These two women have spent ten years with bloated faces - after botched plastic surgery left them permanently disfigured.

Best friends Alvinia Bermoy Bernadez, 28, and Maui Cababao, 30, visited a back-street beautician who promised them fuller features.

The woman told them they would be ''beautiful'' and injected their cheeks and chins with petroleum jelly at the clinic in Cabadbaran City, Philippines, in 2008.

But within three months the pair were suffering with constant itching, swelling and soreness - with doctors powerless to help.

The pair have had several operations but are still suffering from the effects - with potential lovers shunning them and cruel bullies branding them ''gargoyles'' and ''bulldogs''.

Speaking from her home in the remote region of the southern Philippines, Alvinia said they are desperate to have the procedure reversed and live normal lives after being left suicidal by the cruel taunts.

She said: ''Ten years ago, here in our place, there was another girl who went here. She encouraged us to get injected, too. Because we are from the rural province, we were inexperienced, we did not know better.

''We did not know at first what the substance was that was injected into us. She just promised that we would become more beautiful like her.''

Maui said that after three months their faces became ''totally bloated'' and painful.

She added: ''That's when we noticed the negative effects. My face started to get irritated and was burning with itchiness.''