'They sold me a dream': Botched Turkey surgery patients left with 'no support'
ITV News heard from two patients who travelled to Turkey for weight loss procedures and are still living with the consequences, as Geraint Vincent reports
Plastic surgery is a serious business. It invariably involves incisions. Very often the plastic surgeon is putting something in, or taking something out, of the patient's body.
The risk of a wound not healing, and of subsequent infection, is very real. So aftercare is enormously important.
The main attraction of travelling to Turkey to have plastic surgery is the price. You can have your tummy tuck in Turkey for as little as a quarter of the cost of the equivalent procedure in the UK.
Not worrying too much about aftercare is one way some clinics in Turkey can offer surgery at such a competitive price.
The consequences can be dreadful.
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Christian Richards travelled to Turkey for a range of treatments - liposuction, tummy tuck and the removal of fat from his chest.
He felt something was wrong immediately after the surgery, but when he got back to the UK he told ITV News that he developed a hard lump in his abdomen, which was the size and shape of an American football.
Christian went back to the clinic where he'd had the work done. They told him his symptoms were normal, and then they ghosted him - even blocking his attempts to communicate with them on social media.
"They sold me a dream," he said.
"But there was no support, it was just, 'see you later'. That was it."
Christian ended up having corrective surgery with another surgeon in Turkey. He reckons the whole process cost him somewhere around £20,000.
Courtney Rowley was advised to have gastric band surgery by doctors in the UK because a hormone imbalance led to her putting on a lot of weight.
She went to Turkey for the procedure because the waiting times were so long here. When she came home she felt worse with every day that went by, until eventually, she couldn't stand up.
A lack of nutrition meant that she'd suffered terrible nerve damage.
She told ITV News there was no aftercare programme offered by her clinic - she should have had a blood test early in her recovery, and probably some vitamin injections.
She is in a wheelchair now, awaiting physiotherapy on her wasted muscles.
"My consultants say I shouldn't blame myself," Courtney said. "But I do."
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