The truth about non-invasive procedures
The definitive mark of a failed plastic surgery is death. Let’s take as example the story of 38-year old Tracy Jordan. In February 2007, Tracy Jordan went to a surgeon for three procedures: liposuction, tummy tuck, and breast reduction. The last procedure was advised by her doctor to help alleviate her chronic back pain. During the surgery, everything seemed to be going well, until she collapsed in recovery and the doctors were unable to revive her. Later, the doctors discovered that the mistake took place in administering a wrong drug. Lidocaine was the drug that should have been administered, instead of Bupivacaine, a highly toxic drug that was administered to the patient. Both drugs came in similar packaging, which resulted to the confusion, but Bupivacaine is 10 times more toxic and is not approved for use in a liposuction.
But even though death unfortunately happens in cases concerning plastic surgery, the rates are relatively low compared to the rates in surgery overall. This is because surgeons are entitled to refuse a patient if he thinks there is too much to risk or if they feel that the patient himself is not a good candidate.
Let’s take another example. Let’s take the story of 50-year old Susan Brewer. Her family doctor offered to give her a series of lipodissolve treatments because the doctor had just taken a certification course over the weekend to be able to do lipodissolve treatments. But after only two treatments, Brewer already developed two hematomas. These hematomas blistered and eventually broke open. One hematoma wound became seriously infected, and eventually developed into a one-inch deep hole with 3 ½ inches in diameter. For three days, she suffered with fever and nausea. Fortunately, she was treated for the infection and had a surgeon remove the dead tissue and close the wound. What should have been a slimmer abdomen is now left with a large scar as a reminder of the procedure gone wrong.
Despite all the news about the dangers that go along with surgical procedures, cosmetic treatments which are considered to be minimally or not at all invasive can also go terribly wrong and have serious complications.