A woman who went under the knife to "feel confident" for her 40th birthday says she's been left with rotting flesh and no nipples.
Lyndsay Colosimo, 38, says she found herself almost £30,929 ($40,000) in debt after claiming the cosmetic surgery in May went badly wrong.
Ms Colosimo, from Florida, US, travelled to Colombia to have a tummy tuck and bum lift for £7,700 ($10,000) - a fraction of the US price.
But to her horror just days after the surgery Lyndsay says the flesh around her wound began rotting and turning black.
She said: "I was in surgery for five and a half hours, when I woke up, I didn't feel right and a doctor was nowhere to be seen.
"My legs felt numb and I began vomiting uncontrollably - it was the worst pain of my life.
"It continued for a few days and I could see a black spot under my bandage, but I was told it was dried blood and not to worry by medics.
"I knew in my heart it wasn't as I was getting worse by the day - eventually I saw what was under the bandage and 30 percent of my nipple was black.”
Lyndsay claims she was diagnosed with necrosis - when cells die due to disease, injury, or failure of the blood supply - leading to the removal of her milk duct three weeks after the first op.
Lyndsay was scheduled to stay in Colombia for 20 days to recover from surgery but stayed on for a further 12 after further complications.
She says she had open wounds on her breasts as the implant pockets weren’t big enough, as if, “the incision was made for a C-cup and DD was shoved in”.
She added: "My skin started breaking open, it was terrifying to see. I had a fever and continued to show signs of infections and encouraged to walk around whereas usually people are told to rest after surgery.
"My stomach began to fill with fluid and puss would seep out of my belly button and massage therapists were sent to my hotel room with razor blades to cut open the incisions and massage the fluids out.”
Upon her return to the US, Lyndsay, who works as an insurance underwriter, went straight to hospital and now claims an E.coli infection was found in her breast and revision surgery was needed on her stomach.
By the time she was discharged from hospital on November 20 her medical bills had rocketed to £30,929 ($40,000).
Lindsay had treatment in Colombia to reduce the cost but had she stayed in the US for the initial surgery the bill would have come to £27,700 ($35,000).
She added: ”This infection almost cost me my life - I developed cellulitis and I am still in constant pain at the incision point.
Lindsay dreamt of feeling comfortable in a bathing suit and “go run around and look cute”.
But now she says she even feels uncomfortable wearing a dress and feels ashamed about her decision, realising her body was "good enough" as it was.
Lindsay has shared her story on social media to discourage other women from having the surgery.
One of her motivations for sharing the story, she says, is that she researched the surgeon and the credibility of the surgery before signing up and had only seen positive reviews.
She even talked with a lot of other girls who had gone under the surgeon’s knife and had their desired outcome.
