An unregulated cosmetic practitioner with no known medical training is alleged to have carried out eyelid lifts and facelifts on women in a Manchester house, charging hundreds of pounds for procedures that left some patients with severe scarring and ongoing complications.
Luyen Vu, who advertises her services under the names Miss Cindy and the Bleph Lady, is not listed on any UK medical register. She has been offering blepharoplasty procedures for £850, alongside facelifts costing up to £1,800, according to promotional material.
The procedures were allegedly carried out in a residential property, with patients instructed to park nearby before being collected. Visitors were seen entering at roughly hourly intervals and emerging about an hour later wearing sunglasses, with prominent stitches around their eyes.
Blepharoplasty is a recognised operation to alter drooping or hooded eyelids and reduce eyebags. It involves removing excess skin, muscle or fat, and is offered by reputable hospitals and clinics at prices starting at more than £2,000.
But safety campaigners warn that the growth in cosmetic procedures has created a market for practitioners operating outside normal medical safeguards. They say patients can be left reliant on the NHS for corrective treatment when operations go wrong.
Victims describe lasting damage
Several women who say they were treated by Vu have described scarring, swelling and facial asymmetry. One, using the name Alex, said the aftermath had been traumatic and that both her GP and a maxillofacial surgeon told her she had been assaulted.
“My eyes are so tight, I can’t lift my brows as they are stitched so low and the skin that’s there is ruched,” she said. “I can’t even afford to have anything corrected.”
Another woman, known as Mary, said she paid £1,000 for a facelift in November 2025. She was left with an uneven face, significant scarring and stitches that remained in her skin a year later despite visits to her GP and hospital.
“I’m still swollen, sore and itchy. I’ve got scars front and back on one ear,” she said.
Mary said the operation lasted about an hour and that she had been unable to obtain compensation or further assistance after losing contact with those who arranged the treatment. She added that a friend who underwent a facelift by Vu had been forced to wear a headband to conceal her scars.
Ashton Collins, director of the safe-practice advocacy group Save Face, said it had encountered numerous women who claimed to have been harmed by Vu.
“We have women who can’t close their eyes because [Vu] has taken too much skin away and they have to tape their eyes closed at night in order to sleep,” she said. “You can’t grow that skin back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
Dr Elizabeth Hawkes, a consultant ophthalmic and oculoplastic surgeon, examined images of another patient, known as Rose, who underwent a procedure in October 2024.
Rose said she had been given a so-called Korean blepharoplasty, in which skin is pulled upwards and stitched beneath the eyebrow, despite being white and not expecting a procedure designed for a different facial structure. She later tried to disguise the scar by having it tattooed to resemble part of her eyebrow.
Dr Hawkes said the incision appeared not to have been carefully made or closed and that inadequate scar management could cause the skin to contract, potentially making it difficult for Rose to close her eye.
She warned that infections around the eye following surgery in an unsanitary setting could lead to chronic dry eye and loss of vision.
“Aesthetics is one thing, but when you’re talking about cosmetic surgery it’s a different level because of the risks of complications,” Dr Hawkes said. “It’s not just the experience of the surgeon, it’s also about the environment that the operation is carried out in.”
Calls for tighter regulation
Vu was previously filmed offering eyelid procedures from a flat above a Liverpool restaurant, without apparently taking a medical history or conducting a pre-procedure consultation. After the findings were made public, then health secretary Wes Streeting pledged to address loopholes allowing unsafe and unregulated practice.
However, women told investigators they had undergone procedures by Vu in Manchester since late last year. Her services were promoted through social media by Fleek Aesthetics, a Manchester beauty business run by Cheryl Hogan.
One advert described the “Bleph Sensation” as being back and promised “flawless, natural and confidence restoring” results. Other posts acknowledged that Vu was not a medic but argued that professional titles were not important if a practitioner possessed the necessary skill and knowledge.
Campaigners say Hogan has also been involved in promoting Vu’s work and that some former patients were too frightened to speak publicly. Vu is alleged to move between premises, while continuing to advertise procedures through social media.
Concerns about unregulated cosmetic surgery have prompted calls in Parliament for high-harm procedures to be banned immediately. Sir Bruce Keogh, the former chief medical officer for NHS England, and other members of the Royal College of Surgeons of England have also written to Health Secretary Yvette Cooper, saying that “nothing has changed”.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said the Government owed it to people whose lives had been damaged by botched cosmetic procedures to tackle dangerous practices and act against rogue operators.
He urged anyone considering cosmetic treatment to check a provider’s qualifications and insurance and to avoid procedures that appeared suspiciously cheap.
Vu and Hogan did not respond to repeated requests for comment. When investigators later returned to the Manchester property, a woman who answered the door said she lived there with her family and denied knowing about cosmetic surgery taking place at the address.
