Health secretary to clamp down on cosmetic surgery ‘cowboys’

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said the government will take action on “cowboys” abroad and recommended that people “think very carefully” before spending money on surgery overseas, as ITV News’ Geraint Vincent reports
Words by ITV News Producer Hannah Ward-Glenton
Warning: This report contains details some people may find distressing.
The health secretary has committed to clamping down on cosmetic surgery “cowboys” abroad, after ITV News shed light on multiple deaths and life-changing injuries resulting from botched treatments in Turkey.
Wes Streeting said he is committed to working with health ministers “across Europe and around the world to try and clamp down on these cowboys and keep people safe” and in the meantime advised people to “think very carefully” before travelling abroad for surgery.
“If you’re looking at prices that look too good to be true, that’s probably because they’re too good to be true,” Streeting added, speaking to ITV News.
He added that the government is “looking right now at immediate action” in terms of surgeons offering cosmetic surgery abroad, but did not give any details or provide a specific timeline.
In total 28 British nationals have died in Turkey following planned surgery since 2019, according to Foreign Office data, including six in 2023.
The number of people needing hospital treatment in the UK after getting cosmetic surgery abroad increased by 94% in the three years to November 2023, according to the latest figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS).
Surgery carried out in Turkey accounted for a large majority of those cases.
Between November 2022 and November 2023, 78% of the corrective operations carried out in the UK were on people who had aesthetic procedures in Turkey.
The estimated cost to the NHS per person who needs corrective treatment is around £15,000 according to BAAPS.
What should the government do?
BAAPS President Dr Nora Frances Nugent said the statement by Streeting “can only be a good thing” but added the important part was how you can actually impose any regulations.
“I am all for having more protection for patients… But it will be difficult to enforce,” Dr Nugent said.
Awareness of the dangers of overseas surgery and examining how it is marketed within the UK are steps the government should take, she said.
“So the first thing is have it on the agenda… And making overseas governments aware of the problems it is causing with returning patients.
“Secondly, looking at how these procedures are marketed for surgery overseas within the UK… We are inundated with social media advertisements targeting British patients, advertisements on the tube, patient expos, surgeons and clinic advisors coming over to scout potential British patients in the UK – and that is happening on home ground in the UK and could be addressed,” she added.
ITV News has closely followed the stories of some people who have suffered the consequences of getting botched surgery abroad.
“Sorry she’s dead, here’s your plane ticket”
Mother-of-two Kaydell Brown, 38, died on March 26 after going into theatre for surgery in Turkey.
She was at Clinic Expert in Istanbul to have what was known as a “mummy MOT”, including a tummy tuck, liposuction and Brazilian butt lift (BBL).
Her sister Leanne travelled with her for the surgery, and in an exclusive interview with ITV News in August said: “[Kaydell] went in for surgery at about 9.30am and that was the last time I saw her.”
After the treatment, clinic staff started to talk about “complications” with surgery.
“And I said, ‘has my sister died?’ And he just said, ‘I’m sorry, but yeah’,” Leanne said. “They just gave me an envelope and said here’s your money back and here’s your sister’s money back. And here’s your flight. It’s like, sorry she’s dead, here’s your plane ticket,” she said.
Leanne was refused access to Kaydell’s body and the clinic hastily arranged her a flight back to the UK.
When Kaydell was eventually examined in the UK, large parts of her brain, lungs and heart were missing.
“When they returned her body, they kept pieces of her heart and her intestines that could show the cause of death, but we might not know because they’re not very cooperative,” Leanne said.
“They sent a death certificate saying ‘no cause of death’, how can they not find anything?”
Kaydell’s surgeon was Dr Sinem Singin, who refused an interview on camera, but she did tell ITV News that Kaydell’s death was due to known complications associated with the surgery, not medical malpractice.
In August Dr Singin was found to still be performing the same procedures at other clinics in Turkey.
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“I was totally butchered”
Sara Platt had an operation in Turkey in 2021 to reduce the size of her stomach, but was left with a large amount of excess skin which she said rubbed together, causing sores and an unpleasant smell.
