The cosmetic surgery industry in the UK is booming.
100,000 nips and tucks were carried out last year
with patients shelling out an estimated £2.3 billion
in a bid to achieve perfection.
The operations, refinement, retouching,
tearing and re-draping in order to achieve the end goal.
At least 5% going under the knife
will end up with botched-up bodies.
It looks awful.
It's horrible.
Now I am disfigured.
I was talking about having a designer vagina,
he ended up giving me a dustbin.
I've got one nipple, and the other nipple, it looks like a piece of pepperoni.
It's just ruined my life.
In this series, we follow Britain's top plastic surgeons,
as they work to sort out the problems.
It's a very seductive solution.
But people need to realise that this is not a game.
It's something that can seriously damage them.
It can be absolutely devastating.
Managing expectations is a very important element.
It's always about compromise. They're not gonna have the perfect body.
Can these surgical disasters be repaired?
Will they ever get the boobs, faces,
teeth, and tums they want?
Fast food is more often than not
the fast route to excess fat.
And fat makes us fat.
Obesity rates in Britain are soaring,
with nearly a quarter of adults now classed as clinically obese.
As waistlines have increased,
so have the number of gastric band operations.
But many people are discovering
that what they thought would be a quick fix, is anything but.
33-year-old Katrina Holmes, a travel agent from Kent,
had a gastric bypass to tackle her burgeoning waistline.
It worked, and she said goodbye to 14 stone of excess weight,
but hello to three-quarters of a stone
of excess skin.
It looks awful.
It's all wibbly wobbly, and sort of all over the place.
Katrina has battled with her weight for as long as she can remember.
I was always overweight as a child.
It never got any better. I tried diets galore,
I tried everything, and nothing seemed to work.
30 stone, and morbidly obese,
she approached the NHS for help.
They offered her a gastric bypass.
To start off with after the bypass was fine.
But after about the seven, eight stone,
I'd realised that there was a lot more skin than there was.
And I sort of assumed that going to the gym a lot more
would probably help, you know, try and tone up.
But I find it embarrassing to run just because of the skin movement.
There's so much, that it makes noises when it moves.
It's not great.
Katrina returned to the hospital
that carried out the original surgery, thinking that they would help.
I applied twice,
and both times they declined.
Though unsightly, Katrina's excess skin posed no risk to her health.
As a result her local NHS Primary Care Trust
considered her case to be a cosmetic procedure
and cosmetic surgery for non-clinical reasons
is not available on the NHS.
It was a decision that left Katrina with mixed feelings.
I would say it is successful for the fact that I've lost the 15 stone,
which I'm really happy about
but I am left with so much skin
that I feel that part is just not completed.
Determined to achieve her goal and finish the job,
Katrina has decided to seek private treatment.
Right, let's have a wee look.
Patrick Mallucci is a specialist in aesthetic surgery.
Katrina hopes he can finish the job
and give her the body she's been striving for.
I can tell you now
that you're not gonna get this corrected in one operation.
Cos you can't deal with all of this excess at the same time.
It's not the news Katrina was hoping for.
She has to have not one, but two operations
with a price tag of nearly £9,000.
Looking at the excess that she has,
I think this will make a very dramatic change to her life.
Later, Katrina's operation.
Will she end up with the body she's always wanted?
We live in a world obsessed with perfection,
and the drive to be perfect is resulting in more and more people
desperately seeking to nip, tuck,
and improve substandard bodies.
The most popular reason for going under the knife
is breast surgery and it's no longer just the reserve of women.
Last year, over 30% more men
chose to have their man boobs removed.
Men like 38-year-old Mark Jones, an office manager from Liverpool.
He thought getting rid of his would be easy.
One operation and he's be moob free.
But five operations later,
rather than perfect pecs, he's got a mangled chest.
It does look like I've been attacked by a shark.
I've got two big hefty scars on my chest, and they look quite angry scars.
But if that wasn't enough,
his left nipple died and had to be removed.
I've got one nipple,
and the other nipple, it looks like a piece of pepperoni.
Since his teens, Mark has struggled
with his burgeoning bust line.
In secondary school I had a nick name,
which was "Tits", and it was, obviously, because of the man boobs.
Around 50% of teenage boys
develop gynaecomastia, or moobs.
It's caused by a sudden increase in sex hormones.
