WOMAN GETS SCARS AFTER TREATMENT TO REMOVE FAT
She claims she was tricked into believing the treatment could remove fat from arms
AWOMAN who wanted to remove excess fat on her arms claimed that she fell victim to a beauty treatment scam that was advertised on social media, which left her arms disfigured.
The woman, who wanted to be known as Nanthini, 25, said she sought treatment to remove fat on her arms and came across an Instagram advertisement on coolsculpting treatment, which is a non-surgical beauty procedure where controlled cooling is applied to remove excess fat.
She made an appointment and went to the aesthetic clinic at its branch at the KL Sentral area on Aug 17 last year.
Nanthini said she met the “doctor” there who convinced her to do a mesotherapy (by injection), which cost RM700 per session
She said the doctor told her that the treatment would involve multiple injections into her subcutaneous fat.
“My intention was to do a treatment that did not involve injection, but she had convinced me and guaranteed that it was the most effective method. So I agreed to it,” she said.
A month after her treatment, Nanthini said her arms started swelling, especially her right.
“I contacted the doctor. She prescribed (me a list of) medicines through Whatsapp that I should get from a nearby clinic or pharmacy.
“I went to the clinic and the general practitioner prescribed me a different set of medicine instead.
“After a week, the infection started to worsen and I felt pain on both of my arms,” she said.
She went to the aesthetic clinic on Oct 1 last year where she claimed the doctor removed some of the infected parts without putting her under anaesthesia.
“After three sessions, I could not bear the pain any longer.
“So I went to University Malaya Medical Centre to seek treatment,” she said at the MCA headquarters here yesterday.
She said after making a background check through the Malaysian Medical Council, she discovered that only one of four doctors at the aesthetic clinic was a qualified practitioner.
Nanthini said she thought the aesthetic clinic was genuine as she had heard it being advertised on radio.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said there had been cases involving beauticians claiming to be doctors.
Chong said there had been three similar cases in the past, where victims found out that the beauty treatments that were supposed to be performed by qualified medical practitioners, were actually carried out by beauticians.