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'I woke up mid-surgery': Mum recalls trauma of botched Turkey cosmetic operations
Four months after her initial surgery, Cennet Lo remains in Turkey after facing serious infection from her procedures
This report contains images and details which some readers may find distressing.
Hours after Cennet Lo stepped off the plane in Turkey she was under the knife of a surgeon for a tummy tuck, liposuction and Brazilian butt lift.
Four months later, the 28-year-old remains in Bodrum after facing serious infection from the procedures, which have resulted in two bouts of sepsis.
"I was scared to go to sleep because I actually thought I was going to die," Ms Lo told ITV News.
The mother-of-one said she did extensive research and had been recommended her surgeon by a friend, who had received successful treatments just weeks before Ms Lo's operations.
Recalling her catastrophic surgery, Ms Lo said she was crying as she was wheeled into the theatre and as the doctors delivered the general aesthetic, she told them she no longer wanted the surgery.
If you want to share your experience of cosmetic surgery or procedures with ITV News, you can contact our investigations team at investigations@itv.com
While the clinicians were performing the surgery, Ms Lo regained consciousness mid-operation.
"I remember waking up and putting my head up and seeing liposuction being performed on my stomach and then they put me back to sleep," she explained.
After the surgery, Ms Lo said she was recovering for a week or two before the pain intensified.
She flew back from Turkey and went to hospital twice in the UK, but Ms Lo was told her Turkish surgeon should carry out the corrective work.
"I felt dizzy all the time. I just didn't feel myself at all," she recalled.
"I was scared to go to sleep because I actually thought I was going to die. There were certain nights I was saying I was falling off to sleep and waking back up and saying, don't go to sleep."
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Alongside her partner, Ms Lo travelled back to Turkey on May 20.
Since then, she has undergone four major surgeries to heal her wound and rid her body of the infection.
"I've had sepsis twice, I'm very lucky to be alive. I've heard it so many times."
But even Ms Lo's corrective recovery has not been without tribulation.
When she contracted sepsis for the second time, Ms Lo was taken into surgery to close the open wound.
However, when she woke up Ms Lo realised the surgeon had given her a "whole new tummy tuck" without consultation.
She claims that when the surgeon was questioned over the decision by her fiancée, they responded: "Why is she asking me silly questions?"
In a separate incident, Ms Lo also described having a debridement for her necrotic wound, which she said she received without anaesthetic.
"He started cutting at my stomach with no local anaesthetic, no pain relief, no nothing. They had to hold my legs down, I had a woman holding my shoulders down."
After each operation and attempt to heal the initial wound, Ms Lo said it continues to re-open.
With her son still in the UK, Ms Lo said the impact of her surgeries has been mentally challenging as well as physical.
In the wake of a series of stories similar to Ms Lo's, ITV News put our findings to a representative of plastic surgeons in Turkey who admitted that the country needs more health regulations.
But Dr Bulent Sacak added that the "overall quality of plastic surgeons in Turkey is very high" and warned patients to "pick the right doctors".
As the cosmetic tourism industry grows, the issue has become cross-border and requires a diplomatic response.
Former UK Ambassador to Turkey, Sir Dominick Chilcott, told ITV News: "We had a number of conversations with Turkish authorities about this and they were absolutley clear themselves that they were not in the business of supporting anyone that was trying to bring people in for these operations and not behaving in a wholly processional and competent manner."
For advice on surgery abroad:
Foreign Travel Advice - Gov UK
British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons
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