In February 2023, she flew back to Turkey to have the skin removed, as well as a breast lift and implants, but said she knew something was wrong as soon as she woke up from the surgery.
“I’d never experienced this… I wanted to die. I couldn’t deal with this pain,” Sara said in August.
Nine days after her surgery she was feeling seriously ill, so she asked her husband to help remove her bandages in the hotel bathroom.
“As he was undoing it, all this brown liquid started seeping out of my body. I screamed. I felt like I was falling apart. It was like, oh my god, my insides are gonna come out,” she said.
“They told me I’d be sitting by the pool within three days. I was rotting in a hotel room.”
As Sara lay in her hotel room, her wounds were not healing, her body was riddled with infection and her skin tissue was decaying in front of her eyes.
The Turkish surgeon decided to perform a second procedure, but opted to only use local anaesthetic.
It meant Sara was awake while the doctor worked on the wound in her stomach.
“He was handed a burning tool. And he started burning me. And that, that will, for the rest of my life, haunt me every day, every night. That ruined my life, that did,” she said.
Sara allowed ITV News to follow her as she had her tenth corrective operation following her botched surgery in Turkey.
The mum-of-four said she let the cameras in because she wanted to show the real consequences of having cosmetic procedures abroad and warn others.
“[The surgeon] recommended that I get a ‘mummy makeover’ – even though I have no kids and I’m only 20 years old,” Isabella said
“I woke up mid-surgery”
Cennet Lo, 28, was under a surgeon’s knife for a tummy tuck, liposuction and Brazilian butt lift just hours after stepping off the plane in Turkey – four months later she was left with a serious infection, resulting in two bouts of sepsis.
The mother-of-one said she did extensive research and had been recommended the surgeon by a friend, who had received successful treatments just weeks before Cennet’s.
While the clinicians were performing the surgery, she regained consciousness mid-operation.
“I remember waking up and putting my head up and seeing liposuction being performed on my stomach and then they put me back to sleep,” she said.
“I was scared to go to sleep because I actually thought I was going to die,” she added.
Cennet travelled back to Turkey on May 20, and since then has undergone four major surgeries to heal her wound and rid her body of the infection.
“I’m very lucky to be alive. I’ve heard it so many times,” Cennet said.
When ITV News first reported this case in August, former UK Ambassador to Turkey, Sir Dominick Chilcott, said: “We had a number of conversations with Turkish authorities about this and they were absolutely clear themselves that they were not in the business of supporting anyone that was trying to bring people in for these operations and not behaving in a wholly processional and competent manner.”
“I was never told there were any risks,” Donna Smith told ITV News, after getting seriously ill from botched gastric surgery in Turkey
“I was just really naive and trusted him”
Isabella Crawford, 20, flew to Turkey in February, where she “nearly died” getting a so-called “mummy makeover” on the recommendation of a surgeon – despite being young and not having any children.
She said she “just wanted to feel better” about herself, which led to her choosing to undergo the procedure to “fix” how she felt about her body. It included a tummy tuck, breast uplift and a Brazilian butt lift.
But instead of coming home from Turkey feeling better about her appearance, Isabella was left disfigured by the botched surgery.
She described the hospital as a “torture chamber” and said when she explained why she was getting the treatment the surgeon showed no consideration for her mental health.
“He told me I was going to look amazing. He said ‘just relax, trust us.’”
She woke up with surgical wounds and was attached to a number of bags, which were quickly filling up with her blood. Left severely bruised, she said she “felt like an experiment to see how far the body can be pushed”.
During her flight home, Isabella was in and out of the bathroom as blood seeped out of her open wounds, and she was scared that she wouldn’t make it home alive.
On returning to the UK, she was rushed to hospital where she underwent treatment for a flesh-eating bacterial bug and severe open wounds.
At the time of reporting ITV News put the findings to a representative of plastic surgeons in Turkey who admitted that the country needs more health regulations.
Turkish Medical Association initially agreed to an interview with ITV News in response to the comments by the heath secretary, but later refused to comment.
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