A GP "gasped" when a mum showed her "botched" cosmetic surgery she'd received in Turkey.
Sara Platt paid £14,000 for a tummy tuck, breast implant, and three other procedures in Antalya earlier this year. However the surgery left her fighting for life and losing her right breast after she claims she was "butchered."
The mum-of-four was left with infections after the procedure and after returning to the UK was rushed to hospital. Since then, the 32-year-old has needed eight operations to save her life.
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Sara from Llanharan, Wales, admitted she lied to the Turkish doctor about giving him a positive review as she feared she would not be allowed to fly home if she didn't. She said she now can't now look at her own body and has nightmares.
The mum added: "I have these horrible dreams about getting killed in hospitals, drowned in blood. I haven't been outside in seven weeks. I get triggered by everything. If I can stop one person from going through what I went through that's all I care about."
Sara says her nightmare began when she got a gastric sleeve and lost 12 stone, leaving her with excess skin. She booked a tummy tuck surgery in Turkey to remove it after doing 17 months of researching different surgeons.
However Sara claims the surgeon removed too much of her stomach skin, leaving a gaping wound that needed skin grafts from her legs. She said: "My family have lost me. I could have died. I trusted the medical company and the doctor with this procedure and my life.
"The doctors said the way he cut into my skin was like a jigsaw and didn't allow for blood flow to circulate through the skin. My life is still at risk until the infections are gone and the wounds are closed."
Sara initially woke up from the 13-hour surgery in agony and worried about a lump in the middle of the chest that "looked like a third boob." She was taken in for further corrective surgery when brown liquid had started coming out of her stomach wounds.
She was awake while the surgeon cut away at her stomach flesh which had started to "necroes". He then used a "burning tool" to cauterise the wound.
Sara said: "I was begging him to stop. It felt like I was on fire. I saw him drop the tool on the floor dip it into something and then carry on using it. He told me to just stay still and I was held down by other staff. I passed out from the pain."
Arriving home, Sara went to her GP who knew about her issues with weight. When Sara lifted up her top, her GP gasped.
She was referred to the Morriston Hospital in Swansea for urgent surgery the following morning, but the evening before the stitches in her stomach ripped open. She was found to have been infected with a drug-resistant organism meaning she had to be isolated from the rest of the hospital, unable to see her children for weeks.
She spent another month in hospital and endured eight corrective surgeries. This involved removing most of her breasts, the implants which were too large and using skin grafts to reconstruct her stomach which had too much skin missing.
After Sara started receiving treatment, the Turkish cosmetic agency said in a message to her: "The doctor said that there is no problem caused by the operation, there is no infection, you did not rest after the operation when you should have rested."
However a document from the hospital, signed and stamped by the doctor, stated the surgery "did not go to plan" and would need to be addressed with further surgery in six months. The document admitted there were "circulation issues" and that "fatty tissue had been left on the stomach and back which needed removing: "Not all excess skin and fat was removed during the surgery...
"The back needs to be redone because there is an accumulation of fatty tissue in the middle of the patient's back causing a humpback."
A spokesman for the agency denied Mrs Platt's claims and insisted it was simply a a third party through which she was put in contact with medical staff.
The spokesperson said: "We are saddened to hear that Mrs Platt is holding us responsible for all the issues, but the truth is much different than what she portrays. We get all the necessary and legally mandated documents, approvals, and consent forms from her and enlighten her about all the processes prior to performing any procedures.
"Also, we would like to inform you that we are only the agents in this matter. We are not a hospital or doctor in this matter. Our entity only mediates between the health entity and the patient.
"Therefore, we are a different and independent economic entity than the doctor or the hospital. Our services direct patients to the best-qualified health entities. In this matter, all the necessary information regarding
"Mrs Platt’s operation, including information about the operating doctor, hospital, potential side effects, and cautions she had to take into consideration, is explained to Mrs Platt."
She is now fundraising for her plastic surgery to allow her to move her arms above her shoulders, remove the hunch in her back and reconstruct her breasts which will cost her up to £28,000.
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