A 63-year-old facial surgery addict with a 'grotesque’ appearance died soon after injecting heated beef fat into her face at home.
Janet Hardt, of Homewood, Illinois, died on Thursday at hospital after injecting the melted beef fat around her mouth and chin.
But she died of a bacterial infection suffered from weakened walls in her colon and the injections did not lead to her death, a coroner said.
Ms Hardt boiled the beef, extracted the fat and injected it into her face.
She had done this several times in the past and had also undergone a number of facial surgeries, the Daily Mail reported Friday.
Her face was ‘grotesque,’ she had scarring from previous injections and she was ‘obsessed’ with self-injections, the paper said.
But her face, which was said to be tight and not very wrinkled, soon felt singed and like it was burning, so she went to hospital, it reported, quoting a WLS-TV footage.
She travelled the three miles to Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, where doctors fought to save her.
But Ms Hardt was pronounced dead at the hospital on Thursday evening, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
She had previously undergone multiple facial surgeries.
‘An incident like this is very rare,’ Jeffrey Kenkel, president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, told MailOnline.
Agony: Ms Hardt injected the hot beef fat into her face at home but went to Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest after she felt burning
He said his organisation hears of people injecting themselves with anything from baby oil to silicone, and many non-FDA approved products.
There is a risk of infection from bacteria and people can injure nerves and blood vessels, as well as suffering bad reactions from their own medical conditions.
‘Patients can obtain products over the internet and there are videos showing you how to inject yourself,’ he warned.
‘They don’t know how to inject the products under the right conditions.’
Requests for comment left with Homewood Police and Advocate South Suburban Hospital by MailOnline were not immediately returned.