it was too far away. Doctors reassured her she would keep her vision, but her face was badly infected; she was prescribed antibiotics and needed hospital check-ups. The BBC has seen emails showing Caryn contacted Faceland twice and received a short reply 12 days later; a few further emails followed, but she says she has not heard from the company since. Faceland maintains it "did not leave her without support or follow-up during the aftercare process" and says it is sorry if patients felt insufficiently supported or experienced complications.

Limited aftercare is the biggest complaint among the patients the BBC spoke to. "Aftercare for the typical bleph should be available to a patient 24/7," says Vize. "If your surgeon is hundreds of miles away, the ability to provide care with a sense of immediacy is impossible." He warns lower costs may mean lower standards. A week after her surgery, Nikita removed her own stitches, working out how by watching TikTok videos. "It makes you feel weak, like you're pulling something out of your skin," she says. Faceland says patients are advised to consult its doctors about when to remove stitches and are given instructions, and that they can return to a clinic for removal - though no one the BBC spoke to had done that. Patients removing their own stitches is "a recipe for disaster," says Vize, who notes stitches should come out at the hands of a surgeon or nurse to reduce infection risk and the chance of wounds splitting open.

Nikita is mostly happy with her results, aside from a small scar, but wants others to learn from her experience. "If I'd had the money or if I hadn't listened to the spin on TikTok, I probably would have gone somewhere closer to home and not rushed into it," she says. Nearly two years on, Caryn still has issues with her left eye, including blurry vision and scarring. Laura fears she may have scars above both eyes for life. "I tried to fix a problem that didn't really need fixing," she says, "and I've come back with a bigger problem that I need surgery for, and I can't afford that. It's pretty devastating."