For the majority, their boy boobs
disappear in six months to two years.
Unfortunately, that was not the case for Mark.
I knew they were there, but I tried to hide them by wearing
big clothes, hoodies, jumpers. It did upset me.
Surgery wasn't an easy decision, I haven't got a big pain threshold.
So, for me to actually go through with this was huge,
from a confidence point of view.
The surgeon told me this is what could go wrong,
Erm, but you never think it's gonna go wrong.
Luck was not on his side,
and he was to find himself in the 5% of cases
that result in complications.
During the initial operation,
the blood flow to his left nipple was damaged
as a result it died and had to be removed.
A new nipple was then constructed
from tissue harvested from mark's leg.
Five operations later,
and Mark is no closer to the chest he wants.
The last 12 months have been an absolute nightmare.
It's not what I wanted at the end of the day, you know.
I'm still ashamed to take my top off.
Determined to achieve his goal,
Mark has once again summoned the courage to seek help,
fully aware it may lead to more operations.
Richard Young is a specialist in reconstructive surgery.
Mark hopes that he can finish the job
and give him the chest he's been striving for.
Now, is there any pain at all in the breast area?
No.
The reduced blood supply in Mark's nipple area
rules out further surgery for the time being,
as there's a significant risk
it too would fail
but it's not the only option open to Mark.
We make nipples in two ways.
-The first is to think about a tattoo. - Yeah.
And have that matched as best possible to the other side.
That gives you colour,
but it doesn't necessarily give you any projection.
Yeah.
The final thing to think about is not looking for any surgery at all,
but to see one of my colleagues
who makes spare parts or prosthetics.
It can be stuck on the skin
to match the position of the other one.
That might be something that we might look at.
- OK. - OK.
Will he choose a tattoo or a prosthetic to replace his missing nipple?
We'll find out at his next consultation.
Coming up - Katrina's operation.
We're trying to re-tailor all this excess cloth.
The woman whose face has been destroyed by cosmetic filler.
My cheek come very big like balls.
And the permanent dental implants that were anything but.
Well, that's all rotting away there.
33-year-old Katrina, from Kent,
is at the Weymouth Hospital in London's Marylebone.
She was left with a huge amount of excess skin
following gastric band surgery on the NHS.
With her local hospital refusing treatment,
she's had to go private.
I can't live with the excess skin.
I know it doesn't restrict me with what I'm doing,
but at the same time it does restrict me sort of up here.
Now, if you come toward me.
Katrina will be undergoing a four-hour operation
performed by aesthetic surgeon Patrick Mallucci.
Today is about, you know, this really.
The area between these lines
is all going to come away.
This skin here is gonna get pulled down.
We'll pull your belly button up and through.
It's the moment Katrina has been waiting for.
- OK? - Yep.
- Ready to go? - I am indeed.
In a matter of hours,
she'll be free from the mass of excess skin she hates.
In this operation, surgeon Patrick
plans to remove the lower belt of excess skin
and reinstate Katrina's belly button.
I'm just starting our lower incision.
Patrick uses an electronic scalpel.
It cauterises as it cuts, minimising blood loss.
That's our belt of tissue segment.
Two hours into the operation
and the excess skin on Katrina's back has been removed.
So, we've finished on the back, we're just gonna close the back up.
Stitches won't need to come out, they'll just dissolve by themselves.
What dominates and torments them is this excess skin.
What we're doing is we're trying to,
literally, re-tailor
all this excess cloth.
With the wound fully closed,
it's time for the second part of the operation.
We just need to tread a little bit carefully.
I need to be comfortable that I can remove all of this
and bring the skin together.
Basically, I want to make sure
that what I cut off I can sew up.
I think, just feeling the weight of it,
I can just imagine what it must be like
walking around with this
dangling round your waist.
Total weight is 4.59 kilograms.
That's three quarters of a stone in excess skin removed.
Katrina is one step closer to the body she's dreamed of.
So, what we're doing now is
I'm just marking the hole
where the belly button's gonna come out.
Which will be nice for her,
because she hasn't seen it for a long time.
Katrina's original belly button, or umbilicus,
is inserted into a new hole created by Patrick.
That's literally the cherry on the cake.
This is the last stitch of the operation.
Good.
Operation over,
now the hard work really begins, the recovery.
Later, we discover if Katrina has the body she's always wanted.
