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Ever wish you could have the freckles you weren’t born with?

It seems a lot of people do and videos posted on TikTok show people using needles to create DIY tattoo freckles using henna or black ink. Permanent make-up specialist Sian Dellar explains, “There was a time when people wanted to hide their freckles, but now people really want them and it was Meghan Markle who sparked the demand.” While some may be happy with the results, there’s a lot that can go wrong when you do it yourself and experts are raising safety concerns about the beauty trend.

In the clips, people get dots on their noses and cheeks to get the freckles they’ve always wanted, but what the videos don’t show you are the problems some users experience.

Bottles of black ink, marketed as “DIY Fake Freckles” sell for cheap online, but that’s not a bargain if something goes wrong. Australian reality TV star Tilly Whitfield went viral last year after she tried to DIY fake freckles, but the lead-based ink she used left her with permanent scarring and temporary vision loss in one eye.

 

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Clinics have reportedly seen an increase in the number of women who need expensive tattoo removal/fading treatments after botched jobs that can trigger allergic reactions and risk permanent scarring. Laura Kay, a London-based permanent makeup artist, points out that tattoo artists have to have a license and that DIY tattoos might not just look bad, they “pose a real risk of HIV or hepatitis.”

So if you do want to add a dusting of freckles to your face, find a professional to do the treatment so you don’t end up with an infection, scarring, or lose your vision.

Source: Daily Mail