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At what price perfection? It’s a question I ask every time I read another tragic story about a woman who traveled abroad for cosmetic surgery and was returned in a body bag.
Last week, there were two separate inquiries into the deaths of British women who went to Turkey for the purposes of “health tourism”, a terribly euphemistic and misleading term to describe the practice of traveling abroad for operations you cannot afford. (or would not be allowed) in your own country.
Hayley Dowell’s photographs show a beautiful, smiling young woman with everything to live for. She was just 38 when she traveled to Istanbul in October last year for a tummy tuck, liposuction and a Brazilian butt lift, or BBL, as it is even more informally known. The BBL consists of removing fat from an area of the body and then transferring it to the buttocks; The idea, apparently, is to end up looking a little more like Kim Kardashian or JLo.
It is the fastest growing cosmetic procedure in the world, but also the most dangerous: one in 4,000 procedures results in death. It is so risky that the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons has in the past advised its members not to carry it out.
Tragically, Dowell suffered a stroke after the £7,000 surgery. “There was no risk indicated to her,” said Dowell’s husband, Neil, who had accompanied her to Türkiye. ‘It should have been a six-hour operation, but it was reduced to one hour and 45 (minutes). The surgeon left halfway and let the anesthetist do the work.
He added that the company asked him to sign his wife’s consent forms only after her death.
Dowell is one of six Britons who died in Türkiye last year following medical procedures, most of which were cosmetic.
Another, Janet Lynne Savage, 54, went there as part of a package offered by a health travel company, only to bleed to death after her weight-loss gastric sleeve surgery went horribly wrong.
Janet Lynne Savage, 54, bled to death after her weight-loss gastric sleeve surgery in Türkiye went horribly wrong.
Hayley Dowell, 38, traveled to Istanbul last year for a tummy tuck, liposuction and a Brazilian butt lift, but died after the surgeon left mid-procedure.
The mother of two had told Regenesis Health Travel that she could no longer access Ozempic and was concerned she was gaining weight. But, like Dowell, Savage’s photographs show a beautiful, radiant woman whose life ended in part because of the terrible pressure we put on ourselves to look “perfect.”
Of course, it’s easy to pretend that these things only happen in places like Türkiye. But it is not like that. Alice Webb, 33, a mother of five, died in Gloucestershire in September after undergoing a “liquid” BBL at a British clinic. The non-surgical cosmetics industry – responsible for all those “touch-ups” that are now as normal as getting your hair done – is almost completely unregulated.
And last week the first death in the UK linked to weight loss injections was reported. Susan McGowan died in September after taking Mounjaro; the medication was listed as a contributing factor in his death.
While there is no indication that you have done anything more than follow the correct procedures, using a registered pharmacy for your prescription, numerous investigations have found that the injections are being sold illegally online to people who are already a healthy weight and do not need them .
I could fill this entire column with stories of mutilated women in search of unattainable beauty ideals. Because despite all the talk about body positivity, the truth is that we live in a time that values a person’s physical appearance much more than their health.
Social media has made being a young woman almost unbearable today, ushering in an era where likes, shares and approval are a universal currency, used by anyone with an Instagram account. or TikTok. It’s not enough to put on some mascara and smile for the camera: now you also need a flattering ring light and a crash course in photography to ensure you capture everyone’s best angles.
Photoshop was once the exclusive domain of fashion magazines and models. Today, filters and AI editing apps are everyday tools on our phones, leaving a generation feeling disappointed every time they look in the mirror or see an unedited photo of themselves.
But while editing photos is one thing, editing your real body is quite another.
So how do we turn the tide and stop people from feeling like they have to undergo dangerous operations to be accepted? Well, for starters, we need to change the culture so that it’s not unusual to post images without filters. We cannot have a generation whose self-esteem is based entirely on digitally altered images that bear little or no resemblance to reality.
France has a good handle on this. Last year it became the first European country to formally regulate influencers, and now French social media users must declare whether images have been retouched or created with the help of artificial intelligence.
The law also prohibits the promotion of cosmetic surgery. Those who break the law face up to two years in prison or a fine of £250,000.
It may seem a bit expensive. But as the families of all the people who have died undergoing low-cost cosmetic surgery will no doubt tell you, it is impossible to put a price on a life.
Brave Louise puts ‘real’ in reality star
Made In Chelsea star and You magazine columnist Louise Thompson pictured with her stoma
I’m a big fan of Made In Chelsea star and Mail’s You magazine columnist Louise Thompson, whose health problems led to her needing a stoma earlier this year. Now she has been rushed into more emergency surgeries.
“Despite the surgery, the anal drainage, the catheter, the stoma…” he posted on Instagram this week, “there have been signs of kindness everywhere… Thank God for modern medicine.”
Louise is something rare: a reality TV star who is real and doesn’t hide the truth.
We wish you the fastest recovery.
My new secret weapon against sexist GPs
Regular readers will know that I have struggled to be taken seriously in the past, with doctors dismissing a case of atrial fibrillation as anxiety. Now, however, I have found the answer to medical misogyny: being able to present my own data to my GP, through my Apple Watch.
It took me years to diagnose my irregular heartbeat, but things are much easier now that my watch alerts me when things are not quite right. Last week, a notification popped up telling me that my heart had been in atrial fibrillation 20 per cent of the time, prompting me to call my GP, who immediately referred me to hospital.
Within hours, the doctors saw me, gave me an EKG, and sent me a treatment plan that had everything under control. I never thought I’d say this, but thank God for big tech.
- There has been a lot of excitement that the Booker Prize has been won by a British woman, Samantha Harvey. But I’m much more excited that a novel that’s only 136 pages won!
Making the most of Castle Cary
My sympathies go out to the locals of Castle Cary, Somerset, where the station’s burger van has been replaced by a stylish cafe called The Creamery, which sells focaccia and mozzarella starters for £12 and cider spelled with a ‘y’ ( a sure sign that everything has taken a turn towards the worse artisanal). But the worst? A coffee will set you back a whopping £3.80, almost as much as a latte in the smarter areas of central London.
trusted clinic
Have you heard about the life-changing benefits of striking the superhero pose? Yes, apparently standing tall with your hands on your hips makes you more confident and actually lowers cortisol. Do it in difficult situations and feel like the superwoman you are.