Injecting L'Oreal Serum into your face - why would this happen?

A pattern we see --and wish would go away-- is the self-injection of illegal, inappropriate or unknown materials used to plump lips, butt, or face.

We've read terrible butt augmentation stories, received pleas for help to remove injectable substances and seen requests for advice on self-administering Restylane. This week a site visitor posted the veritable icing on the cake: "I injected a L'oreal skin product into my face".

Why are people self-injecting?

It's hard to explain. Perhaps we're seeing a sign of the down economy, where self-injecting is viewed as a money saver. Greater accessibility is another theory; it's getting easier for contaminated materials to get into the public's hands (with disasterous side effects). This theory has merit:

• A simple Google search led us to dozens of sites offering home injection kits.  One site even sells a product and needles called "MedBotox", an obvious reference to Botox.

• People on Yahoo Answers are helping each other find butt injections.

We'd love your thoughts on the causes as well as suggestions on what can be done to educate consumers.