‘Within six hours I had severe swelling, gridmarks and blisters stamped all over my nasolabial fold,’ Michelle Wight, 39, tells Metro.co.uk.
The makeup artist, based in Seattle, Washington, USA, went for a Morpheus8 treatment in March 2023, specifically choosing a medical spa she had ‘known and trusted for two years prior’. But what she thought would be a simple, risk-free procedure ended up in ‘extreme pain’, and Michelle was left feeling ‘deformed’ for months afterwards. Morpheus8, which combines microneedling with radiofrequency to stimulate collagen production and tighten the skin, is offered by over 200 practitioners throughout the UK and thousands more in the US and beyond.
It’s the best-known among a handful of similar machines using similar technology, each with ‘a difference in how many needles a particular handpiece may have, how deep those needles can go, how adjustable those needles are, even how thick those needles are,’ says to Dr Tapan Patel , medical director of PHI Clinic. Celebrity fans include Victoria Beckham and Kim Kardashian , with the latter hailing Morpheus8 specifically as a ‘ game-changer ’ for her beauty routine. Despite being billed by manufacturers as ‘safe and effective’, though, some recent accounts leave this open to question.
Made In Chelsea star Melissa Tattam said she was left with ‘scarring all over [her] face’ after undergoing the treatment (priced from around £500 per session) in 2023, while one Faceboo.