A HARLEY Street doctor has been banned for five months after carrying out a £3,500 “penis filler” operation during lockdown.
Dr Mohammed Sefahn Chaudhry, 35, kept his private clinic open using the website PenisFill.co.uk and offered cosmetic treatments as prizes as the public were told to stay home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chaudhry, who calls himself ‘Dr Sef’ and drives a Ferrari, put up £1,000 worth of “Barbie tip rhinoplasty” and “lip filler” treatments as giveaway prizes in a social media draw.
He was reported to the General Medical Council after a patient who underwent “penis filler” surgery between April and August 2020 claimed his genitalia was left “misshapen” and developed a “lump”.
The man, known as Patient A, also alleged Chaudhry had posted “before and after” pictures of his penis on his website without his permission.
The patient also accused Chaudhry, from Coulsdon, South London, of forging paperwork and raising his voice at the man when he complained about the results of the procedure.
At a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing in Manchester, Chaudhry was found guilty of serious professional misconduct relating to non essential work during the pandemic.
He was suspended from medical practise for five months.
But the disciplinary panel cleared him over allegations he failed to give proper treatment to Patient A.
It also rejected claims Chaudhry posted the “before and after pictures” online – after comparing the images in question to another picture of the man’s penis which he sent to an expert witness in the case as evidence.
The doctor, who qualified in 2016, ran two cosmetic clinics – Dermis Clinic Ltd and MC Medical Aesthetics Limited.
The investigation began in October 2020 after Patient A complained about his penis filler procedure.
It was carried out after he was contacted over WhatsApp the previous April in a “marketing call” by one of Chaudhry’s work colleagues.
The Manchester hearing was told Patient A had wanted ”increased penis girth” as his partner was ”not satisfied”, and he had undergone a similar procedure in 2017.
He said in a statement: ”The call was purely logistical e.g. when they could see me, how I could get there (given this was during the COVID pandemic), whether Dr Chaudhry had a London clinic etc.
“I confirmed that I was circumcised and asked whether my skin would adapt to the filler, and I was advised that it would.”
Patient A underwent the procedure on May 4, 2020, with Dr Chaudhry.
The following June he attended a second consultation in which he said the filler had not hardened and his penis started to look “mishappen”.
He said there was a lump and the filler remained soft.
He also claimed Chaudhry suggested further filler should be injected for free.
On July 18, 2020, Patient A attended Chaudhry’s clinic for a third consultation and procedure, and it was agreed that the enzyme Hylase be injected into his penis to dissolve the lump.
But in his statement Patient A alleged: ”Dr Chaudhry raised his voice, implying that he was out of pocket as he had provided some of the filler for free and that it was my fault the filler hadn’t hardened.
“I didn’t think this was very called for.”
He subsequently claimed he saw “before and after” images of his genitals on the PenisFill website, insisting he recognised it in the “before” pictures due to the positioning of the lump.
He claimed the “after” picture was of his penis immediately after the initial filler procedure.
Chaudhry denied wrongdoing claiming the picture was of another patient’s penis and insisted: ”I deny raising my voice at any time during my appointment with Patient A.
“He seems to be seeking ways to get a refund.”
He added: ”During the Covid pandemic my understanding and belief was that the treatments I offer are medical.
“Therefore I never viewed them as non-essential.
“Every client that came to us during the pandemic, who was seeking treatments for purely cosmetic reasons, were not seen and
advised to come after restrictions had been lifted.
”Our clinic was not open as normal and has strict Covid policies and protocols.
“I would also like to state, that the area that I work in was an extremely grey area during the pandemic.
“My colleague doctors, working on the same street, were performing hundreds of cosmetic only procedures.
”I was not intently or purposefully breaching Covid legislation.
“It was a highly unprecedented period with grand uncertainty intertwining also aspects of the working life.
“Again I am very sorry if this has put the public confidence in doctors at risk and jeopardising the professions reputation.
“I have learnt many valuable lessons from this process.”
He also said the clinics no longer offered treatments as prize giveaways.
In suspending Chaudhry, MPTS chairman Ms Amarjit Sagar said the Tribunal did not accept that Dr Chaudhry “could have possibly thought that he was permitted to remain open during the period of the pandemic”.
She added: ”There was wide press coverage and daily broadcast updates about the risks of the spread of COVID-19 yet despite this, Dr Chaudhry chose to continue to work and remain open.
”Patient A had not been in pain with his penis and there was nothing to suggest he required urgent medical attention.
“The Tribunal was therefore satisfied that treating Patient A by injecting him with penis filler was non-essential treatment.
”It determined that in continuing to work, Dr Chaudhry ignored the constraints imposed on the general public and acted as if that these did not apply to him.
“During this period, family members could not attend the funerals of their loved ones and major surgeries needed to be postponed.
“Dr Chaudhry would have been aware of the seriousness of the situation.”
She added that fellow practitioners were under pressure working during Covid-19 conditions to keep the public safe, and Dr Chaudhry was also obliged to keep patients safe by closing his clinic.
She added: “The Tribunal considered this behaviour to be deplorable and as the public endured the restrictions imposed by Government guidance he continued providing non-essential treatment for financial gain.
”The Tribunal considered that Dr Chaudhry was prompting customers to break COVID19 guidelines by incentivising them with aesthetic procedures worth £1,000.”
Dr Chaudhry has posted saying that a winner would be announced “in 48 hours”, the hearing was told.
The MPTS chairman continued: “Although there was nothing to suggest that the winner would receive the prize during the COVID-19 lockdown, the Tribunal considered the context, in which Dr Chaudhry had already previously ignored COVID-19 guidance by treating Patient A with a non-essential procedure.
”The Tribunal was therefore of the view that it was possible that he would treat the winner during this period.
“He put patients at risk of harm by advertising clinical treatments during the COVID-19 lockdown.”
Ms Sagar added: ”Dr Chaudhry should have acted promptly to ensure patient safety and as director should have closed the clinics and cancelled any patients that were booked in.
“Failing to do so posed a risk to patients who were travelling, possibly on public transport, to see him as well as mixing with any staff members at the clinic.
“He has shown no remorse.”
