Australian TV star hospitalised after DIY TikTok beauty hack goes wrong: ‘Leave it to the professionals’

‘I literally shoved needles deep into my skin,’ says Big Brother star, warning fans not to follow at-home beauty procedures

Australian Big Brother star Tilly Whitfield, 21, revealed she was hospitalised after trying an at-home TikTok beauty hack that went wrong (Tilly Whitfield)

An Australian reality TV star revealed she had to be treated in hospital and was temporarily blinded in one eye after she tried a TikTok beauty hack that involved putting “needles deep into my skin”.

Tilly Whitfield, a housemate on Australian Big Brother, posted pictures on Instagram of her skin’s reaction to the DIY treatment and explained why she often appeared on the show wearing a blue clay face mask.

The pictures showed the 21-year-old with large red marks across her cheeks and nose. She wrote in the caption: “This is the result of attempting to remove scarring I inflicted on myself trying to replicate an at-home beauty procedure I saw on a TikTok video two months before Big Brother.”

Ms Whitfield said the procedure resulted in an infection and she “ended up in hospital with temporary loss of vision in my eye due to swelling and was very sick… not to mention my face was somewhat unrecognisable”.

Although Ms Whitfield did not detail exactly what the procedure she followed was, she told housemate Melissa McGorman during a recent episode of the show: “I acupunctured my face recently and I’ve got scars all over.”

She adds she “shouldn’t have done it” and that she had “copied a TikTok video and my whole face is scarred”.

In her Instagram post, the TV star added in an edit that the red welts were a result of “deep below surface level scarring and dark pigmentation”. She said she was lucky not to have “keloid scarring” from the at-home treatment.

Keloid scars are large, raised scars that can be pink, red, skin-coloured or darker than the surrounding skin. They can develop from acne spots or a piercing, and can sometimes spread beyond the original area of skin damage.

Ms Whitfield later added in a further edit: “I literally shoved needles deep into my skin this is not a rash lol.”

She offered her experience up as a cautionary tale, warning her fans not to try “any ‘DIY’ or ‘at home’ beauty procedures… Leave it to the professionals”.

Her fans and co-stars left messages of support on the Instagram post, with some offering words of advice.

Housemate Katie Williams said: “Beautiful inside and out Till.” Former Big Brother star Angela Clancy wrote: “You still brighten our screens and we love you for it.”