A MUM claims she was butchered by a cosmetic surgeon and “left to rot” with oozing fist-sized holes in her tummy.
When Victoria Michaels woke from the tummy tuck procedure, she said she was left in “excruciating pain” and the surgeon was nowhere to be seen.
Victoria had hoped to wake up with her dream figure – but instead, she was confronted with a “horrendous” mutilated body.
The 30-year-old has slammed her doctor saying the woman “almost killed (her)” and gave her the “worst treatment ever” during what should have been a routine tummy tuck operation.
She told The Sun: “The surgeon went on vacation and left while I was in that condition.
“It really was hard to go through, and it looked horrendous. When I brought that to their attention they just didn’t care.”
Victoria, from New York, said she had raw “tomato red” skin with two gaping infected holes in her stomach.
She explained how an infection was caused by a drain removal which she claimed “shouldn’t have been done at that point”.
A drain removal is a tube which takes away moisture from a wound after an operation.
Victoria said: “It was very full still, and when you take a drain out before all the fluid is drained, you can create and trap infection.
“That’s exactly what happened, the doctor removed it, and it led to me being stuck with a wound vac which was the most excruciating pain of my life.”
Not only did the mum have to deal with the agony of the initial wounds, but her torment continued long after they had healed.
The surgery, carried out in the US, left Victoria with thick scarring both down the middle and across the bottom of her stomach.
She was also left with loose sagging excess skin which she said looked “like a hot dog”.
The beauty technician had lost more than 200lbs to prepare for the operation and was distraught when she thought her efforts had been in vain.
Instead of finding a new found confidence, Victoria felt “horrendous” and didn’t have enough money to correct the botched operation.
She said she was “given the worst treatment ever” which made her feel like she “didn’t matter”.
“It sucked because you have to really amp yourself up to be able to get through something that scary like having somebody chop your skin off,” she explained.
She added: “I remember waking up from that surgery and being like ‘finally, I’m gonna not have to deal with this, I can enjoy the fruits of my labour and weight loss at almost 200lbs down’.
“To wake up and have the opposite happen absolutely sucked.
“It was horrific and just sad in the way that I was treated, and it made me feel like I didn’t matter as a patient.”
But, in an unlikely turn of events, it was the TikTok community who offered Victoria a lifeline.
She posted a clip of her story on the platform and it went “totally viral” – with many tagging “a frenzy” of doctors in the comments section.
Her story being brought to the attention of top plastic surgeon, Dr Subbio.
“He reached out and said he would do a pro bono at no cost, just because he knew I did all the work of losing that weight,” Victoria said.
“He stepped up and literally crushed it but there was a lot of work, because there was such a bad botched job from the previous doctor.”
Victoria has undergone the first stage of her corrective surgery but will need a second operation this month.
A tummy tuck procedure can cost between £5,000 and £10,000 – but Victoria didn’t reveal what she spent.
Victoria has shared a warning message for anyone else considering having the operation.
She said: “Do your research. I did mine but that’s why I say do your research even harder than you think because I had been looking for a long time.
“I went through three consultations and I chose the one that I was like ‘wow this is the one’ and still that happened to me.”
Victoria added: “It was horrendous. I’ve never been through anything like that in my life.
“The entire situation was mentally traumatic, physically traumatic. It made you feel like you were worthless.
“That’s how I felt with that surgeon. It was awful care.”
Victoria is now seeking to take legal action against the surgeon.
“I really hope for legal justice because it’s been a nightmare, and there’s still more to come,” she said.
Despite her horrific ordeal, Victoria did find a silver lining in form of the TikTok community.
“Tiktok changed my life. I love creating content on there,” she said.
She added: “I’m financially responsible for my next surgery. So people reach out to me.
“They’re like, ‘how do we donate? What can we do to contribute cause?'”
Victoria now feels she’s “on the other side” of her trauma and aims to spread awareness about surgery.
OVERSEAS surgeons are not subject to the same rules, regulations and training as doctors in the UK.
That means you can’t guarantee the safety of the equipment or material they are using.
Unsterile equipment dramatically increases your risk of infection, which could lead to necrotising fasciitis (flesh-eating bugs), sepsis or even death.
On top of that, if you are opting for fillers or injections anywhere on the body there is no way of knowing if doctors are using dangerous substances.
Cosmetic surgeons have warned against cut-price surgery as there is a real risk you will be injected with “unsafe substances”.
Prof Ash Mosahebi, honorary secretary of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons’ (BAAPS), said most patients either opt for cheap injections or implants to boost their bum.
“If they are having injections then god knows what they are being injected with, if it is safe, or if it is sterile,” he told The Sun Online.
“Oil, for example, does make it look bigger for a few days but then it deflates and it’s likely infection like sepsis can kick in.
“I know of silicone oil being used, which shouldn’t be used for medical purposes.
“I’ve heard of cement but I haven’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s things like that.
“Most of the time the injections end up having a lot of bacteria in them as well because they aren’t sterile.”
