A mum who died on the operating table while getting a Brazilian butt lift in Turkey says it was 'the biggest mistake of her life'.
Courteney Smith needed to be resuscitated during the BBL – where fat is transferred from the abdomen to the buttocks – and says she has been left with life-long heart problems.
The 25-year-old flew to Turkey in August 2020 after finding a cosmetic surgery company on social media, but says she regretted the op the moment she woke from surgery in excruciating pain.
She says she was then forced to spend days at the clinic's private villa without any doctors on hand to care for her.
The mum-of-two suspected that something hadn't gone to plan when she woke up from surgery two hours later than expected on her back instead of her front, and with an unusual mark on her chest.
On her return to the UK she visited her GP with the chest pain and claims she was told the bruise was from being resuscitated, which she says doctors in Turkey eventually confessed to.
Courteney says she has now been left with heart problems for life as well as other lasting issues from the surgery despite not even getting the result she had hoped for.
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Courteney, from Hertfordshire, said that when she woke up she was laying on her bum, which she knew wasn't right.
She said that she was screaming and crying in pain, which she described as '1,000 times worse than childbirth' as they removed her garment, and said her bum was red raw and looked like it had a skin graft.
"The next day I was lying on my front like you're supposed to after the surgery but I was struggling to breathe and had pain in my chest," she said.
"When I looked at my chest I had a massive lump and bruise.
"I questioned them about why it was there and they basically said it was because of the liposuction but the liposuction should stop underneath your boobs."
The stay-at-home mum says her experience with the Turkish clinic was poor from the start with the promised consultation to discuss her goals for the operation bypassed, with the surgeon instead just marking up her body and saying he would give her 'what all the English girls like'.
"It was literally like as soon as they took the money from me everything changed," she said.
Despite initially being told she had to stay at the clinic's villa for seven nights to recover from the surgery, Courteney left after four nights due to what she perceived to be a 'lack of care'.
After returning to the UK and discovering the worrying reality of what had happened during the op, Courteney claims she underwent numerous tests to assess the damage to her heart.
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She says doctors suspect that she has Brugada Syndrome – a condition that affects the way electrical signals pass through the heart and can cause the heart to beat dangerously fast.
Aside from the problems with her heart, Courteney says she has also been left with painful lumps on her ribs and a 'fold' across her stomach from where too much fat was taken, as well as constant pain in her buttocks.
She claims that the Turkish clinic responded to her numerous concerns by offering a revision surgery, which she has declined due to fears over her health.
"I wish I never did it, it was the biggest mistake of my life," she said.
"I had a healthy heart prior to this surgery but now I wouldn't even go and have a local anaesthetic because I'm worried that if I get put to sleep I won't wake up.
"I would never recommend the surgery to anyone.
"It's too risky knowing you could possibly die to then not even get the results you wanted at the end of it."
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