Felmont Eaves III, president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, said it's highly unlikely that they were.
"No physician that cared about being safe and providing care would do a procedure in a hotel room," he said. "That is just a huge red flag."
The victim, identified by a source last night as Claudia Adusei, traveled to America Saturday with three friends from England, all of whom are in their early 20s, Walker said.
Adusei and one of her friends received injections. The surviving woman, who has been medically cleared, received hip and buttocks injections. The victim received only injections to her buttocks, according to police.
It's unclear when the injections were administered, but about 1:30 a.m. yesterday medics were summoned to the hotel after Adusei experienced chest pains and had trouble breathing, Walker said.
She was taken to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, in Darby, where she was pronounced dead. As of last night, the Delaware County Medical Examiner's Office had not released an official cause of death.
It also will be up to the Medical Examiner's Office to determine what Adusei was injected with, police said. That will most likely be determined by toxicology reports, which can take up to eight weeks.
Buttock enhancement procedures typically involve silicone injections, but Eaves, who is based in Charlotte, N.C, said he's heard horror stories in which unlicensed people have used caulk. He said the most likely cause of death would be if the injected substance got in to the bloodstream and traveled to the heart or lungs.
Walker said it's unknown how big of an industry underground body enhancements is in Philadelphia.
"It's the first one we've had; we're looking into it with other agencies . . . to determine how big this problem actually is," he said.
A message board on an online forum is full of people who are seeking to get enhancements in Philadelphia or who claim to have done so.
"I'm so happy I finally got mine done Friday in philly," wrote Beautiful 2010 in a forum on Sept. 29. "I'm so happy with my results going back for more soon can't wait."
While the British tourist's death here may be the first authorities can recall, deaths have occurred across the world from bad buttocks enhancements. The most notable was a former Miss Argentina, Solange Magnano, who died of complications from a procedure in Buenos Aires in 2009.
In January, a Bronx woman who was not licensed was charged with illegally injecting liquid silicone in women's breasts and buttocks in her home.
"It's just sad people get preyed upon," Eaves said. "Because done in the right way, the risk is incredibly small."
He said there is no way of knowing just how many of these illegal and highly dangerous procedures go on in this country.
"Sadly enough, we only hear about this when a tragedy like this happens," he said.
