Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Doc in Turkey butchered me
Mum tells of cosmetic surgery ordeal
A Gartcosh mum says her body was left “butchered and mutilated” after a foreign surgeon lured her to Turkey with the promise of free cosmetic procedures.
Lorna Johnston travelled to Istanbul for breast reduction surgery and liposuction.
But the botched boob job resulted in her breasts being bigger than before – and one of them “bursting”.
And the complications didn’t end there as Lorna was left with a painful fatty lump the size of a pear on her right leg after the liposuction also backfired.
The emotional 41-year-old said: “My body was unrecognisable.
“I was in agony and it has taken me months to recover. I’ve been left very badly scarred.”
Lorna decided to share shocking images of her injuries in a bid to warn others of the dangers of heading abroad for cut-price surgery.
The mum-of-three flew to Turkey 17 months ago after being offered the free work in exchange for recommending the clinic to others on her return home.
Lorna explained: “The idea was I’d get free surgery and then come back and refer other people.
“I didn’t want much done. I was a size eight at the time so was just looking for a little lipo to make me look trimmer.
“I also wanted a boob reduction to a C cup, but the surgeon took me from a 34DD to a 34E.
“The lipo also went badly wrong and I was left with unsightly lumps everywhere.
“One was like an extra knee – a pearshaped lump on my upper thigh. It was horrible.”
Lorna met her surgeon before going under the knife. She said: “I spoke with him and I felt confident he would do a good job.
“But when I woke up, the language barrier was difficult and the nurses couldn’t understand what I was saying. There was literally no aftercare. I was only kept there a few days and then sent back to Scotland.
“I developed a really bad infection in my right breast. I had no idea stitches had been left in but by that point three weeks had passed and they had become embedded in my skin.
“My breast split underneath where the incision had been made, right in the middle, and I was covered in sores.
“I was in agony and became really unwell. I went to my GP and was given strong antibiotics.
“I got in touch with the surgeon and clinic on Facebook. They were full of promises to fix things but they never came through with anything.”
Lorna, a director of an estate agents in Glasgow, claims the surgery destroyed her confidence. She said: “I was very self-conscious and felt very, very down about it.
“I couldn’t wear a skirt because my legs looked so bad with all the lumps.”
Lorna’s body was such a mess that she was forced to seek corrective surgery at Cosmedicare in Glasgow last week. It cost her £2200 to fix the botched lipo procedure.
She said: “That was a very big decision for me but it was money well spent. The surgeon, Dr Daniel Widdowson, did a brilliant job and I’m delighted with the results.
“After all I have gone through, I was obviously apprehensive about going under the knife again but, thankfully, it’s all been done properly now.
“I had a litre- and- a- half of fat taken out of the places treated in Turkey and they discovered that congealed fat cells had been left and caused the lumps.
“Now my legs and stomach are smooth and looking much better.”
Consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon Widdowson described Lorna’s ordeal as a “classic case of surgery gone wrong abroad”.
He said: “We have seen so many devastating cases of surgery abroad – when often the patients have spent all of their savings – that we’ve launched an initiative within Cosmedicare that aims to provide affordable repairs to patients who have had bad experiences that are not treatable within the NHS.
“Cosmetic tourism is still a popular choice for people but problems often arise when they return home to no proper aftercare.
Lorna is facing further expensive corrective surgery on her breasts to remove the unsightly scar tissue she has been left with.
She said: “I deeply regret having the work done abroad. When I look at pictures of me before the surgery, I realise I didn’t need it.
“I went to Turkey on the promise of fantastic free surgery but it turned into a complete nightmare and it has cost me thousands of pounds to have their mistakes fixed.
“If anyone is thinking of going under the knife, do it here. Abroad, the hospital you are shown is very nice and clean but in my experience it is the aftercare where it all falls apart.
“Two days after they operate on you, you are packed off home – and it is during that period when you are at most risk of dangerous infection.”