A beautician altered the fellowship certificate of a GP with the same name in an attempt convince patients she was medically qualified to perform cosmetic procedures.

Yi Liao, 43, known to her patients as Dr Mei, opened a cosmetic practice on Sydney’s north shore in 2016, despite only having training in beauty treatments such as lash extensions.

According to the Health Care Complaints Commission, she offered vaginal rejuvenation treatments as well as botox and hyaluronic acid injections, attracting Chinese Mandarin speaking customers through daily advertisements on messaging platform WeChat.

Her ruse was only uncovered in 2019, when a regular patient developed swelling following facial injections and messaged her to ask what medication she had used.