Joanne Law from Manchester flew to Turkey for the surgery after losing seven stone from a gastric sleeve she also had done in the country, but her hopes of looking like a ‘Snapchat filter’ turned to horror
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Mum’s ‘horror op’ in Turkey leaves her unable to close her eyes
A mum who went under the knife in a bid to “look like a Snapchat filter” says she has been left unable to close her eyes due to botched surgery.
Joanne Law wanted to smooth out some lines after losing a dramatic amount of weight following gastric sleeve surgery in Turkey two years ago. The 56-year-old was “excited” to travel back to the country famous for cosmetic surgery tourism and have work done on her face at the same hospital.
After saving £5,200 for a face, neck and eyelid lift, along with a fat graft, Joanne went under the knife again in June 2023. But as she was taken to the operation room, she was ‘frightened’ to see it was in basement and looked like a ‘horror film’.
Joanne said she suffered from blepharitis immediately after surgery – an inflammation which caused her eyelids to swell and grow blisters – lasting three months. Since then, she says she has not been able to fully shut her eyes, causing them to dry out and tear up.
Her horrifying experience can be seen in footage showing Joanne’s eyes open even while she’s sleeping, showing her eyes dart around in REM. It also means the mum-of-two , from Manchester, can’t drive around at night as the lights blind her and her eyes are always dry.
She says she’s also been left suffering from “painful” scars behind her ears and on her eyes, while she was left with a ‘wobbly turkey neck’ after the botched lift. “When I lost seven stone I just felt wrinkly, so I thought this is my next step, I’ll get my face done,” she said.
“I was chuffed the whole time and that was my downfall. I didn’t research enough because I trusted them. The procedure was around the back of the hospital in a basement. It frightened the hell out of me, it was awful, like a horror movie.
“There was an old-fashioned bed screen separator, someone was being operated on the other side in the same theatre. Immediately after I got blepharitis, which is a bacterial infection, and had blisters under my eyes for three months.
“I still can’t fully close my eyes now. I’m struggling to drive at night now because the car lights hurt my eyes and I just can’t close them. When it’s windy out I just can’t see, my eyes fill with tears. My eyes are so dry so they need to tear up to be protected from the elements.
“When I get tired, the bottom of my eye droops. I’ll be driving and will have to pull over at services and shut my eyes because I’ll be driving as if I’ve had no sleep for a week. You can see one of my eyeballs more than the other.
“I got a turkey neck, it wobbles, and they didn’t tighten my muscles. I have scars on the back of my ear and earlobe so I can’t put earpods in my ear and it is still painful. It’s like a five-year-old’s done it. I’m really deflated because my sleeve was such a success I thought I was going to look like something straight out of a Snapchat filter.”
Now, Joanne said the surgery – which included as blepharoplasty, or eyelid lift – has knocked her confidence as she does not like to leave the house and uses makeup to cover her scars. The hospital coordinator reportedly recommended that Joanne had a fat graft, which has left her feeling like a ‘cartoon character’.
When Joanne got in touch with the hospital she was reportedly told that her scarring was normal and to wait 12 months for them to heal. However, the hospital reportedly ignored Joanne’s emails after the 12-month period.
Joanne said: “I’m not rich, I was saving up and gave things up, and I was really excited for the surgery. One side of my scars is different from the other, as if two different people were stitching me up for quickness.
“I’ve practised makeup, without it I feel like a mess. I don’t like going out of the house, if anyone sees me without makeup, they straight away say, you look ‘tired’.
“The fat graft made me look like a cartoon character, it’s changed how I look. It just made my face flat and weird. I’ve sent them pictures every month and they kept saying to wait 12 months. Now they’re just ignoring me.”
Now, the mum wants to raise awareness of the risks involved with operations abroad. Joanne said: “What made me suspicious was before I went in is that I couldn’t find any before and after photographs of the surgeon’s work. I remember he fobbed me off to the point that I believed him. I was excited about what I was going to have done and ignored my gut feeling.
“I’ve been so frustrated, I want to scream to other girls and say don’t do it. The recovery was horrendous, there was no aftercare. That hospital is a butcher’s shop.”