I’m suing for £6,000 after horror nose job from my DENTIST left me with a rotting face
A BEAUTICIAN was left with a rotting face and after cosmetic surgery done by a dentist.
Elielma Carvalho Braga, 37, paid for an op to reduce the size of her nostrils, but now is badly scarred with part of her nose missing.
Elielma said everything seemed fine immediately after the surgery in Aparecida de Goiania, Brazil, in June 2020.
But days later she suffered agonising burning pain and blisters and went to hospital.
Doctors said she had necrosis - irreversible death of body tissue.
Surgeons had to cut out the rotting flesh, leaving part of her nose missing.
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And after 13 further operations - including skin grafts and inserting cartilage from her ear - she still cannot breathe normally.
It has destroyed her self-esteem and stopped her from returning to work as a beautician as people stare at her and ask what happened.
Elielma : “Today, practically everyone doesn't wear a mask, but I need to.
“When I look in the mirror it's scary.
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“I can only breathe with a dilator, because the nostril closes on the left side. Even my speech is breathy.
“I can no longer work as a beautician because of the trauma.”
And she : “I'm embarrassed, because we do something to improve ourselves a bit and then the person does this.
“He's destroyed my self-esteem. I often cry. What I'm living through isn't easy.”
Elielma is suing dentist Igor Leonardo Nascimento for damages totalling £6,000.
He denies negligence or malpractice, insisting it was not his fault.
He told Globo it was not the procedure itself - called alarplasty - that caused necrosis.
Instead he claimed the patient suffered Nicolau Syndrome, a rare reaction to drugs being injected under the skin.
He also insisted he gave her all necessary care when she developed complications.
The dentist said: "I was very sensitive to her problem. I paid for her medication and subsequent treatment with other colleagues.
"I never left her financially helpless and have closely followed her necrosis treatment.
"Unfortunately, we professionals in the area are subject to complications that are not of our will."
'Banned op'
Elielma found Dr Nascimento's adverts after researching nostril reduction online.
The procedure involves cutting the nasal wings that make up the outsides of the nostrils and closing them with stitches.
In Brazil, dentists are allowed to carry out some minor facial surgery but not alarplasty or other types of nose jobs.
In August 2020 - two months after Elielma's op - the Federal Council of Dentistry explicitly banned dentists from doing alarplasty.
But it was never on the list of permitted procedures, Globo reports.
Meanwhile the Regional Council of Medicine of Goiás said the procedure is a medical act and therefore "should be performed only by doctors".
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Yesterday it emerged police are investigating the case as "culpable bodily injury" after Elielma filed a complaint.
She and the dentist were summoned to appear at a police station today.