Belfast woman's warning after Turkish cosmetic surgery ordeal
- Published
Claire, which is not her real name, was left in pain, alone in a hotel room, after a number of procedures
A Belfast woman who had a so called "mummy makeover" in Turkey recently has warned of the risks involved in travelling abroad for cosmetic surgery.
Claire, which is not her real name, was left in pain alone in a hotel room after a number of procedures including a breast augmentation.
She paid just under £5,000 for the augmentation, liposuction and a tummy tuck.
That included flights and two weeks in a hotel.
However, she said she developed necrosis in her breast, which is when body tissue dies, and needed further surgery.
She said the aftercare she received was inadequate and she was left alone in pain in her hotel room.
She was also left with fluid dripping from an open wound in her back.
When she returned to Northern Ireland, she had to get treatment at the Ulster Hospital for open wounds and will need follow up treatment in the future.
She said her advice to anyone considering a similar trip to Turkey was to have procedures done in Northern Ireland.
'Crying out in pain'
Claire said she chose to have the surgery as, after having two children and losing the baby weight, "no amount of going back to the gym was going to tighten these muscles or get rid of the extra skin".
She said she chose Turkey because women she talked to on Facebook groups had successful procedures there.
"I thought it was going to be fine, I thought for two weeks I can sit in a hotel room, I can watch movies and order room service.
"It'll be a two-week break to do nothing - it was a nightmare."
After arriving in Turkey on a Tuesday night, she was due to have the breast augmentation and the liposuction the next day and then the third procedure later.
However after the first surgery, Claire said she "woke violently", her whole body shivering and crying out in pain.
"It felt like my body was on fire, a burning sensation up my back, and I was calling out. The door, a heavy-duty fire door, was closed.
"I called out, but no-one could hear me, I must've been calling out for an hour and a half."
'Fluid running down my leg'
She said she had a burn on her face and two black eyes from a cauterising tool being dropped on it.
"I've been told it's a third-degree skin burn and I'm going to need to get a graft on it."
Claire was in hospital for two days "in so much pain I was asking the doctor, crying, 'can I please stay? I don't feel like I can look after myself', but that her pleas fell on deaf ears.
She said when she got back to her hotel room she couldn't leave because whenever she stood up, fluid from her wound was running down her leg.
"They said it would close itself, by the time I was going home it still hadn't closed," Claire said.
"So the day before I was going home they did a last check on me and the doctor pushed all the fluid down my back, up through my thighs and pushed it all out the hole at the bottom of my back and gave me adult nappies to go home in."
Claire also developed necrosis in her breasts, with one of them "black and weeping".
After feeling that her needs were not being met following the first procedure, Claire said another patient advised her to tip the nurses - so the second time she was in for surgery, she said she gave them money when they attended to her and consequently received more attentive treatment.
Back in Belfast a fortnight later, she now needs treatment for fluid retention, and is still taking painkillers and antibiotics.
Dr Alastair Brown said he has seen at least 20 people in the last year who have needed care after operations abroad
She added: "They say my internal bruising was quite severe, they were so concerned they gave me a chest X-ray to see why it was so dark, firm and hard, but it just showed that I had trauma on my muscles and that there's nothing I can do about it.
"I just have to grin and bear it, treat it with painkillers and let it heal naturally."
Asked if she considered it a botched operation, she said "speak to me in six months time and I'll tell you whether or not it was worth it but right in this moment in time I can't tell you".
However, she added: "I wouldn't do it again, not if you paid me, it was horrendous, it was a nightmare."
'Don't do it on your own'
Claire had this advice for anyone planning to travel abroad for similar procedures: "Save up and do it in your home town, wherever you live, because that way you'll get the aftercare.
"If you're adamant about going to a different country, don't do it on your own, bring somebody with you.
"It's nearly impossible to do it on your own, it's agonising, don't do it."
The surgeon who is now treating her at the Ulster Hospital, Dr Alastair Brown, said he has seen at least 20 people in the last year who have needed care after operations abroad.
"The more severe cases coming to the plastic surgery department range from severe infections, bleeding around the wounds to areas of significant necrosis - very nasty infections need inpatient care," he said
"One patient needed admission to hospital for 26 days and multiple surgeries, and quite often these patients will need multiple surgeries and not just at the time - this can go on for many, many years.
"Something that was meant to make them feel better, they thought was a cheaper option, could actually cost significantly for a long time."
He added: "Complications can happen to anyone even in the best of hands, however the main issue is the aftercare and what you do about it when they happen."