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When you're doing your beauty routine, you expect it to be… well, routine. An at-home skin-care and self-care regimen is typically a low-risk experience, designed to help you look and feel good. You don't expect a simple tool to downright betray you, but that's exactly what happened to Bethenny Frankel in a scary moment she caught on camera and shared on social media.
Frankel posted three videos to TikTok and Instagram late Thursday night, the third of which shows the entire frightening incident. (Trigger warning: In the videos below, blood is visible.) She starts off recording herself trying the Nurse Jamie Uplift-N-Glow Cups, a facial cupping set made of silicone and glass that claims to promote “circulation and lymphatic drainage, enhancing your natural glow and contour,” according to the brand.
“I saw this, and it made me so excited because I grind my teeth. And it just felt like it was gonna be a relief, and it is supposed to be for contouring. Could that be true? It makes sense to me,” Frankel says as she starts to drag the tool along her lower face. But soon, she realizes something has gone horribly wrong. “Oh, wait, did I just, like—wait, I'm bleeding. What the fuck? Oh, my god. What is this?”
It's revealed that the glass suction tip somehow broke, and she didn't realize she was slicing her face with it until it was too late.
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In the first two videos Frankel posted, the injury has already occurred—what appears to be bleeding gashes on her face—and she's understandably worried. “You guys, oh my god. I'm actually freaking out … I'm fine," she says, before questioning if she might not be. “I just used this thing that I saw online for contouring your face, and I looked at my face, and it was bleeding. Because it's glass, and I guess the suction cut my face.”
“Please don't believe every person who promotes something," she says in one of the videos. "This is super scary. I was going to go down my neck, and I could have, like, sliced my jugular. I'm freaking out.”
Allure reached out to Nurse Jamie, and heard back early Friday evening. “Customer safety is extremely important to us, and we’re currently looking into what may have happened,” a brand representative tells Allure. “Our tools are made with high-quality borosilicate glass and undergo quality checks before distribution.”
Frankel also asks viewers if she should use Neosporin, adding, “What exactly do I do to get this, like, to close up right now?”
The answer to whether or not she should use Neosporin was met by a lot of commenters with a resounding no—and dermatologists agree. “The most important first step is to gently clean the wound,” says board-certified dermatologist Jenna Queller, MD, founder of DermWorks in Boca Raton, Florida. “Wash the area with mild soap and water to remove any debris and reduce the risk of infection. Keep the wound moist rather than letting it dry out. Apply a thin layer of plain petroleum jelly or a healing ointment and cover it with a clean bandage if possible." And of course, if the cut is deeper, you should absolutely seek medical care beyond first aid.
To prevent scarring, sunscreen is key. “Once the skin begins healing, strict sun protection is essential,” Dr. Queller says. “UV exposure can darken healing skin and increase the chance of a permanent mark.”
But let's back up a bit. Is facial cupping even worth this potential problem?
“Facial cupping is essentially a gentle suction technique that’s meant to temporarily increase blood flow and lymphatic drainage in the skin,” Dr. Queller says. Although you may notice a short-term reduction in puffiness, she adds, there isn’t strong scientific evidence supporting any lasting contouring benefits.
It's also not without its risks, as Frankel unfortunately learned first-hand. There's the possibility of broken capillaries, irritation—or worse. “Many facial cupping tools are made from glass, and if they break or chip during use, that can easily lead to cuts or lacerations on the face,” Dr. Queller says. “The face has extremely delicate skin and a dense network of blood vessels, so aggressive suction or broken tools can lead to bruising, cuts, or long-term capillary damage.”
As Frankel warned, it's easy to see someone using a product on TikTok or Instagram and feel influenced. But it's important to do thorough research on not only the quality of the product, but also how to use it to reduce the possibility of something going wrong. “Social media often makes these techniques look quick and easy," Dr. Queller says. "But many at-home facial tools still carry risks when used improperly.”
