Warning: This video contains distressing images
An unregulated cosmetic business previously investigated by ITV News is still operating out of residential buildings, as Cree-Summer Haughton reports
When Alysha told me about the moment she saw scissors being brought towards her during a cosmetic surgery, I knew this wasn’t simply another story about a treatment gone wrong.
“I remember just seeing the scissors and then them coming towards me – and that was it,” she told me.
I’ve been investigating the unregulated cosmetic industry in the UK for over three years now but still, when I heard scissors were used to perform a surgical treatment on an intimate area, I was shocked.
The 27-year-old, who is from Wales, said she was left needing reconstructive surgery after undergoing two cosmetic procedures linked to a business I had previously investigated.
In 2024, our undercover reporting exposed Luxury Medical Aesthetics, a company offering one-day liposuction training courses to people with no medical background.
As a result of our expose, it looked as though the operation had shut down.
Online listings showed the business as permanently closed and Companies House records listed it as dissolved.
But while investigating Alysha’s case, I found evidence that procedures linked to the same network may still be continuing – but this time from residential properties.
Alysha told me her experience started the same way many cosmetic journeys do – through social media.
“Everything was really positive,” she said of the reviews for London Medical Aesthetics, which despite the name, still had the same branding as Luxury MA.
After seeing videos and recommendations online, Alysha booked a labiaplasty with them – an intimate cosmetic procedure.
This time the “surgeon” was a woman called Miss Cindy, also known as Luyen Vu or “The Liverpool Lady”.
Miss Cindy appears to have little online presence of her own. Instead, videos of her work appear to spread through reposts, recommendations and word of mouth.
Across TikTok and Instagram, the reviews I saw were overwhelmingly positive. But Alysha says alarm bells went off the moment she arrived at the address in London.
“When I arrived at the postcode there was no salon,” she said. “It was an apartment block.”
When the procedure started, “she cut me with the scissors,” Alysha said. “By the time she had them in her hand and cut me, I was like: ‘what?'”
“She doesn’t draw, she doesn’t measure… she just cuts.”
Despite what she describes as a traumatic experience, Alysha says discounted prices and positive recommendations persuaded her this had been a one-off.
So weeks later, she booked a mini facelift directly with Miss Cindy again, but this time the procedure was in Liverpool.
“That was probably the worst decision I’ve made,” she told me.
The facelift became infected and Alysha said she had to eventually travel to Turkey for reconstructive surgery.
“[The doctor] had to reopen the wound, remove the stitches and clear the infection,” she said.
ITV News could find no record of Miss Cindy/Luyen Vu being registered with the General Medical Council.
We also did not receive a response from both Luyen Vu and Luxury Medical Aesthetics despite multiple requests for comment.
I took our findings to consultant plastic surgeon, Dan Marsh, to see what the likelihood of being medically trained is.
He told me: “Anybody carrying out surgery in a flat, in a non-clinical environment, shows they don’t know what they’re doing,” he told me.
“You shouldn’t be allowed to carry out surgery on a person unless you’re appropriately trained.”
Alysha said she wants others to think carefully before being persuaded by online recommendations and heavily discounted cosmetic procedures.
“There’s a reason these procedures are so cheap,” she said. “Nothing is worth having scars across your face for the rest of your life.”
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