Hi Alice, I recently went for a consultation re cheek fillers at the Cosmetic Skin Clinic. I had a lot of research beforehand but was surprised to learn that blindness is a rare but possible complication. Please could you advise if there are stats on this

Good question. They are absolutely correct in telling you that blindness is a potential, though extremely rare, complication from injectable fillers. This can happen if filler is injected into a blood vessel and travels up through the face to block the optic nerve. It is good to know that they are advising you about all potential complications, however rare, because often popular treatments like filler are done very casually as if they were beauty treatments, when they are medical cosmetic procedures. Precise stats are hard to come by. Because of the lack of regulation around injectable fillers, anyone can perform the treatment and there is no compulsion for them to register complications though complications as bad as potential blindness are usually referred to top practitioners in the hope that they can sort them out.