Flesh-Eating Bug Ate Woman’s Stomach After Cut-Price Tummy Tuck Went Horribly Wrong
Although cosmetic surgery can do wonders for a person’s confidence, there’s also plenty of horror stories out there thanks to dodgy surgeons and cut-price procedures.
A recent example is 29-year-old Leah Cambridge from Leeds, UK, who died on the operating table at the Elite Aftercare cosmetic surgery clinic in Izmir, Turkey. The mom-of-three had undergone a Brazillian butt lift – where fat is taken from the waist and injected into the buttocks – but died after fat entered her blood stream.
But sadly, Leah was far from the only one. Other awful side effects caused by cheap surgeries in unregulated clinics include a woman being left with one eye bigger than the other after a botched surgery for eye bags, and another who temporarily died on the operating table, but only found out she returned to her native country and doctors realised her lungs had collapsed.
Now Laura Franks, from Atlanta, Georgia, is sharing her plastic surgery nightmare, in the hope that others won’t make the same mistake she did. The mom-of-two travelled to Colombia for a bargain body makeover in February, which included a tummy tuck, liposuction, and a Brazillian butt lift at the low cost of $5000.
Source: PALaura was self-consious of her saggy skin after dropping from 22st to 15st from a gastric bypass in 2013, describing her shrinking stomach as “an empty bag.” But rather than being left with her dream body after surgery, the 36-year-old was ravaged by a flesh-eating bug.
“I was convinced I’d be going home in a body bag,” she said.
After healthy eating and exercise had no effect on her loose skin, event planner Laura decided surgery was the only way to get her confidence back after her seven stone weight loss.
“I worked really hard to try and tone up but, while the muscles underneath were getting stronger, the skin stayed put,” she explained.
“It was difficult to have lost all that weight, then be dealing with another body confidence issue. I looked like an empty bag, and whatever I tried, the skin wouldn’t tone up.”
Source: PALaura spent a year thoroughly researching her options and reading reviews and testimonials from former patients online, but when she arrived at the clinic in Colombia, her nerves went into overdrive.
“I looked around and things just didn’t seem right. There were plastic patio chairs in the room and personal items, like the staff’s bags.
“Panic was setting in when I felt the prick of a needle, as the anaesthetic was administered.
“People say to me now, ‘Why did you go ahead? Why didn’t you say something?’ They don’t understand is how quickly this all happened. I had literally minutes to take it all in and was out cold before I could tell them to hold on.
Source: PA“I actually remember waking during the surgery and feeling intense pain. I tried to shout out, but I was so sedated that I’ve no idea if I was making any noise. It was horrendous.”
Despite the unpleasant experience, Laura’s recovery initially seemed to be going well. However, when her bandages were removed five days later, a large red blotch across her stomach was revealed.
Staff told a concerned Laura that her body “just needed to oxygenate,” and she was sent for hourly sessions in a hyperbaric chamber – where patients inhale 100% oxygen in the hopes of speeding up the healing process. But as the days wore on her health declined, until the skin on her stomach started to blister and die.
Laura was then forced to undergo debridement surgery, where dead and damaged tissue is removed, and fitted with a wound vac to protect the area and to help it to heal faster. But still, she continued to deteriorate.
Source: PA“I literally felt like I was dying. When I got no better, I was transferred to another hospital, where they immediately put me in isolation,” she said.
It took another three surgeries to fully remove the dying flesh and stop the infection from spreading further. A month later, Laura was finally allowed to fly home to the States, as long as she was immediately transferred to another hospital.
Fortunately, her family arranged a team of surgeons for her arrival in Denver, Colorado, who grafted skin from her legs onto her stomach. While tests showed that Laura had caught three different types of bacteria during her stay in Colombia – including two never before seen in the US – which doctors believe came from contaminated equipment.
To make matters worse, the bacteria was drug-resistant, and for a while, her odds of survival weren’t good. Thankfully, a specialist drug was flown in for Laura through the Centre for Disease Control, saving her life.
Source: PASource: PA“I called it my unicorn juice,” she said.
“It thankfully worked, and my insurer picked up a lot of the costs. But, as it was so expensive and I needed a large dose, I have been left with considerable medical bills of around $10,000 (£7,571) myself,” she explained, and has since set up a Go Fund Me page to help cover the costs.
“I never saw anything worrying when I did extensive research. I know now that it wasn’t an informed decision – I was simply seeing what somebody else wanted me to see.
Source: PA“When this happened to me, I hadn’t even told my family what I was doing. They thought I was just on a vacation, so when everything went wrong I had to make a very difficult call home, telling my parents it may be the last time I ever spoke to them.
“I am incredibly thankful to be alive, and I really want to encourage others to love themselves as they are. I’ve learned the hard way that surgery won’t change the way you, or anybody else, looks at you. It’s just not worth it.”
You Might Also Like:
Lil’ Kim Unrecognizable At Hot 97 Event [Twitter Reacts]
Renee Zellweger Photos Shock The Internet