A horrible skin infection which is a side effect of cosmetic augmentation that included an oil injection.

Here is a scientific explanation of sorts from what I discovered, including a link to the source.......

General Considerations on Soft Tissue Augmentation:

---Subtle diseases and morbidity surround the use of soft tissue augmentation by insertion, implantation or injection of material is associated with risks and frequently results in only temporary volume augmentation. Moreover, the esthetic effects are not stable and alterations of contour and dimension of the correction can deteriorate over time leading to grossly unpleasing results.

Injection of soft tissue with oily substances of any kind is particularly subject to these limitations and has been associated with severe long term sequelae. Even the injection of natural fatty tissue removed from one site and transposed to another in the same individual and without preservation of the complex ultrastructure of the fatty tissue is afflicted with the same problems. The reinjection of material removed through liposuction or excision, homogenized to an oily emulsion, is not suited for treatment of tissue defects. The substance is resorbed or may lead to granulomata with calcification. The technique used for volumes much larger than a fraction of a ml can also entail major hazards.

Injected oily substances can injure a user without suffering gross degradation or the release of toxic debris into the surrounding tissue. The process of injecting small pockets or droplets of oily material triggers a natural body response which causes the foreign substance to become encapsulated. The process is comparatively rapid and is generally associated with inflammatory activity at the interface between the foreign substance and the natural tissue.


Injury Mechanisms:

Adverse effects from injected hydrophobic oils, in particular silicones, have more complex mechanisms that include pharmacological, infective and immunological processes within spaces created by foreign material and the artificially formed tissue membrane. If the oil injected area has a large volume, the problem is magnified by lack of irrigation. The more remote interior of the mass is inaccessible to body fluids. Degeneration of tissue takes place at the core and culminates in necrosis and mineralization. The artificially created composite of oil and connective tissue mimics the behavior of tumors with necrotic cores.

The capsules around foreign substances are not stable. They remodel continuously causing changes in the geometry and volume of the site. Nerves, muscles and vasculature can be affected mechanically. The behavior of such spaces and the products they contain and release are decisive factors that account for problems or complicate existing diseases.

Chronic atypical intracapsular infections with release of microbiological toxins may be primary factors for systemic adverse effects. Microbiological proteins, even from non-viable debris, are active in oil mixtures. Low molecular weight silicone compounds as well as many hydrophobic substances widely used in tissue augmentation were investigated for possible commercial applications as immuno-stimulants. They behave as adjuvants, facilitating reactions to weak immunologically active substances. Many are still used in the production of biologics, in particular vaccines. Classical work on adjuvants was performed by Dow Corning staff in the early-seventies. Many silicone derivatives were investigated and found active. Some of the findings appeared in confidential memoranda circa 1974 by LeVier, Lake, Redonovich, Bennett and other Dow Corning and Dow Chemical specialists. The findings were reconfirmed by several independent workers in the nineties, including Kossovsky.