What Is a Pumping Party: Deaths, Safety, Dangers, and Side Effects

What is a pumping party? Is it safe or is it dangerous? Why are some people attending pumping parties? Are there any benefits to undergoing this thing? Well, you and I have questions about pumping parties and we’re lucky because Dr. Paul Nassif of the TV show Botched has the answers for us.

Here’s what he says about what pumping parties are during an interview with the Cosmopolitan Magazine:

A pumping party is an underground party where people get injections of black market product, whether it’s some weird filler or non-medical grade silicone or even some type of kitchen oil or food product. Even caulking used for the sink or bathtub sometimes. The men and women doing the procedures are not professionals, and they’re often not physicians, but they’re promising things, saying, “Oh, I know what I’m doing, I can get you a good result.” But there are people in jail who have killed people — not immediately, but as a result of injecting these terrible fillers.

He also tells us that there is no such thing as a safe pumping party:

So it’s not like there are “safe” pumping parties and “underground” pumping parties — if it’s a pumping party, it’s high risk?
Dr. Nassif: Anyone who’s having some type of a pumping party, if there’s even a doctor there at all, you’re not having quality-type physicians. You might have an internal medicine or radiologist doing a filler. If they don’t know facial anatomy, it can cause complications, like blindness. If you’re injecting in the temple or if you’re injecting in the nose, you can destroy all its tissue. You can injure the blood supply to the nose, and you can lose your entire nose — pretty much the skin will die and turn black. The only place that you should have a filler is in a medical office, or maybe a good med spa. I can’t say enough that if you’re getting a filler, you have to do your research, because once you have something put in your body, you’re screwed. I obviously don’t want to use that word, “You’re screwed,” but you’re permanently ruined. You can’t reverse it most of the time. People say, “Oh, it’s no big deal, go get some fillers!” Wrong. Incorrect. Be careful.

I think the misconception with fillers is that they’re less invasive and so they’re safer.
Dr. Nassif: You’ve got to remember that all cosmetic surgery is real surgery, with real risks.

That pumping parties and dangerous and can be deadly is confirmed by recent news reports of pumping party deaths. Some reported casualties include:

Claudia Aderotimi. This 20-year-old British dancer died after silicone and Krazy Glue were injected to her buttocks by Padge Victoria Windslowe.

Justin Street. This 22-year-old security guard died from silicone embolism after Kasia Rivera injected silicone to her p*n*s. The silicone caused a clot on his lungs which led to his death.

Tamara Blaine. This 22-year-old student died following a silicone buttocks injection by Tamira Mobley. The official cause of death? Systemic silicone emboly due to a cosmetic silicone injection of the buttocks.

We’re pretty sure there are more names out there that can be included to the above list.

Now, aside from Dr. Paul Nassif, other medical professionals have voiced warnings on the dangers of pumping parties. Here’s Professor Simon Kay, one of Britain’s leading cosmentic surgeons:

Injecting non-medical grade silicone gel in non-sterile conditions is nothing short of self harm. And at these ‘pumping parties’ I don’t suppose these ‘procedures’ are done by doctors and nurses.

“But there is no safe way to do it. It’s almost certainly dangerous. And if anyone is thinking of doing it, the message couldn’t be any more simple: DON’T.

I can see how people might think if the local beauty salon can inject fillers and they’re not regulated then maybe it’s not so dangerous to inject this. It’s symptomatic of people who conflate the belief that botox and fillers are not harmful.

In fact a number of plastic surgery organisations have called for the regulation of fillers because they can be harmful. They should be regulated and I no longer use them. Although they are safe in general, when they go wrong they go very wrong.

But that’s why the government has a duty to regulate this and send out the message very clearly that injecting things into your body – especially things that aren’t meant to be injected in your body without medical supervision – is very dangerous.

So there! Pumping parties are deadly and dangerous. Don’t go through it!

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