Woman's regret over botched Brazilian butt lift

A Kent woman said she was in "agony" after a botched Brazilian butt lift (BBL) left her with a "gaping wound".

Josephina Finch from Canterbury said she wanted to have the procedure because she "liked a curvy look" and "having an hourglass figure".

The 38-year-old added she had done her research for about three years before deciding to fly to Spain for the operation in October 2024, believing it would be safe.

Finch said she "woke up screaming" after the surgery.

"It was very painful, it felt like you've been hit by a bus," she said. "Nothing would prepare you to understand how much pain I was in."

Finch said after the surgery she had to lay on her front and was only allowed to stand up for one hour a day.

She added she had sores on her elbows from being on her front and was scheduled to remain in the clinic for two weeks.

However, the mother-of-three started feeling "very ill" seven days later.

"My bum felt like it was boiling, I felt like I had a fever," she said.

Finch said she went back to the clinic and was put on a drip.

"The staff saw fluid coming out the incision hole at the top of my bum where the implant was put in," she added.

She said the scar had not healed and there was a "gaping hole", and the implant site was infected.

She added the surgeon only removed the implant eight days later as he had been away.

Finch said the surgeon wanted her to have the implant washed and put back in, but she said she just wanted to return home to her children.

"I wouldn't have been worried if I had one bum cheek dragging on the floor. I didn't care at that point, I just wanted to go home," she said.

She said the experience had been "absolute hell", adding it took her six months before she could lay on her back again.

"The depression and the anxiety I've had from this stupid decision to try and alter my posterior, it just wasn't worth it," she said.

Finch said cosmetic surgeries such as BBL should not be allowed.

"These types of surgeries are too risky, yet it's still so accessible," she said.

"It took me six months until I could feel happy again, just emotionally.

"This was the worst mistake of my life."

Earlier in February, a cross-party group of MPs said tighter restrictions were needed immediately on high-risk cosmetic procedures such as liquid BBLs.

Currently there is no regulation over who can provide procedures which do not involve incisions.

The Women and Equalities Committee said this had created a "wild west" market with procedures, including liquid breast enlargements, reportedly being done in holiday lets, hotel rooms, garden sheds and public toilets.

The committee said only doctors should be allowed to carry out high-risk cosmetic procedures because of the risks involved.

That would act as a de facto ban as doctors would only perform them in the most essential cases, the MPs say.

The government has proposed a similar measure, but has yet to confirm when the restrictions will come into place.

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