An Essex mother's quest for confidence through cosmetic surgery spiralled into a six-year nightmare of physical agony and financial ruin, serving as a stark warning about the dangers of unregulated medical procedures abroad.
A Dream Procedure Turns Sour
In 2018, Jade, a 25-year-old mother from Essex, travelled to Belgium for what she hoped would be a simple breast uplift. Following a recommendation, she was initially convinced by a surgeon to opt for implants alone to avoid visible scarring. This decision marked the beginning of a deeply distressing ordeal.
Upon arrival, the warning signs were immediate. There was no airport pickup, no arranged accommodation, and no hospital transfer. The clinic itself was unlike any medical facility she had envisioned. Jade and a friend were left waiting in the street for someone to let them in. Crucially, no pre-operative medical assessments were conducted—no blood tests, no weight check, and no documentation was completed.
A Trail of Botched Operations and Neglect
The surgeon fitted Jade with teardrop-shaped implants, directly contradicting her request for a fuller, rounder look. The neglect continued post-operation. She woke up alone in a dark, freezing room without a bra, support garments, or a nurse in sight. After struggling to dress herself, she was discharged mere hours later without proper pain relief, aftercare instructions, or a vital fit-to-fly certificate.
Back in the UK, her physical appearance rapidly deteriorated. Within months, the implants had dropped significantly, leaving her looking worse than before. Desperate for a solution, Jade returned to the same Belgian clinic for corrective surgery in 2019, a cost her mother had to help cover.
The second surgery was even more catastrophic. The surgeon cut her nipples unevenly, performed a poor uplift, and created severe, asymmetrical scarring by ignoring existing incision lines. A critical error emerged: because Jade had never been weighed, the anaesthetist had no accurate dosage guide. This led to a terrifying situation where medics could not wake her from anaesthesia for over eight hours, while her concerned mother's calls went unanswered.
Finding Redemption and a Call for Change
It was not until 2023, during a separate trip to Turkey for dental work, that Jade encountered someone with successful results from the company Longevita. This gave her the courage to try again. In November 2024, she underwent surgery in Istanbul with Professor Dr Fuat.
The experience was transformative. Longevita provided comprehensive pre-operative assessments, handled all logistics, and operated in a high-quality hospital. Most importantly, they showed her genuine patient results beforehand—something the Belgian clinic had refused to do.
Jade's story is now a catalyst for change. She is backing Longevita's campaign for UK government legislation to protect patients from rogue overseas providers. Proposed measures include restricting advertising to UK residents, mandating pre-treatment medical checks, and ensuring travel insurance covers post-operative complications.
Reflecting on her ordeal, Jade stated, If laws had been in place to protect people like me, I might have been spared years of pain, stress, and financial loss. No one should have to go through what I did just to feel confident again.
