A mother of three was left blind in one eye after paying $13,000 for a partial facelift.
Dian Keller, 70, of Florida, underwent surgery in February after being inspired by friends who looked “great” after their own procedures.
But when she woke up after the operation that lasted up to three hours, the marketing expert was plunged into a world of pain that felt as if “someone had poured kerosene in my eye and set it on fire.”
Once a regular gym goer and a pillar of her Florida community, Ms. Keller has now transformed into a recluse who spends almost all her time indoors.
“My quality of life is destroyed,” she told DailyMail.com. “I can’t go outside, I can’t see, I’m still walking around in constant pain, and now I have all these other medical bills.”
Dian Keller, 70, of Florida, paid $13,000 for a partial facelift, but said she woke up and began “screaming” in pain. Doctors say the surgeon had pulled her skin too tight, preventing her from closing her eyelids.
She is now blind in her right eye, through which she can only make out blurred shapes, but fortunately she has managed to regain vision in her left eye.
‘I love dancing, I used to entertain a lot of people and see my friends, but now I can’t and that bothers me a lot.’
In the days after surgery, I could see nothing except occasional bright lights in both eyes.
Pictured is Dr. Carlos Spera, who says he has not seen Keller since the operation.
Vision in his left eye is now almost restored, but in his right eye he can still only make out vague shapes and has to wear a bandage to cover them.
It is unclear whether he will ever fully regain his sight.
Ms. Keller said she has also lost all feeling in her forehead and top of her scalp since the surgery and an incision has been reopened, but those problems pale in comparison to the problems with her eyes.
Doctors say her vision problems were caused because her skin was pulled too tight during the procedure, preventing her from closing her eyelids.
This caused the cornea, or the clear, dome-shaped outer layer of the eye that bends light to help you see, to dry out and develop ulcers, distorting your vision.
Some doctors also suggested that a chemical may have spilled into his right eye during surgery, causing vision problems.
Ms. Keller is scheduled to undergo another surgery in September to help her eyelids close again.
She estimates she could rack up as much as $60,000 in medical bills because she had to go out of network to get care.
The mother of three also shared these images with DailyMail.com from the days following her surgery. She has repeatedly communicated with her surgeon, Dr Carlos Spera, who has three clinics in Florida, but says he has not offered her any follow-up help.
Ms. Keller, whose case was first revealed by 7 News Miami — is planning to sue her surgeon, but has not yet found a lawyer to take on the case.
Her surgeon was Dr. Carlos Spera, who has three clinics in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
Online, he describes himself as a “beacon of aesthetic excellence” and a “top-tier plastic surgeon” who delivers “exceptional results” for patients.
Their website adds: ‘As a seasoned professional and licensed physician in Florida, Dr. Spera brings his extensive experience to the Miami plastic surgery scene.
DailyMail.com contacted the reporter for comment but was hung up on twice by staff at the practice.
Plastic surgery has gained popularity in the U.S. in recent years for its promise of making people look younger naturally.
In 2022, the latest year available, a record 26 million cosmetic touch-ups were performed, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), up 19 percent from 2019, amid increased use of Ozempic and social media.
Ms. Keller says she booked an appointment with him for a temporary brow lift, a common and popular operation among people in their 40s and 60s that is used to minimize sagging skin by making an incision on either side of the hairline and lifting the outermost third of the eyebrow and forehead.
She specifically chose this procedure because it was less invasive than a full brow lift, which involves lifting all of the skin in this area.
It is also different from a partial facelift (or mini facelift), which is used to correct the first signs of aging by slightly lifting the skin on the lower part of the face. It is usually performed on patients between 30 and 40 years old.
Before surgery, Ms. Keller said she partied three nights a week with her neighbors and also went to the gym and took walks regularly.
Shje is pictured below with two friends on a night out before her surgery debacle.
But when she woke up, Mrs. Keller said:‘I was in constant agony, I was completely blind and I panicked.
‘I was screaming and throwing my arms up in the air, and I was feeling my face. I couldn’t close either of my eyes.
“And I touched my eyebrows, they were almost at my hairline. And I was in so much pain.”
Ms. Keller says she believes her surgeon performed a full brow lift instead of the temporary surgery (or mini brow lift) she requested.
A friend picked her up and rushed her to a nearby medical center, where she says her sight in her left eye was “saved.”
She has since also turned to several doctors for advice, including Ivy League professionals who said her initial surgeon had been “overzealous” with skin tightening.
Describing the impact on her life, Ms Keller added: ‘I have a lot of difficulty with the little things now.
“I can’t cook, the fumes trigger a whole cascade of events in my eyes. I can’t use fragrances or fans. Too much air conditioning is not good, too much heat is not good.
Mrs. Keller is pictured here before her surgery with her two children.
“My eye starts to water uncontrollably. I honestly feel like I could have washed a load of laundry with the amount of tears coming out of my eye.”
He has also been diagnosed with corneal dysesthesia, a pain caused by the nerves of the cornea that can cause burning sensations, pain, discomfort or a hot fire-like sensation like a poker in the eye.
It is caused by dryness of the eye, often related to a direct injury to the eye caused by a foreign object, exposure to a chemical, or an infection.
All hopes are pinned on her surgery next month, which will hopefully allow her to close her eyelids again.
Ms. Keller says she has repeatedly contacted Dr. Spera since the surgery, but he has either been unresponsive or refused to offer help.
In one case, she was driven to his office and sat in the waiting room for three hours to see him before she had to leave. At that point, she could hear him in the office.
But he previously told 7 News Miami that he “did not do eyelid surgery” and that he “asked her to come back for checkups” and offered her another follow-up last week for a post-operative evaluation.
Ms. Keller chose this surgeon because she had already undergone upper bletaroplasty with his colleague and was satisfied with the results.