A woman has changed completely as a person after she was left ‘butchered’ and fighting for her life due to travelling from the UK to Turkey to undergo cosmetic surgery.
Sara Platt, a 32-year-old from South Wales, spent £14,000 on five procedures through a cosmetic surgery agency, including a tummy tuck and breast implant, which left her right breast necrosing and her stomach with an open, infected wound.
When Sara returned to the UK, after lying about giving the doctor a good review out of fear of not being allowed to return home, she was rushed to hospital as the wounds became infected. She underwent eight lifesaving operations.
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Left unable to look at her own body, suffering from nightmares and unable to move her arms above her shoulders, Sara is fundraising to get surgery which will correct the damage done to her body and sue the Turkish surgeon who operated on her.
She explained: “I’m not the person I was. I was very confident and strong and outgoing. Now I’m terrified of everything. I can’t shower because I can’t face looking at my own body. 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.”
In September 2021, Sara was fitted with a gastric sleeve due to endometriosis treatment causing her to hit 24 stone. After losing 12 stone, Sara was left with excess skin which rubbed and caused boils and blisters.
She spent the next 17 months researching surgeons before booking the tummy tuck surgery in Turkey. Errors in this surgery caused Sara to lose her right breast and 30 per cent of her right breast and left her with a “hunch” on her back from excess fat, she said.
According to her, the wound on her stomach was because the surgeon removed too much skin. This wound was still open two months later and needed skin grafts from her legs.
Sara’s trip to Turkey lasted a month, rather than the planned two weeks, and, upon returning home, was left close to dying having caught a frequently treatment-resistant infection.
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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.”
Upon arrival at the Turkish hospital, Sara was rushed to sign paperwork in Turkish and, regardless of her concerns, was informed that the doctor would do all five procedures in one. The surgery involved a tummy tuck, an arm lift, an back lift, a 360 upper body lift and a breast lift with implants.
For the following nine days, Sara informed the doctor that she was in agony, worried about a lump in the middle of her chest and that she was put in a compression suit which was too tight and small, leaving her struggling to breathe.
By the time the doctor agreed to see her, the brown liquid had begun to appear from the stomach wounds.
The doctor rushed Sara into a clinic room instead of an operating theatre where she lay awake as he cut away at the flesh which had begun to die and cauterise it.
She explained: “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.”
When the wounds became green and oozing puss, she begged to return home where she visited her GP as she was too embarrassed to seek help through the NHS. She was referred to a hospital for urgent surgery but, due to infection, needed to be isolated and was left unable to see her children for weeks.
It took eight corrective surgeries to save Sara’s life which included removing most of her breasts and using skin grafts to reconstruct her stomach.
Sara said: “I haven’t heard from the doctor since I returned to the UK. He shouldn’t have done all those surgeries at once on me.
“The doctor said my right breast was fine when it was black. I’ve since stopped one girl online who was going to go for surgery with him. If I can stop one person from going through what I went through, that’s all I care about.
“It’s changed me completely as a person. I just want to be with my children. I understand the backlash I will get online with this story. I just want to sue the doctor and stop him from doing this to anyone else.”
A message from the Turkish cosmetic agency to Sara stated: “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.”
Conversely, a hospital document which was signed and stamped by the doctor says that the surgery “did not go to plan” and that Sara would need follow up surgery in six months. It also stated: “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.”
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The Turkish cosmetic agency has denied Sara’s claims stating that it was just a third party she went through to contact 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.”
