Kerry Katona
Kerry Katona talks about 'vampire facelift' trauma/Reuters Reuters

Pop star Kerry Katona has revealed details of the after-effects of the controversial "vampire" blood facial, which left her face swollen and bruised. The expensive beauty treatment costs about £500 per session and boasts a long list of celebrity followers, including Angelina Jolie, Kim Kardashian and Anna Friel.

This controversial facelift, popular in the US, involves taking blood out of your body and re-injecting it into your face. The theory is that Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) in your blood contains molecules that stimulate collagen production in the skin, thus acting as anti-aging agents.

The ReVamp clinic's Web site has a post on the medical aspects of this procedure, which insists it is a 100% natural procedure. An excerpt from that post reads:

"Research and clinical data show PRP obtained from the patients own blood is safe, with very minimal risk of adverse reactions or complications. As a result of the platelets being produced from your own blood, there is no risk of rejection or disease transmission."

Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian after her vampire facelift/INSTAGRAM/KIM KARDASHIAN Instagram/Kim Kardashian

The 32-year-old mother of four children visited the ReVamp Clinic, in Newcastle, where she was told she "might have a tiny bit of swelling and bruising" and that it "would go down by the evening".

"I couldn't see what harm there would be in putting my own blood back into me. But later that day I looked like the Elephant Man," she explained.

"I have never been so scared in my life. I tried to stay calm but I could just feel my face swelling up. I kept saying to myself that it would go down but my cheeks were getting bigger, they looked like hamster cheeks," Katona added.

She also revealed the swelling scared her boyfriend, George Kay, and made him cry, after the couple realised the swelling, instead of going down, was becoming worse every day.

Katona claims she finally went to her doctor, who contacted a specialist in France. She was prescribed antibiotics and steroids.

"My doctor said that within about six hours it would go down and I was praying it would work, and thankfully it did," she concluded.

Meanwhile, according to the Mirror, the ReVamp Clinic is negotiations over a five-figure compensation fee. In addition, James Wilde, a director, also said he would change the consent forms to reflect a five-day period of possible "extreme" after-effects.