BA/Uplift abroad has woman at the mercy of our NHS

'My bargain boob job abroad left me with exploding breasts': Mother's horror after implants rip her skin open and nearly kill her

Claire Hawker, 30, was desperate for bigger breasts as hers had 'sagged' Mother-of-two was recommended cosmetic surgeon in Prague by a friend

Paid £4,000 for flights and surgery - but surgeon spoke little English

Was still in excruciating pain a week after the op and noticed breast leaking. At hospital, surgeons said implants were too big and had ripped the skin and that without immediate removal, the infection raging in her body would kill her

Later had repair surgery after appearing on TV show Botched Up Bodies

A beauty therapist who went abroad for a bargain boob job was horrified when the implants burst through her skin just days later, nearly killing her.
Claire Hawker, 30, had been recommended the cosmetic surgeon in Prague by a friend and was initially delighted with her new figure.
But just days after returning home, her size G breasts started leaking a brown discharge and suddenly burst.

After being rushed to hospital, surgeons warned the mother-of-two she would die if the implants were not removed immediately.
‘I remember feeling scared then angry when I was told my implants would have to be taken out - but I had no choice,' says Ms Hawker, from Reading.
'I had wanted bigger boobs for almost a decade because they had really sagged after having children. My confidence was rock bottom.'
While one breast was a 34B cup, the was other a C - and both began to droop following the birth of her daughter, Jasmine, at 17.
‘Working in the beauty industry it was important to me to look good and feel confident, though I hadn’t for a very long time,’ said Ms Hawker.

‘I would look in the mirror and feel so self-conscious about that part of my body. I wished my breasts could be bigger.’
But as a single mother, she couldn't afford expensive cosmetic surgery.
'It got to the point where my appearance was affecting how I felt at work, though. As a beauty therapist it was critical I looked and felt good, but my clothes hung on me like a sack of potatoes.’
Then in July 2008 a friend who’d had liposuction at a cosmetic surgery in Prague recommended the clinic to Ms Hawker.
After researching the clinic online, she discovered she could have a breast uplift and implants for £2,300 – a third of the cost she would pay in the UK.
Friends and family also backed her decision to go abroad, so she took out a loan for £4,000 to cover flights and expenses.

'A year later as I got on the plane to Prague, I was so excited about having the body I'd always dreamed of,' she said.
After five days exploring the city, Ms Hawker met the surgeon who would perform her procedure.
She said: 'The receptionist at the clinic explained the surgeon didn’t speak much English, so I should show him photos of what I wanted.
‘But I assured myself he knew what he was doing and I showed him some magazine clippings of celebs with size G breasts, like I wanted.’
However on waking up two hours after the op, she was in total agony.
'My breasts were bandaged up so I couldn’t seem them and there was pain shooting through my chest.
'I told my friend I thought I was going to die.’
The next day, her bandages were changed again before she was discharged - still without having seen her new breasts.


Surgeons told Ms Hawker her implants were too big. This had ripped open the skin around them, which had become infected
Even as she boarded the plane home the day after, her breasts continued to ache and she took some tablets the surgery had given her to ease her suffering.
'I figured I should expect some pain following surgery, so I did my best not to worry,' she said.
Back home, she spent the following few days slumped on the sofa, barely able to move her arms for the pain.
But a week later, despite still being bandaged up, she decided she was ready to visit the salon where she worked to show her mother and colleagues her new breasts.

As she lifted her top however, she noticed her bra was damp and a brown, smelly discharge was leaking from her left breast.
‘My mum said she could see my implant poking out of a 50p sized hole in my skin, which had burst open.’
After being rushed to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, a surgeon examined her breast.
As he did, the skin under her right breast split too.
‘He said my implants were too big and they’d ripped open the skin around them, which had become infected.
'They had to be removed or I would die.'

He added she was the fourth person he'd seen that week who's been the victim of botched cosmetic surgery abroad.

Later that day Ms Hawker was taken in to theatre to have her implants removed and she spent the next week having the infection washed out of them.
'I spent two weeks in hospital and regretted going overseas so much,' she said. 'It really hadn’t been worth it.’
Even after being discharged, Ms Hawker had to return every two weeks for the next year so that nurses could clean her wounds and check her breasts were healing.
But nothing can repair her confidence, which is now even lower, having been left with small breasts and horrific scarring.

