A woman who made the life-changing choice to have surgery in Turkey said the failed operation left her in so much pain that she sometimes wanted to “die.” At one point, she was hospitalized with a psychosis caused by the severity of the disfigurement.
According to a report by ITV channel, Sara Platt, 33, from South Wales, underwent surgery in Turkey in 2021 to reduce the size of her stomach. She lost 12 stone but was left with excess skin, which caused sores and an unpleasant odour as it rubbed together.
Her only option to get rid of the skin was further surgery, but because the operation was not covered by the NHS, she says it would cost around £33,000 to have it done privately in the UK.
Instead, she did her research and found a surgeon in Turkey who had tons of five-star reviews (which Sara now believes are fake). This surgeon was willing to remove the loose skin, perform a breast lift and insert implants, all for £15,000.
In addition to the price of the surgery, Sara was also lured by the promise that she would recover from the gruelling operation under the Turkish sun. However, this was not to be. Instead, she was left in a filthy hotel room due to a botched operation, which left her needing nine corrective operations on the NHS. She was also left with permanent disfigurement, which at one point landed her in hospital.
Sara Platt (pictured) from South Wales has shared her horror story of undergoing plastic surgery abroad in a bid to help others
The 33-year-old paid £15,000 to have loose skin removed, as well as a breast lift and tummy tuck – but then needed a further 10 operations on the NHS to repair the damage
She previously spoke about the surgery, saying: ‘My body is mutilated: I have two holes in my stomach, I have no breasts, I have a hump on my back and I am in constant pain. What happened there has destroyed my life.’
She added: ‘An operation in the UK would cost £33,000, which I couldn’t afford.
‘I found a place that said it would cost £15,000 in Turkey. It wasn’t the cheapest, but the clinic and surgeon had lots of five-star reviews, although I later found out they were almost certainly fake.’
She flew to Turkey in February 2023 for the surgery, but as soon as she woke up after the 13-hour procedure, she realised something was wrong.
She was wearing a compression suit and covered in drains. She said she was in terrible pain and couldn’t breathe because the surgeon had removed so much skin that she “couldn’t expand.” [her] lungs.
Speaking to ITV, she said: ‘I remember coming round and my dad was standing next to me saying, “You’ve got to breathe Sara, you’ve got to breathe”. There were loads of nurses around me and I was thinking, “Kill me, tell them to kill me, Dad, you’ve got to tell them to kill me. I can’t do this, you’ve got to tell them”.’
According to the mother of four, the pain was so severe that she had never experienced anything like it and ‘wanted to die’ because she ‘couldn’t cope’.
Sara was still feeling sick and in tremendous pain nine days after the surgery, at which point she asked her husband to help her remove the bandages, which they did in the hotel bathroom.
One of the consequences of the failed surgery is that Sara (pictured) is left with a scar on her stomach, having had to undergo a skin graft following the original surgery.
What happened next left her shocked: a brown liquid seeped from her body, making her feel like she was “falling apart.”
Sara says she wasn’t recovering by a pool under the Turkish sun, but wasting away in a hotel room.
The surgeon decided to perform another operation on the 33-year-old, but this time the surgery took place in what Sara thought was a beautician’s office. Only local anesthesia was used, meaning Sara was awake while the surgery was performed.
She told ITV that the surgeon was handed a ‘burning instrument’ and she could feel the burning sensation on her stomach. It felt like her skin was on fire. She says it will haunt her forever and ruin her life.
Following this procedure, Sara was given a fit to fly certificate and returned to South Wales where she went to the emergency room.
The attending plastic surgeon, Professor Iain Whitaker, described Sara’s case as ‘devastating’.
He reported that she was suffering from a severe infection and had a lot of dead tissue.
In addition to the scars left behind by the failed surgery, the mother of four also suffered from pain and limited mobility.
The situation was so serious that a delay in care could have created a risk of death, he said.
According to Sara: ‘I also discovered that I had contracted MDRO [multidrug-resistant organisms] of the dirty tools used.’
She spent more than eight weeks in the hospital and underwent nine surgeries in an attempt to repair the damage and save her life.
But despite the best efforts of NHS doctors, she still has holes in her stomach and lumps under her skin where fatty tissue has died.
“The trauma is so great that I have endless nightmares and PTSD,” she said. “I would do anything to turn back the clock.”
Sara lost her right breast and was left with significant scarring all over her body, including a wound on her abdomen from a skin graft. In addition, her work has limited her mobility.
During the ITV broadcast, the presenter followed Sara as she underwent her tenth corrective surgery, which closed the hole in her stomach left by the skin graft, hopefully increasing her mobility and reducing her pain levels.
According to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, it costs the NHS an average of £15,000 per patient to treat complications caused by operations performed abroad.
Professor Whitaker noted that, in addition to the financial cost, these patients also cost the NHS ‘bed days’ that could have been used to treat others.
Sara says she will ‘repay the NHS for saving my life’ and couldn’t be ‘more grateful’ for the care and surgery she received from the service.
In addition to the physical pain caused by the failed work, the realization that she had had a near-death experience and that she would be forever disfigured also had a mental impact on Sara.
At one point she suffered from psychosis and was admitted to a psychiatric ward.
Sara told ITV that the whole process has ‘destroyed’ her, her family and her entire future, leaving her feeling like a ‘shell’ and not herself anymore.
Sara (pictured) says the experience has ruined her life, she is haunted by the aftermath and no longer feels like herself
She shares her story because she wants to warn people about the possible consequences of cosmetic surgery abroad, in the hope that she can help people.
According to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), the number of cases of hospital treatment in the UK following cosmetic surgery abroad has increased by 94 per cent in three years: from 57 in 2020 to 111 in 2022, with 124 cases so far this year. In the past six months alone, more than three-quarters of the procedures have been carried out in Turkey.
The organization began “connecting the dots,” as BAAPS president Marc Pacifico calls it, two years ago when colleagues shared stories of patients who had complications from procedures abroad. “It became clear that these stories were not isolated,” he recalls. He started an online database where those affected could share their experiences.
“One of the basic principles of the best plastic surgery is whether you do the right surgery at the right time on the right person,” he says.
“We heard things like abdominoplasties on morbidly obese, wheelchair-bound diabetics who should never have been candidates for surgery. There were also a lot of absolutely horrible stories about aftercare — or the lack thereof.”