The anti-ageing industry in the UK is worth £15 billion.
Every year we spend one billion on wrinkly busting products alone,
like cosmetic fillers.
They're used to plump up the skin, to fill in crow's feet and wrinkles,
and create fuller cheeks, and pouting lips.
Once they were the preserve of the rich and famous, but not anymore.
And more injections mean more complications.
The real problem here is
if you have a complication of a permanent filler,
you have a permanent complication. Permanent fillers should be banned.
A staggering 70%
of Britain's plastic surgeons
have reported seeing patients with problems resulting from skin fillers.
People like 46-year-old Amal Khan, a mum of three from Kuwait.
Five years ago, she had permanent cosmetic filler
injected into her face.
It caused a catastrophic infection,
which resulted in the filler going hard and lumpy.
It's left Amal disfigured and in constant pain.
My cheeks became very big,
like balls, like balls.
Little did she know, when she decided to turn back the clock,
that it would turn into a nightmare.
I was the beautiful one,
but now I don't want anybody to see me.
At first everything seemed fine,
in fact Amal was thrilled with the results.
It was perfect for two years, three years.
But it was a ticking filler timebomb,
and to make matters worse, Amal had no idea what had been injected.
I didn't ask the doctor, "What do you want to put for me?"
Just I told him
I wanted fat cheeks, that's all.
The filler injected
resulted in devastating complications.
After four unsuccessful operations in her home country to get the filler out,
Amal's come to London
to see consultant surgeon Niall Kirkpatrick,
an expert in craniofacial surgery,
in the hope that he can fix her face.
We'll just have a look around here.
Well.
It's too much pain when it became big.
And where do you get the pain?
The pain was all my face, Doctor.
OK.
There's obviously fluid here.
When filler is injected, the body surrounds it in collagen.
This encapsulation is supposed to restrict the bodies exposure
and prevent it from moving.
Sometimes however it does not,
and the filler, as in Amal's case,
migrates and becomes infected.
What we'll do is, we'll open the cheek up on that side,
look inside, wash away everything.
I'm tired, Doctor. I want everything to finish. I'm tired.
I'm sure.
And I'm paining in Kuwait, and my children when they see me like this,
they're crying too much for me.
All of my family they are crying for me.
The only course of action is to operate to try and remove the filler,
but there are no guarantees it will be successful.
We'll follow Niall as he attempts to repair Amal's disfigured face.
38-year-old Mark, from Liverpool,
suffered complications following breast reduction surgery
for his man boobs.
The scars are quite angry scars.
I've got one nipple, and the other nipple
doesn't look like a nipple, it looks like a piece of pepperoni.
It's not a nipple at all.
It's been a week since Mark's meeting with plastic surgeon Richard Young,
where he was presented with two options
to replace his missing nipple.
A permanent tattoo or a prosthetic.
Decision made, Mark is at the Charing Cross Hospital
to see Sarah Jones,
an expert in prosthetics, to be fitted for a new nipple.
What are you hoping to achieve by wearing a prosthesis?
Just to look normal really, you know,
to be identical either side, really.
At the moment it looks very different.
So, if I show you, unfortunately these are all female nipples.
It's a soft material made from silicone.
They're colour matched to the patient's skin tone.
This would be adhered using a skin adhesive.
You put it on fairly thinly.
Right.
And just put it on, it may shine through.
- You see. - Wow.
So, it's on. It's not gonna come off. Alright.
- Looks weird, doesn't it? - They do look odd.
I've got a nipple on my hand.
- It blends in beautifully with your skin. - It does, doesn't it? Yeah.
- Just peels off. - Wow.
Tuck it away from animals. Because it's silicone,
and got your scent on it, it's particularly attractive.
So, the cat may disappear off out the cat flap with it.
With my nipple.
With your nipple. We've had that happen in the past.
The process starts with Sarah making an impression
of Mark's remaining nipple.
This is so that we can copy the shape.
OK, let's peel this off.
That's weird.
So, we've got a fabulous mould
of all the little nodules that you've got on there.
And I've got the edge of your areola here.
But the shape is not the only thing to consider.
The colouring of his prosthetic nipple
is crucial if it's to look realistic.
The main bulk of it is this colour,
and then we just need the raised little area
which will be a combination of these two, I think.
OK, super. We've got all the colours we need.
What we need to do now is take an impression of your chest.
