A second British woman has reportedly died after receiving “Brazilian butt lift” surgery
The unnamed woman who is in her 20s, died this year and an inquest into her death is due to take place within the next 12 months, the BBC reports.
It comes as the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) warns that as many as one in 3,000 people who undergo the risky procedure die.
And on Thursday BAAPS announced it was recommending all members refrain from performing the surgery until more data is collected.
It also cited one study which found a six-fold rise in cases needing urgent follow-up care at a single UK NHS hospital. Each patient needed an average stay of 20 days, costing the hospital just under £32,500 in correcting botched abroad surgery.
BAAPS President Simon Withey said: “People are experiencing a rude awakening when they arrive back on British shores, many disappointed, and some desperately ill. Surgery is simply not something you can return at the January sales, and it should never be tied to seasonal discounts and incentives.
“Crucially, the Brazilian Buttock Lift is a complex technique, and its death rate of 1/3,000 (or as much as 1/2,000) is the highest for any aesthetic procedure. An international task force has already been assembled to analyse and hopefully prevent, future tragedies.
“So far, all BBL deaths seem to stem from injecting fat into veins, causing emboli (blockage of a blood vessel) to travel to the heart or lungs. However, at the BAAPS we will go a step further and recommend that all surgeons refrain from performing these procedures until we have more proven data.”
Withey warned that vulnerable groups of patients were being openly targeted through social media, with ads encouraging them to travel abroad for cheaper cosmetic surgery – and that the trend is likely to rise.
He added: “The outcome of having these operations away from home can be devastating. It’s not just medical history than needs evaluating, but also mental health screening, which we take very seriously at the BAAPS. Indeed, psychological wellbeing is a regular, yet critical part of our yearly Scientific Meetings.”
In August, British mother-of-three Leah Cambridge died after travelling to Turkey for the same surgery, suffering three heart attacks during the procedure.
The treatment, which reshapes the buttocks by transferring fat from areas including the stomach and back, has become an increasingly popular technique for achieving an hourglass figure.
The huge popularity of curvier celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Nicki Minaj has seen some women go to extreme lengths to emulate them.
Advocates of the Brazilian butt lift, or BBL, say it achieves results quickly and recovery is usually fast.
However, experts have repeatedly warned it carries a risk of serious complications.
Another British woman, Joy Williams, died following “buttock augmentation surgery” in Bangkok, Thailand, in October 2014.
Her wounds became infected, and the 24-year-old, from London, later died under anaesthetic.
In 2011, 20-year-old Claudia Aderotimi, from Hackney, east London, died after having a “buttock-enhancement” procedure at an American hotel.