A woman who made the life-changing choice to have surgery in Turkey has revealed how the botched operation has left her in so much pain, at times she has wanted ‘to die’ and at one point was hospitalised with psychosis caused by the realisation of the extent of the disfigurement.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?
According to a report by ITV, Sara Platt, 33, from South Wales, had an operation in 2021 in Turkey to reduce the size of her stomach. She went on to lose 12 stone, but was left with excess skin, causing sores and an unpleasant smell, as it rubbed together.
Her only option to get rid of the skin was further surgery, but as she was not able to have the operation on the NHS, she says getting it done privately would cost around £33,000 in the UK.
Instead, she researched, and found a surgeon in Turkey, who had numerous five-star reviews (which Sara now believes are fake) who would perform the loose skin removal as well as a breast uplift and implants, all for £15,000.
HOW SARA WAS DECEIVED
In addition to the price of the op, Sara was lured in by the promise that she’d be able to recover from the extensive work under the Turkish sun – however, this was not the case, and instead, she was left to rot in a dingy hotel room because of botched surgery, which has led to her requiring nine corrective surgeries on the NHS, as well as permanent disfigurement that at one point left her hospitalised.
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT
Previously speaking about the surgery, she said: ‘My body is mutilated: I’ve got two holes in my stomach, I’ve got no boobs, I’ve got a hump on my back and I’m in constant pain. What happened over there has ruined my life.’
She added: ‘Surgery in the UK would be £33,000, which was beyond my means.
‘I found a place where it would cost £15,000 in Turkey. It wasn’t the cheapest, but the clinic and the surgeon had plenty of five-star reviews although I have since found out they were almost certainly fake.’
She flew to Turkey for the operation in February 2023, but realised as soon as she woke up from the 13-hour procedure that something was wrong.
Dressed in a compression suit and covered in drains, she has said she was in horrific pain, and couldn’t breathe as the surgeon had taken so much skin that she ‘couldn’t expand [her] lungs.
‘YOU NEED TO BREATHE, SARA’
Speaking to ITV, she said: ‘I remember coming round and my Dad being by the side of me and saying, “you need to breathe Sara, you need to breathe”. There were loads of nurses around me and I was like “kill me, tell them to kill me, Dad, you need to tell them to kill me. I can’t do this, you need to tell them”.’
According to the mother-of-four, the pain was so intense she had never experienced anything like it before, and ‘wanted to die’ because she ‘couldn’t deal’ with it.
EVEN AFTER THE SURGERY
Sara continued to feel ill, and was still suffering immensely 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.
What happened next left her horrified: brown liquid was seeping from her body, leaving her feeling like she was ‘coming apart’.
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Far from recovering by a pool under the Turkish sun, Sara says she was rotting away in a hotel room.
The surgeon decided to perform a further procedure on the 33-year-old, but this time, it was performed in what she believes was a beautician’s clinic – and only local anaesthetic was used, meaning Sara was awake while the work was being done.
She told ITV that the surgeon was handed a ‘burning tool’ – and that she could feel the burning sensation on her stomach, an experience that made her feel like her skin was on fire – and one that she says will forever haunt her, ruining her life.
Sara was provided with a fit-to-fly certificate following this procedure, and she returned to South Wales, when she went to A&E.
The on call Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Professor Iain Whitaker, has described Sara’s case as ‘devastating’.
He reports that she was suffering from significant infection and had lots of dead tissue.