OK.
The cast is applied in two layers.
You didn't think you were gonna get plastered as well today did you?
No.
Take a deep breath.
- Fabulous. There we go. - Wow.
And we can work on it when you're not here.
Excellent.
It'll take about two weeks for Mark's new nipple to be formed.
All that's left for him to do is wait
and hope that his chest will look normal again.
If it needs lifting, tucking, smoothing,
sucking out, or puffing up,
there's a surgical solution to be had.
Implants can help to define cheeks, jaws, and chins.
Modern versions are made from body friendly materials
but that hasn't always been the case.
Farzarna Mamood, a 44-year-old mother of two from London,
turned to surgery to correct a facial deformity
caused by childhood illness.
But the implants inserted in her face were made out of materials
that would be more at home on a building site.
They caused a catastrophic infection.
I had three holes in the back of my head
with puss and blood coming out.
It ate away at her skull.
She was in constant pain, and terrified.
I thought I was gonna die.
It was in her early teens
that Farzarna began to think that she was different.
I didn't have a lot of volume in my face,
and never used to like having photographs taken.
Erm,
walked on the other side of the road, so that side would show.
When I was 16, I went into surgery,
had muscle taken from my head into my face,
and two implants to rebuild the face.
I want to look like that again.
I was happy that time, very happy.
I look like an actress.
Things started well, but it wasn't to last.
The implants caused multiple catastrophic infections,
leaving Farzarna disfigured.
Desperate, she turned to the NHS for help.
Maxillofacial surgeon Jonathan Collier
at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital was tasked with repairing the damage.
The implants were so badly infected,
there was only one course of action available,
and that was to remove them.
It would take over a year for Farzarna to heal.
She is now at long last ready to embark on the next stage of the process.
New implants are needed to correct the damage
and rebuild her face.
I'm expecting it will be three stages.
And they will be separated
probably by a minimum of three months.
Just patience and we'll work towards the right result for you.
Thank you.
Farzarna is about to embark on a course of treatment
that she hopes will change not only her face,
but also her life.
Coming up, Katrina's new body is revealed.
Let's have a little look.
A shock discovery in Amal's filler filled face.
I have never seen anything like this.
And a new nipple is fitted.
It's amazing.
Increasing numbers of women are suffering disfigurement
as a result of botched cosmetic filler injections.
Women like mum of three Amal.
Hers caused an infection that spread from her face to her neck.
Alright, off to sleep. Everything's fine.
Today, Amal will be undergoing an operation,
in the hope she will be rid of the filler in her face once and for all.
I hope I will be coming through it because, you know,
I have three children and they need me. Really they need me.
But there's no guarantee the surgery will be successful,
and that surgeon Niall Kirkpatrick will be able to remove all the filler
and improve the look of Amal's botched face.
Problem with these filler materials
is that you can't get rid
of every last bit of filler material.
So, there's always the potential
that little remnants could become infected.
There's no such thing as
complete reassurance here.
It's about managing a difficult situation as best you can.
I'm just sucking out some of this fluid.
It's most unusual, isn't it? What's coming out.
Much more liquid than usual.
OK, could I send some of this off
for culture and sensitivity, and some to chemistry.
Culture and sensitivity are tests to find out
what kind of organism is causing the infection,
and how best to treat it.
Niall opens Amal's cheek to clear out the infection.
He then plans to remove as much of the filler as possible.
So, can you see there's like a sheet
of glistening tissue here that I'm lifting off
that's not meant to be there.
I have never seen anything like this.
I mean, normally the bile comes in,
in sort of clumps of stuff, not forming a sheet like this.
The tissue found in her face
is sent to pathologist Nick Francis for testing.
Only time will tell what he'll discover.
With her infection now cleared, Niall can close the wound.
It's a very seductive solution, somebody having filler injected.
It's just wanting to make a face a little bit more beautiful.
It only takes a few seconds to put some filler in,
but it can lead to a lifetime of misery.
After five hours,
Amal's operation is finally over.
Thank you, Doctor.
You're really welcome. It's all gone really well. It's all good.
Try not to touch it, Amal, you've got dressings on there, OK?
Everything's fine.
It'll be a few days before the swelling goes down,
and months before Amal will know if she's safe from further infection.
Meanwhile, the extensive tests will continue
in a bid to identify the fibrous tissue that's been removed from her face.
