TY - JOUR

T1 - “A slippery slope”

T2 - a scoping review of the self-injection of unlicensed oils and fillers as body enhancement

AU - Brennan, Rebekah

AU - Overbye, Marie

AU - Van Hout, Marie Claire

AU - McVeigh, James

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Self-injection of a range of oils and fillers for body enhancement dates back to 1899, but due to significant associated harms and fatalities this practice has been largely linked to distinct cultural groups in recent times. This scoping review gathers what is currently known on the self injection of body fillers for aesthetic purposes, using Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) five stage iterative process scoping review methodology. Thematic manual coding then organised the data into themes through identified patterns: indicative profiling of individuals who self inject body fillers; motivation for use across types of oil injection; sourcing routes and documented harms. It was found that the majority of people who inject body fillers are male and do so to grossly increase muscle size. Injection of oils and other materials in the male genitalia was also described, in addition to female self-injection in the breast, hand and leg areas for augmentation. A range of health consequences were reviewed. Recommendations are made for further research into this unique phenomenon, which although is relatively rare warrant future research attention considering the documented increase in DIY facial fillers and contemporary body image culture.

AB - Self-injection of a range of oils and fillers for body enhancement dates back to 1899, but due to significant associated harms and fatalities this practice has been largely linked to distinct cultural groups in recent times. This scoping review gathers what is currently known on the self injection of body fillers for aesthetic purposes, using Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) five stage iterative process scoping review methodology. Thematic manual coding then organised the data into themes through identified patterns: indicative profiling of individuals who self inject body fillers; motivation for use across types of oil injection; sourcing routes and documented harms. It was found that the majority of people who inject body fillers are male and do so to grossly increase muscle size. Injection of oils and other materials in the male genitalia was also described, in addition to female self-injection in the breast, hand and leg areas for augmentation. A range of health consequences were reviewed. Recommendations are made for further research into this unique phenomenon, which although is relatively rare warrant future research attention considering the documented increase in DIY facial fillers and contemporary body image culture.

KW - Body image enhancement

KW - DIY body enhancement

KW - Human enhancement drugs

KW - Negative body image

KW - Self injection of body fillers

U2 - 10.1016/j.peh.2020.100185

DO - 10.1016/j.peh.2020.100185

M3 - Review

AN - SCOPUS:85099535768

VL - 8

JO - Performance Enhancement & Health

JF - Performance Enhancement & Health

SN - 2211-2669

IS - 4

M1 - 100185

ER -