Teens warn against giving Kylie Jenner lip challenge a shot
CBC News | Posted: April 23, 2015 10:06 PM | Last Updated: April 23, 2015
Young people in Ottawa say they have learned the hard way that sticking a shot glass or bottle over their lips and then sucking the air out may not be the best way to get a makeover.
Unsurprisingly, doctors also say it's a pretty bad idea.
Dubbed the Kylie Jenner lip challenge on social media, the do-it-yourself vacuum is, in theory, an attempt to get pouty lips like model and reality television star Kylie Jenner.
Yet despite social posts on Instagram and Twitter that mostly catalogue the many failures — and in some cases injuries — as people attempt the challenge, curiosity continues to draw imitators.
One Ottawa teen told CBC News she decided to give it a whirl and immediately regretted the decision.
"They poofed up and then after a few hours they started to get purple — maybe they were bruised. I got marks around them. It was not a good idea," she said.
Her friend also tried it and said there were equally disastrous results.
"I'm really glad I did it at home and I didn't do it in public, or post videos of it, because it's really weird," she said.
Doctors warn on swelling, bruising
Ottawa doctor Jane Liddle is one of many medical practitioners warning against the practice. She said the "lip challenge" not only results in temporary pain and swelling, but can also potentially lead to permanent disfigurement.
"In the process of doing that they can cause significant bruising — it's like beating it up, that's what you're doing. You're causing inflammation there that then makes it swell," said Liddle.
The trend and results were enough to draw the attention of the 17-year-old Jenner herself, who told her 8.4 million followers on Twitter she does not encourage the act of poofing their lips.
She also said she doesn't want people to try to look like her, or feel like her appearance is the way they should look.