COSMETIC CRISIS
I was rushed to A&E delirious after ‘botched’ BBL casued blood pools inside my body – I was hours from death
It comes just days after the UK recorded its first victim of the risky procedure
A WOMAN almost died after a Brazilian bum lift went horribly wrong and left her with blood poisoning.
Writhing in agony, the unnamed patient was rushed through the A&E queues for emergency treatment.
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“The doctor told me if I hadn’t gotten to the hospital when I had I would be dead," she explained.
It comes just days after the UK recorded its first victim of the risky procedure, more commonly referred to as BBL.
Alice Webb, 33, was having the liquid BBL cosmetic treatment at a studio in Gloucester on Monday evening when it "went wrong" and she died in hospital the following day.
A liquid BBL is when fillers (usually hyaluronic acid, the same put into the face), are injected into the bottom, while a surgical BBL uses liposuction to transfer fat from other parts of the body to the bottom.
Read more on BBLs
Hundreds of British women have undergone the liquid BBL in Britain with disastrous consequences, according to campaign group Save Face.
Reported complications included infection, abscess, necrosis, cellulitis, migration and nodules.
The procedure can also trigger sepsis, a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body's immune system overreacts to an infection or injury.
In this case, the unnamed woman had suffered a major haematoma, which is when blood pools inside the body, six days after the getting filler injected into her bottom.
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The BBL practitioner had allegedly injected one of the patient’s veins, causing a bleed that resulted in sepsis.
“When I arrived at the hospital, I was seriously unwell, delirious and unable to stand or walk," she explained
Surgeon explains why the Brazilian Butt Lift is one of the most dangerous procedures ever
“Surgeons arrived and confirmed I had sepsis and that I’d be going straight down for an emergency if not life-saving, surgery.
“I was taken down to the theatre not knowing what was going on and I woke up three hours later.
“I spent two weeks in hospital, bed-bound and on a lot of medication with a lot of care.
“After two weeks I was allowed home but had daily checks from the district nurses.
“It was like this for the next five months."
The woman said she was "unable to live a normal life" for the next five months, unable to bathe or do any of her regular activities.
“At this point, I would say I was at my lowest mentally - I was embarrassed.”
DISFIGURED
The filler had also seeped into the woman’s leg, which led to another infection and an additional ten days in hospital.
The surgeons were forced to remove all of the filler, which left the patient's bum disfigured and saggy.
What are Brazilian Bum Lifts and why are they so popular?
Buttock enlargement surgery - known as a Brazilian bum-lift (BBL) - is used to make the bum look bigger, rounded and lifted.
Surgeons transfer fat, inject filler or insert silicone-filled implants.
It is the fastest-growing cosmetic procedure but also one of the most dangerous, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS).
Many patients are travelling to the likes of Turkey or seeking out unregistered surgeons in the UK and are not given full information on the risks.
BBLs carry the highest risk of all cosmetic surgeries - with more than one death occurring per 4,000 procedures.
Due to celebrities undergoing such ops, many women are hoping to emulate their looks.
Consultant clinical psychologist Dr Anu Sayal-Bennett, a chartered member of the British Psychological Society, told : "Despite there being so much about body positivity, there are pressures for women - and men too - to look a certain way."
Many people travel abroad for the procedure because it is cheaper and advertising is "terribly seductive", combined with the idea of a beach holiday, added Dr Sayal-Bennett.
Once out of the hospital and desperate to get her body back to normality, the unnamed woman looked for options to get her bum back to its previous shape.
She booked a consultation with , a highly regarded aesthetics practitioner who has his clinic in London.
She said: “I was unbelievably scared but as soon as Dr Ducu and I had a consultation, I felt so much better.
“He reassured me and explained everything in great detail.
“We came up with a plan and he executed each appointment with extreme caution and safety.”
Dr Ducu was able to fix the botched job as part of a ‘DBL’ (Ducu Butt Lift).
The DBL uses filler injections to reshape the buttocks and requires minimal downtime.
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'SHE COULD HAVE DIED'
Dr Ducu said: “She sadly had a bad experience after having hyaluronic acid injected in a non-sterile way.
“Whoever injected her didn’t know how to manage the complications and so she ended up septic in the hospital, and she could have died.
“What I have tried to do for her is fix everything without doing surgery.
“In the right hands, using hyaluronic acid for the buttocks area can be very safe and can give amazing results.
“Also, using an ultrasound minimises the risk as close to zero as possible.
“This procedure should be done by doctors who are very well trained and who have surgical experience.
“They should also know how to use the right amount of local anaesthetic, and be able to assess their patients.”
The patient is thrilled with her results, but she still requires additional surgery to remove the excess skin that has been left under her buttock area.
She said: “I’m extremely happy with how he’s fixed me."
In the past few years at least 28 Brits have died — including seven in Turkey — after complications from surgical BLLs.
A surgery BBL, which costs around £3,500 in Turkey but £10,000 in the UK, carries the highest risk of all cosmetic surgeries with more than one death per 4,000 procedures.
Melissa Kerr, 31, from Gorleston, Norfolk, died in 2019 when a fatal clot travelled to her lungs following a £3,200 procedure at an Istanbul clinic.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Leah Cambridge, 29, also died from a blood clot during a £6,500 surgery in Turkey.
She had fat extracted from the waist and injected into the buttocks but surgeons accidentally struck a vein, causing three heart attacks.
'More must be done to stop rogue injectors'
By Lizzie Parry, Head of Health
IT might sound less invasive, but just because liquid BBLs are ‘non-surgical’ they are no less dangerous.
Any medical procedure comes with risks.
But when those procedures are carried out by any Tom, Dick or Harry with no medical qualification at all, the risks skyrocket.
Campaign-group Save Face has warned of an “alarming increase” in the number of patients complaining of severe complications from liquid BBLs and boob jobs.
The list of nasty complications is long, sepsis, infections and abscesses that require hospital admission and often surgical interventions.
These procedures, often advertised on social media as being ‘risk-free and cheaper alternatives’ to surgery can be lethal.
In every single case of complications reported to Save Face, the ‘practitioner’ had absolutely no healthcare qualifications, not one. It’s terrifying.
These unscrupulous rogue traders, who charge on average around £2,000, are putting people’s lives at risk, while raking in the profits.
Equally as alarming is the fact that most qualified medics say they don’t offer non-surgical BBLs because they are unsafe and come with high risk of complications.
If doctors and nurses aren’t comfortable doing liquid BBLs, it should be reason enough to outlaw them.
Save Face is calling on the Government to crackdown and ban these procedures, warning more people will die if action is not taken.
It’s a crisis waiting to happen, and more must be done to ensure people seeking aesthetic treatments are safe and have access to the best possible care
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