I've been a pathologist 30 years
and never seen anything quite as extensive as this.
Liverpudlian Mark is at London's Charing Cross Hospital
to be fitted with a prosthetic to replace the nipple he lost
after complications following his moob job.
- Here we have it. - Wow.
When it's on your skin tone it will blend in nicely.
OK.
I'll need to do a tiny bit of tinting,
so I'll just ask you if you could slip a gown on for me,
- and we'll take it from there. - OK, great.
Prosthetics expert Sarah
adds the final shading to mark's new nipple
to ensure it looks realistic.
Then it's the moment of truth.
OK. Do you want to go and have a look in the mirror.
Wow.
It's amazing. Just perfect.
You can go swimming and to the gym
with the adhesive on and it will stay put.
The new prosthetic will affect my life
massively in terms of confidence.
You know, I can do all the things that I haven't been able to do.
Mark has two nipples and looks normal again.
He's able to remove his shirt in public without being self-conscious.
Gone is the piece of pepperoni,
and in its place, a realistic nipple.
It might only be a small addition to his body,
but it will make a huge difference to his life.
Going to the gym now, with the tops that I do wear,
then I will look normal.
You know, I couldn't ask for anything more.
In the time that I've been working with prosthetics and splints,
the technology has moved on tremendously,
and who knows what we'll be able to do
in ten, 15 years' time.
You know, I've got what I wanted and, you know,
I was quite down in myself thinking, you know,
is this the way I'm gonna look for the rest of my life?
And thankfully, no, you know, I've got two nipples,
I look normal, and that's all I can ask for.
Our love of all things celebrity
means that we're becoming ever more image conscious.
Everybody wants the perfect smile.
In fact 56% of us
would consider treatment to achieve dental perfection.
Implants are, to many, the perfect solution
to missing and misshaped teeth.
But they don't come cheap.
34-year-old Machel Alan, an ex-soldier from Cardiff,
dreamed of replacing his dentures with implants
but the sky-high price tag always stood in his way.
Six months ago, his dental dream turned into a nightmare,
when he found a dentist offering implants
for the bargain price of £750 each.
I sold my car to get this done
and I end up doing it the wrong way,
because I went to some people
which I don't think they know what they're doing.
My teeth are loose,
sometimes when I'm eating I'm scared it's gonna come out.
His new teeth also changed colour when he ate.
A real problem for curry loving Machel.
I can't go out, because if I go out I just think about
maybe something is gonna happen.
So, I just stay indoors.
Unhappy with his treatment,
Machel has decided to seek a second opinion,
in a bid to finally find out what's wrong.
Afternoon, my name's Dr Anthony Zybutz, nice to meet you.
Harley Street dental surgeon Anthony Zybutz
is a leader in the field of advanced aesthetic dentistry,
and an expert in fixing botched dental work.
OK, let's take a look.
An infection leaking out of the gums there.
Wow, that's all moving,
that's all rocking away there.
So, I'm afraid the bad news
is that I would say all the implants have failed.
It's not just one that's in the wrong place,
they're all not working.
The CT scan clearly shows
that his original dentist missed the bone in each,
rendering them useless.
So, it's a bit like if you put up a shelf
and you had some solid wood screws going into the wall,
and all those supports are flapping about in the wall.
Dental implants use titanium anchors that fuse with the jaw bone,
replicating the natural root structure of the tooth.
A bridge is then attached, as a result they're more secure,
and more comfortable than removable dentures.
If they miss the bone, as in Machel's case,
then they are rendered useless.
It's literally the gums just about holding the teeth in place.
There's active infection, this means that very slowly,
the bone around the implants is being eaten away.
The longer we leave it, the more difficult the job will be.
Examination over, it's not good news.
The only course of treatment is to start again.
His botched dental job cost £3,000.
It's gonna cost 9,000 to put it right.
It really is a ticking timebomb.
Machel's teeth could fall out at any time.
Later, Machel says a painful goodbye
to his botched dental work.
It's been six weeks since Katrina's operation
to remove three-quarters of a stone of excess skin
from around her waist.
She's returned to London for a consultation
with surgeon Patrick Mallucci.
Let's have a little look.
Fabulous.
Wow. That looks great, Katrina.
It really does.
Now that's all healed well as well, that's great.
That looks so good. Fabulous.
