In her search for a ’round bum’, Josephina Finch flew to Spain and spent £6,000 on a Brazilian butt lift and implants.
Just a week later, the 38-year-old mum was in agony as fluid began to ‘ooze’ out of an inch-long hole in her bottom.
“I thought I was going to die, I thought that was it, I felt so bad,” said the make-up artist from Kent.
Josephina said she now regrets her decision and said she got a “bum” from lifting weights at the gym instead of looking for an “instant” fix.
“I didn’t really have anything wrong with my bum,” she explained.
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“I just wanted something different, I liked the curvier look, so I did it.”
However, the surgery was much more exhausting than he expected, and things quickly began to go downhill over the next few days.
“I woke up screaming at one point in the operating room,” Josephina said.
She added: “After seven days they took out my drains and it was downhill.
“I started to feel very sick, I had severe pain all over my body, my bum itself was very painful.
“I felt like it wasn’t really right, I was sick. Everyone thought it was just because I was doing my bum.
“They put me on a drip to rehydrate me.”
She said: “The nurse came in and started pressing on my cheeks and a lot of fluid came out of the incision where they put the implants.
“Liters of liquid, it wasn’t just a drop, so much of it gushing out. They said my implants were infected.
Josephina was then told she would have to wait eight days to have her implants removed as her surgeon was away.
“I thought ‘I can’t live like this’, there’s a huge hole in the top of my bum where the incision hasn’t closed. It was a good inch and a half,” she said.
Josephina’s partner had to go home, while she says she waited eight days for the surgeon to return from holiday to remove them.
“It was a nightmare, it was real hell,” he said.
“It hurt, you have to lie down, you can’t stand up.”
She later developed pain in her leg and an ultrasound found a blood clot, prompting doctors to prescribe blood thinners.
Mom became more concerned when she started having “severe” chest pains a day after taking the medicine and drove herself to the hospital.
Doctors reportedly said the blood clot could have traveled to her lung and she could have died if she hadn’t requested the blood thinners.
“All just to have a slightly bigger bum”
Josephina said the experience left her with anxiety about her health and guilt about taking the risk as a mum.
“It’s given me bad anxiety, I’m worried something else is going to go wrong. It’s not worth it to be honest,” he said.
“All just to have a slightly bigger bum.”
“I will never be the same again,” she added. “I have three children and I have this guilt forever for taking this risk.
“I couldn’t have known it, but it made me realize that I can be a bum by going to the gym.”
Six months after her horror ordeal, the mom got PT and now has “a bum,” she said.
“I should have done it [go to the gym] in first place,” he said.
“I tried to take the easy way out and look perfect right away, but in reality I risked everything.”
Currently, Josephina has no blood clots.
“[But doctors] “He said if I get another clot, I’ll probably be on anticoagulants for the rest of my life,” she explained.
What are Brazilian Bum Lifts and why are they so popular?
Buttock enlargement surgery – known as a Brazilian bum-lift (BBL) – is used to make the bum look bigger, rounder and lifted.
Surgeons transfer fat, inject filler, or insert silicone-filled implants.
It is the fastest growing cosmetic procedure but also one of the most dangerous, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS).
Many patients travel to countries such as Turkey or seek unregistered surgeons in the UK and are not fully informed of the risks.
BBLs carry the highest risk of all cosmetic procedures – with more than one death per 4,000 procedures.
Because of celebrities undergoing such procedures, many women hope to emulate their appearance.
Consultant clinical psychologist Dr Anu Sayal-Bennett, Chartered Fellow of the British Psychological Society, said the BBC: “Despite the fact that there is so much about body positivity, there are pressures on women – and men too – to look a certain way.”
Many people travel abroad for the procedure because it is cheaper and the advertising is “terribly seductive”, coupled with the idea of a beach holiday, Dr Sayal-Bennett added.
