Warning
HOLIDAY HELL
My daughter and I travelled to Turkey to spend £10k on bargain cosmetic ops – don’t make our mistake
A MUM and daughter are warning others not to get budget plastic surgery in Turkey, after being left “disfigured” and unwell.
Jacqui Wicks, 60, and her daughter Tracy Visagie, 36, decided to go abroad when the costs of tummy tucks were almost half that of the UK.
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But the pair, from Ramsgate, Kent, ended up having their botched surgeries fixed in the UK.
They claim the work they had done was so bad their flesh died, leaving them with permanent scarring and skin grafts.
Asked by ITV’s This Morning presenters on Monday what they would tell others considering surgery abroad, the two said: “Don’t do it.”
Jacqui explained: “Initially my daughter decided she was going to have this ‘mummy makeover’ because she had lost five stone in weight.
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“It was only a few weeks before she went that I thought, ‘If I'm going out there anyway with her, I might as well take advantage and have surgery myself’.
“I felt I needed it. I just needed a confidence boost.”
Tracy, having lost “mummy” weight, booked in for a tummy tuck, breast lift, liposuction and monsplasty - which removes excess and fatty tissue from the pubic area.
She scored a bargain deal of £5,700 in Turkey compared to a quote of £13,000 in the UK.
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Jacqui - who decided to get a tummy tuck seeing as she was accompanying Tracy to Turkey - paid £4,000 for her tummy tuck after being quoted £10,000 in the UK.
The women, who spent almost £10,000 on their surgeries in total, travelled to Turkey on April 1.
Tracy said they hadn’t had a consultation with their surgeon and only met him a few hours before the operations.
They had only consulted with a “third party”, which they assumed was due to a language barrier.
“We were none the wiser," Jacqui said.
Tracy said she first realised something wasn't quite right “when she was being wheeled into her operation”.
She was injected her with general anaesthetic in the hallway of the clinic before she went into the elevator.
As she was taken into the operating theatre, half asleep, she saw her mum being taken out - as the pair described it like a “factory line”.
Tracy said the surgeon decided not to carry out the monsplasty and liposuction while she was on the operating table.
“He'd neglected to do certain surgeries which meant that aesthetically, I didn't get what I wanted, what I paid for,” she said.
Tracy said she had been left with necrosis - dead body tissue - on one of her nipples.
Even though it has now healed, the nipple no longer has feeling in it and Tracy needs corrective surgery.
Tracy said: “The surgeon I saw for corrective surgery here said [the first surgeon] just left the nipple off too long.”
Things were much worse for Jacqui, who was told in the UK that the Turkish surgeon should never have operated on her.
She said: 'I've got a gall bladder scar that goes diagonally across my tummy.
“There was no blood flow - it was compromised - so the flesh died.”
Since returning to the UK, Jacqui has had two corrective operations and also carries a device everywhere she goes.
She said: “I've got a vacuum therapy machine fitted to the wound to help it heal from the inside out and I will need a skin graft once this comes off.
“I'm going to be disfigured, obviously, because the scar isn't a nice thin line like it was supposed to be. That's what I signed up for.”
The pair claimed they did a lot of research into the surgeon, and found his name repeatedly recommended online by customers.
When asked by presenter Josie Gibson if the clinic’s social pages had before and after photos, Jacqui and Tracy claimed the reviews were doctored.
Jacqui said: “[People] are forced to take down bad reviews. People are bullied, threatened, and paid to take them down.
“We know that because we’ve spoken to people that have had to do that, because they feared.”
The NHS advises people who are looking to travel abroad for surgery to have a consultation with the surgeon beforehand, find out what qualifications they have and how long they have been practising.
It says you should have two consulations before surgery, which includes looking at altnerative procedures and any risks.
The NHS says to plan for things going wrong, such as how to get home in an emergency, and be cautious of holiday package deals that include cosmetic surgery.
Cosmetic surgeon Dr Veerle Rotsaert said she is hearing stories like this more and more.
She said in hindsight, there were “so many red flags” in Jacqui and Tracy's stories, including that they never even met their surgeon for a face-to-face surgeon.
Jacqui’s gallbladder scar would compromise the blood supply to the skin, she said.
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Dr Rotsaert said Jaqui and Tracy were given a fit-to-fly certificate nine days after the operation, allowing them to fly home.
She explained: “You cannot fly because you are at severe risk of deep vein thrombosis, blood clots and pulmonary embolism.”oh h
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