NJ Women Get Butt Lifts Gone Bad

NEWARK, N.J. - Six New Jersey women who wanted to plump their rear ends with silicone wound up being injected instead with the same material contractors use to caulk bathtubs, news reports said Monday.

The Newark Star-Ledger reported the women, from the Newark area, checked into area hospitals after apparently unlicensed providers injected them with what was believed to be a diluted version of non-medical grade silicone.

"The same stuff you use to put caulk around the bathtub," Steven M. Marcus, executive and medical director of the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System, told the Star-Ledger.

The paper said investigators have not determined if the six cases, which began to be reported in mid-February, are related. However, health officials issued an alert to state hospitals and doctors about the cases and the potential for more victims.

The New York Post quoted hospital sources as saying the six women were all from the Dominican Republic and the injections occurred in hotels around the Newark area.

New Jersey Health Department epidemiologist Dr. Tina Tan told the NY Post, "What we've been hearing from the hospitals is that these women are presented with deep tissue infections and skin infections. Abscesses form in some cases. "

The Post said officials believe the injected mixture included silicone and petroleum jelly as well as hardware-grade caulk.