It's very easy to forget
where you came from
- when you look now... - It's such a big difference.
..from that huge apron has just...
- Completely gone. - It's just all gone.
You probably can't even remember what it was like having it now.
It's true because it's been, obviously, five weeks now,
and you look down and you think, well, that's normal.
But, of course, that wasn't normal.
Yeah, that's great.
- Fab. - Thank you.
The first part of Katrina's transformation
has been a resounding success.
The lower skirt of excess skin is no more,
and in its place a flat stomach.
And for the first time in years, she has a belly button.
The upper skirt will be removed in a second operation,
when she is fully healed.
Katrina's battle to be free of the weight
she has carried since childhood, is nearing its end.
To look down now and see a flat stomach, it's fantastic.
I'm so pleased with what's happened.
It's a miracle really, yeah. I'm loving it.
At the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital,
Farzarna is about to have her face reconstructed,
following a series of catastrophic infections
caused by facial implants.
Maxillofacial surgeon Jonathan Collier is operating.
He plans to fix a new implant into Farzarna's right jaw.
It's made from a material
that's not harmful or toxic to living tissue,
unlike her old implants.
Once in place, he'll add volume to her face
using fat harvested from her own stomach.
So, we're just wriggling the implant
into the correct position now.
These are usually so well designed that when they get to the right place,
they just clip into place.
That's the yellow of the bone, the creamy green the implant,
and there are two little screws that are anchoring it to the bone,
so it's not gonna move around.
The foundations are starting to take shape.
With the new implant securely in place,
Jonathan moves to the next stage of the operation
in the area around Farzarna's right temple.
Essentially, what we're doing is just replacing the tissue
that was originally there.
Jonathan pads out the area around her temple with surgical mesh,
to add the missing volume.
And that's the shape that we want to do.
Three hours into the operation and Jonathan uses the fibrous membrane
covering her skull as a natural filler.
As it's harvested from Farzana's body,
there's no risk of it being rejected.
I think that's definitely improved that.
Right.
I'm happy that she's certainly fuller and it's smoother here now.
Five hours down, and the majority of the operation is over.
All that's left is to add bulk to Farzarna's face
using fat harvested from her stomach.
Little bits of fat into little spaces,
so that will then pick up a blood supply.
And this is not going to be a perfect contour for her,
but that's at least starting to get things going.
It's been seven hours and Farzarna's operation is over.
I would say pleased with the way it went,
and we just have to wait and see.
To ensure that it heals without any evidence of infection
and then we'll review the situation in a few months' time.
Now the long process of recovery starts.
Two weeks have passed since Farzarna's surgery,
and she's back at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
to see surgeon Jonathan to check up on progress.
- So, it's lovely to see you. - Thank you.
What do you think of your appearance?
Happy, and when the swelling goes down,
I will see a difference.
Yes, I mean things will change over the next few months.
Early signs are good.
The lower implant is now in place, but she has more procedures ahead.
The first of which will be the insertion of a second implant
to rebuild her right cheek.
We are only at the start of a journey for her,
and I think it's not until we get to the end of that journey,
that we will know how things turn out.
I can't say in words about Jonathan.
He's helped me out so much.
I'm so grateful from the bottom of my heart.
Coming up - a botched dental job exposed.
And you see the implants, you see underneath there.
And Amal's filler free face is revealed.
Amal's operation to remove cosmetic filler from her face,
resulted in an alien piece of fibrous tissue
being removed from her cheek.
I have never seen anything like this.
It's been down to pathologist Nick Francis
to work out exactly what it is.
We've got an inflammatory response,
which is the body's reaction to an abnormal situation,
clearly related to the presence
of this gel-type substance.
The substance was a sheet of filler covered in collagen.
Filler normally forms in clumps.
Neither surgeon Niall, or pathologist Richard,
have ever seen a body react in this way before.
In my over 30 years of practising now,
I've seen a number of cases of reactions to foreign material,
and some to identifiable cosmetic type fillers.
But I don't recall having seen anything
quite as extensive as we see in this case.
It's been a week since Amal's operation,
and she is finally ready for surgeon Niall Kirkpatrick
to take her stitches out.
That's all looking very healthy, Amal.
It looks hugely better.
I hope so.
No, it really does, you look much more symmetrical.
Do you want to have a look in a mirror?
