By Lata Jha:
When Jane Lim went to the hospital one morning, she didn’t know she was never coming back home. Attempting a breast enhancement surgery, nobody in her family knew about this. The mother of two was pronounced dead at the University Medical Centre after having undergone the surgery at a beauty centre in Petaling Jaya. Even after having lodged a police report, her family was still clueless.
1. Asymmetry can occur in the surgical area. This is extremely common in breast enhancement and liposuction cases and can usually be corrected by a second surgery.
2. Surgery often results in depression. People expect extraordinary results, and it rarely turns out that way. It can often be disheartening for say, teenagers to know that they aren’t “picture perfect”, even after so much effort and often, pain.
3. In some rare instances, toxic levels of anaesthetics, like topical lidocaine used for surgery, have led to death. Sometimes, imitation Botox or other fillers have left patients in comas for several years, and eventually dead.
4. Temporary numbness or loss of sensation at the site of surgery is quite common, especially with face lifts and tummy tucks.
5. Extensive scarring is a possible complication of breast augmentation. Scarring is the result of the body’s attempt to heal the site of a cut. When the body heals from surgery an overabundance of collagen is produced, which forms a scar.
6. Infections can occur after procedures like liposuction, where, although incisions are often less than 1/4-inch, the internal wound is quite large. An infection can spread quickly throughout the body and needs to be dealt with immediately.
7. Any time the skin is cut, small nerves are severed. Injury occurs if nerves are stretched, cut, or cauterized. If a nerve is severely damaged, the effects may be permanent.
8. Necrosis, or tissue death from surgical manipulation, is inevitable with any procedure. Smokers are notorious for having necrosis, because smoking reduces the blood supply to skin tissues.
9. Seroma is an internal collection of watery body fluids, and is most common in tummy tucks.
10. Hematoma is a small, internal collection of clotted blood that typically resolves on its own, but may require a follow-up surgery. This occurs after about 1% to 2% of face-lift procedures.
Keeping health risks aside, the core issue about surgery remains that it enables a lot of people to live with the hope that they shall look and feel better than they do at the present. It cuts for them aspirational figures, and regardless of how safe, desirable or feasible the aspiration is, it leads them down the path.