She said: ‘My breasts looked even worse than before and I worried even if I got new implants, the skin under them would always look like I’d been burnt.
‘At least the uplift I’d received overseas hadn’t gone wrong, so my breasts looked alright when I wore strappy tops.
‘But I continued to miss the fullness my new breasts had given me and my confidence, at work and going out with friends, and I felt at an all-time low.’

She was told she would have to wait at least two years - and until she’d made a full recovery - before she could have further surgery.
Though it would cost her thousands - and she was still paying off her loan for her original surgery, Ms Hawker said she couldn't stay the way she was.

Then in May 2013, she spotted a magazine ad recruiting people for a documentary about botched cosmetic surgery called Botched Up Bodies. In return they’d receive free corrective surgery.

Ms Hawker said: ‘I was anxious about appearing on TV but my mum encouraged me and I decided it was worth it to get the body I wanted.’

At Royal Welbeck Hospital, in London, a leading cosmetic surgeon Dr Nick Percival, from Cosmetic Surgery Partners, examined her and recommended an E cup.
On the day of her surgery last June she admits feeling nervous.
'But when I came round hours later - not in any pain and with new 34E breasts - she was thrilled.

Then in November, she had a second procedure to remove the scar tissue she’d lived with for three years.
She said: ‘Having this surgery changed my life. I’m more confident now and love receiving compliments.

‘I wish I hadn’t been so eager before to have cosmetic surgery. I should have researched my options and saved up to have it done in the UK.
‘Instead, going abroad almost cost me my life. It’s not worth risking it for cheap cosmetic surgery.’

Source HERE

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Firstly I just want to state that 'neither breasts, or implants explode' this is just a term used by the media to gain attention to the story.

Secondly - there never is a 'bargain boob job' all you'll get for that is a 'bargain botch job'!

We at Breast Buddies do always try and dissuade any members contemplating having surgery abroad from doing so. This is becauae the hospital/docs often speak very little English, so it's hard to arrange any revision and also there's more often than not no insurance. So... Should you have a complication, it's simply tough! There's no money to pay for it unless you're happy to pay all over again.

This too from the BAAPS website also revealed:

BAAPS wrote:A recent study by Leeds University into cosmetic surgery holidays revealed a staggering 16.5% complication rate with nearly 1 in 10

That's a heck of a high complication rate! And not a risk I'd personally ever take given those odds, no matter my desperation.

Many women feel it's OK to go cheap and if anything goes wrong the good old NHS will sort it out for them - WRONG! What the surgeons on the NHS will do just enough to ensure your safe and well and by that I don't mean they'll give you lovely new implants, tidy you up and send you out the door...I mean that they'll remove the cause if the infection which is the implants. Chuck those in the bin, stitch you up and then treat the wound till it's free of infection. That's it! They have a duty of care to ensure you're safety and that it.

Just one more thing. I've seen this happen before here in the UK. A friend of mine is currently going through the same and she's in Scotland. The difference between them and here however is the clinic care and aftercare, so they will have their revision from of charge.

What's actually happened to this lady in the pictures isn't that her breasts have exploded. She has got a wound infection and her body has done all it can to try and fight the infection. In doing this it will push the implants out of the body.

It's never left to get that far here. The infection is discovered before the implants starts to come right out and surgeons will need to remove the implant for around 6 months before the implants can be replaced, because the wound needs treating first so the body is totally free of infection before the implants will be back in.

1 in 10 women end up at the mercy of the NHS due to having surgery abroad. They then mostly can't live with the scars left behind with no result to show for it and they have to seek out another surgeon HERE to sort their boobs out costing them far more than they expected to get from a bargain.

Something to think about isn't it for anyone seeking surgery abroad.

Anyone here having surgery abroad I just want to say - that's your choice! We're not here to tell you where to have your surgery or who to have it with. We're here to advise you and we will never judge you. If this is your choice we will support you as would any member having surgery anywhere in the world with any surgeon.

I remember seeing this at the time on TV, she was left in an awful mess until it was sorted.
Personally I could never have surgery abroad  regardless of how qualified the surgeon was, took me all my time to have it here in the UK at a hospital 20 mins from where I live, I'm a born worrier. X