Let me get you one.
This is the scar that we've cut through.
You're, obviously, quite bruised from all the fat,
and it's a bit swollen as well.
And then on this side, this is all from the bandaging.
This will smooth, I just want you to massage.
Just gentle massage with some cream.
And over the next few days the little wrinkles will disappear.
By next week it will look quite different actually.
It'll be looking much smoother and more regular.
I hope so. I hope so.
Amal's scars may heal well,
but only time will tell if there's any filler left behind.
I think Amal exemplifies for me
the dangers of permanent fillers.
In that here you have a very attractive lady in her prime,
wishing to make herself more beautiful.
Who has a simple procedure done,
and as a consequence her life is completely destroyed
with several years of terrible infections
that have devastated her face.
It's been two years since Amal's struggle with her filler began.
She is finally ready to return to Kuwait to see her children,
and can only pray
that there is no more filler left in her face.
I have learned that the most
better thing in the world is the health.
I don't want to be beautiful, I just want to be healthy.
It's been a long journey, and one Amal hopes will end here.
Beautiful is not everything for the lady.
I need good health
to stay in my life with my family and my children.
That's all.
34-year-old Machel went for the cheap option
when seeking out a dentist to replace his dentures with implants.
He ended up paying a high price.
Wow, that's all rocking away there.
Today, Machel will be undergoing a gruelling five-hour operation,
performed by brothers Anthony and Michael Zybutz.
Together they will repair the botched job
left by his previous dentist, and he'll be awake throughout.
First the old implants are removed
by specialist periodontist Michael.
It takes good old-fashioned brute strength
to remove the bridge, as that at least was securely fixed.
And there you see the implants, you see how loose they are?
None of these have integrated with the bone.
If they had integrated with the bone, which is what all implants need to do,
then they would be completely immobile.
The infection in Machel's mouth has been treated with antibiotics,
meaning it's safe for the new implants to be inserted
but the procedure will still be difficult.
One hour in, and the first of the two implants is in place.
It is tight in the bone.
In the botch job, four implants were used,
all of which missed the jaw bone.
Michael plans to use two.
Inserted correctly, they will be more than enough
to provide a solid anchor for Machel's new teeth.
One hour, 30 minutes in and they've hit a problem.
Sorry.
Was that on the inside there suddenly? Has it gone?
Sorry, Machel.
We're just looking at how much bone there is
for this implant and there's not very much.
If Michael can't fix a second implant securely,
this operation will fail
and Machel will have to return for further surgery.
A fraction of a millimetre out
and it won't be embedded fully into Machel's infection ravaged jaw bone.
Right.
Implant successfully fitted,
it's time for the second part of the operation to begin.
Let's get you fixed up, come on bring you through.
Aesthetic dentist Anthony Zybutz takes over.
Things start with the most important question of the day.
Do you want those front teeth a little brighter,
- or should they blend in a little more? - A bit whiter.
- Little bit whiter, OK. - Yeah.
This is the actually temporary filling material.
This is what we're gonna make your new teeth from.
It takes about three minutes for the tooth-coloured acrylic to set.
Then they're finished to resemble real teeth.
Beautiful. That's looking
like you've never had teeth missing from that area.
Gone is the substandard dental work that caused him so much distress.
And in their place is a gleaming set of teeth.
When we first met,
you was so worried they were wobbling that they were about to fall out.
- I think it looks amazing. - Yeah, I think so too, yeah.
Machel no longer has a botched mouth
and can look to the future with a big smile on his face,
safe in the knowledge that his teeth will now stay firmly in place.
Society's grown obsession with perfection
has seen more and more people taking risks,
as a result, they've ended up with a botched body
rather than a beautiful one.
It does look like I've been attacked by a shark.
Ask about the complications, not just the good side.
It was horrendous.
Very painful.
I'm gonna cry.
It's terribly important that the NHS is there
to get their life back on track.
Luckily, the UK boasts some of the best surgeons in the world,
on hand to repair, reconstruct and restore.
To look down now and see a flat stomach, it's fantastic.
You know, I've got what I wanted, and I was quite down in myself thinking,
you know, is this the way I'm gonna look for the rest of my life?
And thankfully, no.
- Fantastic. - Well worth it, Dawn.
It certainly was. I'm over the moon.
The only people who never have any problems,
are the people who never do any surgeries.