'My clinic is full of victims of failed Turkish surgeries...'

A health clinic has warned of an "epidemic" of patients left with medical problems after botched cosmetic surgery in Turkey. Kate Monteith-Ross runs La Ross Clinic, on the Medway Industrial Estate, and said she had seen a significant increase in referrals, including one patient who was left with infected wounds after several operations, which she described as "monstrous". The patient left wounds after the surgery.

According to Kate, director and lead nurse, the patient, a woman in her 40s from Medway, made complaints about the clinic in Turkey, where she was discharged the day after surgery despite needing a blood transfusion due to a significant loss.'''She was left on her own for the return trip home. 'She doesn't even know what happened during the operation,' Kate said. 'All she knows is that she woke up - she said she felt like she was dying.'

They tried to contact her surgeon, but he didn't respond. He ignored and blocked her. So she had no support, no care and no wound care. She was very sick, very weak. She came to this clinic and she couldn't stand up straight, she didn't wash, she was terrified, she was crying, she was traumatized. She had lost a lot of blood and she was dead pale.

Kate added that the patient had wounds on her back from '360 degree liposuction' and had also undergone a 'tummy tuck' and 'breast augmentation'. "They did the lift at the same time as the implant,"''She added. 'In our country, if you have a lift, they leave you for six to twelve months, if not longer, and then an implant. They did everything at the same time and she didn't have a very good aesthetic result. It's absolutely brutal. She's been through monstrous surgery. It's horrible to do that level of surgery. You can do that level of surgery, but you need a level of recovery and care appropriate for that kind of surgery. "

The patient herself, who does not wish to reveal her identity, also filed a statement warning others of the risks. "I found myself in a life-threatening position and had to have an emergency blood transfusion, which left me very weakened," she recalled. "I was unable to communicate with anyone as no one spoke English. I felt''Ignoring when I asked for help. I don't know where I would have gone or who I would have turned to if it hadn't been The Clinic. I was scared, lonely and in pain and wish I had known more before making up my mind.

Kate says the case is typical of patients returning from Turkey in recent years and she believes the number of cases is increasing. Since La Ross Clinic was previously an aesthetics clinic, Kate decided to expand her medical services. The clinic is now licensed by the Care Quality Commission. Since then, she has seen the number of patients steadily increase until a spike in referrals earlier this month - 17 patients referred in one week. She believes this increase is due to''social media trends and the influence of "Influencers" on social media.

"It's really strange," she added. "There are certain groups of surgeons in Turkey who target young influencers and offer them free surgery to promote their clinic. You see videos of them being driven around in luxury cars, they sit and drink cocktails the night before surgery, they party all the time. They do the surgeries with their friends, so they go there in groups. You'll find that there's a group of eight people, all flying to Turkey in a big group and having surgeries together. Once the operation was a private matter, now it's something to be proud of. My objection has to do with ethics. They don't need this. They're 30 years old and they do''facelifts? That's ridiculous. Or a 19-20 year old girl getting weight loss surgery. When is that going to end? "

"Just because something is available doesn't mean you have to run out and get it. We got a call from someone asking for advice - 11 of her friends went to Turkey to do a gastrobypass together, just because they wanted to lose weight, so they're having major surgery on their gastrointestinal system to cut off half of their stomach, just because they want to lose a couple pounds. At my age, that would have been a routine visit to the beauty parlor. "

She also added: "It's presented on social media as a glamorous experience but it's not reality. I'm sure there are people who have good experiences in Turkey. That's not to say that all operations'''Turkey is bad - there will be exceptional surgeons, but unfortunately people need to be more measured before ordering anything'.