Surgeon admitted Brazilian bum lift op that killed Brit mum, 29, was ‘guessing game’ and ‘matter of life and death’
A DOCTOR admitted a £6,500 Brazilian bum lift op that killed a mum-of-three was a "guessing game", an inquest heard today.
Leah Cambridge, from Leeds, West Yorks, collapsed shortly after the op at the Turkish clinic loved by Towie stars, including Lauren Goodger.
An inquest into the 29-year-old's death heard how her partner Scott Franks had travelled to Izmir after she died to meet medics who had carried out the doomed op.
He said surgeon Dr Ali Uckan appeared "nervous and scared" and told him: "It's a matter of life and death when you are doing it."
Scott Franks, who said he still doesn't believe Leah's death is "real", also told the hearing the surgeon said of the operation: "It's a guessing game, you can't see where you are going into."
The inquest heard Leah was keen to have the work, which reshapes the buttocks by transferring fat from areas including the stomach and back, done as she was "paranoid about her body".
FATAL SURGERY
She saved up thousands of pounds and arranged the surgery through a firm named Elite Aftercare, which acts as a go-between linking clients and surgeons.
While she flew to Turkey, Scott stayed at home with the children and began panicking when he read an article online about the dangers of the surgery.
The inquest heard after her tragic death, Elite Aftercare sent him an email wrongly claiming she had died after taking "illicit drugs".
Leah's mum Theresa Hall travelled with her daughter to the clinic on August 26 last year and they handed over £6,500 for the operation.
The mum said she fell asleep but was woken up by a member of staff who dealt the devastating blow there was a "complication" and Leah had passed away.
Sobbing, Theresa said: "One of them put a tablet in my mouth and gave me a drink of water."
Nip and tuck at sea villa
ELITE Aftercare offers cosmetic surgery from a luxury villa outside Izmir with plush double bedrooms and sea views.
Two resident surgeons offer butt lifts, tummy tucks, boob jobs, liposuction, arm lifts, nose jobs and cheek implants.
Patients make appointments at a UK office before travelling to Turkey for the surgery.
The clinic’s website claims: “Elite Aftercare aims to provide a UK standard of care.”
One reality star who had surgery there said last year: “It’s not a dodgy back street clinic.
“I weighed up whether to have my nose job in the UK or over there and chose Turkey.
“They’re constantly checking you’re all OK. They’re not going to discharge you if they don’t think you’re fit to leave the hospital. I was fine.”
The gran said she felt dazed and sleepy after taking the pill and woke up the next day in a hotel room.
A post-mortem examination revealed Leah died from a fat embolism caused by a cosmetic surgical procedure.
The Sun revealed how Leah had suffered three heart attacks during the operation, which is believed to have the highest death rate of all cosmetic surgery procedures.
The controversial Brazilian butt lift, made famous by US reality TV star Kim Kardashian, involves taking fat from the waist or stomach and inserting it in the buttocks.
It takes between one and two hours and involves a tiny cannula being inserted into a 2mm hole to extract fat.
The fat is then purified and re-injected into the buttocks.
THE 'DEADLIEST COSMETIC PROCEDURE' IN THE WORLD
BRAZILIAN bum lifts are the "deadliest cosmetic procedure", a top surgeon has warned.
The controversial op involves taking fat from other areas of the body and injecting it into the glutes and bum to make them bigger.
But, if it's not done correctly, it can cause serious problems, Professor for aesthetic surgery Jim Frame from Anglia Ruskin University warned.
"To be successful, a fat graft needs nutrition and so has to be injected into tissue that has a blood supply," Prof Frame said.
"Fat has more chance of staying in place if it is inserted into muscle – but this is where the risk lies.
"Injecting fat into the buttocks can easily lead to serious problems if done incorrectly. These include a fat embolism, when fat enters the bloodstream and blocks a blood vessel.
"In the lungs, for example, it blocks oxygen from entering the bloodstream, while in the brain it can cause a stroke – both can be fatal."
Cheap overseas clinics are contributing to a rise in deaths from having the procedure, Prof Frame, a senior consultant surgeon at Springfield Hospital, Chelmsford, said.
Last year a survey of 692 surgeons from across the world found 32 patients had died from a condition called a fat embolism - where the injected fat travels to other parts of the body that it shouldn't.
""Most of these deaths appear to have been caused by inappropriately qualified practitioners working in non-approved facilities, including homes and garages," he added.
"Other post-surgery problems, such as gangrene and sepsis, can also be fatal."
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According to Elite Aftercare's website, Towie stars Lauren Goodger and Amber Dowding and Geordie Shore’s Chloe Ferry, have had procedures there.
Former Spurs footballer Jamie O'Hara also had liposuction at the same Izmir clinic last year after piling on the pounds by scoffing junk food on Celebrity Big Brother.
The inquest, which is due to last three days, continues.
