A nurse who had a boob job in Turkey is still stuck in the country seven weeks later – spending thousands to try and save her nipples and breast.
Mother-of-five Chloe Roiser, 31, went under the knife in an Antalya hospital but she could now lose her entire breast.
Chloe travelled to Turkey in April for the £3500 surgery but was forced to return at the end of May after removing her dressing which revealed a severe infection.
She is currently stuck in Turkey having spent thousands more for accommodation as she gets treatment to fight severe infection, nipple necrosis and to save her breast.
Chloe ignored warnings from her friends to undergo the surgery, which was meant to be a ‘confidence boost’.
She said: ‘I never should have touched my body at all. We’re never happy with our bodies. Now, I could potentially lose my entire breast.
‘I researched different companies. There’s only so much research you can do going abroad.
‘Everyone warned me not to go but I thought I knew best. When you do research you don’t expect something like this to happen, not something this bad.
‘I booked it at the beginning of the year, flew out in April and went straight to the hospital. Had an X-ray, blood taken. Slept overnight and the next day, they took me to a private clinic.’
The surgery on April 24 required an overnight stay, but Chloe didn’t notice anything out of place.
She said: ‘It seemed to be okay. You don’t know what to expect if you haven’t had that done before. I was on strong painkillers, I was really, really sore.
‘I had drains on my boobs I had to empty myself every day after surgery and I couldn’t really see anything, there were bandages over it all.
‘I had a course of antibiotics and painkillers for three days in the hotel they’d given us. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere and there were building works so I had to change hotels.
‘That raised a bit of red flags, they should have moved me. I couldn’t sleep and I just had surgery.’
She says at a check-up four days later ‘it all seemed fine and they re-dressed it for me’.
Her final check-up a day later before returning to her home in Wymondham, Norfolk involved a filmed review by the clinic.
She said: ‘I had a camera in my face as soon as I got out the taxi. Obviously you can’t give a review when my boobs aren’t finished.’
Doctors gave Chloe some paperwork about after-care and the former healthcare professional was cleared to return to the UK.
She said: ‘I followed all the aftercare. I have a nursing degree, I’m not silly, I know what I’m doing. They gave me all the bits and pieces I needed to redress and I did all the redressing.
‘I did notice on the boob that’s infected, the stitches looked like something was going on.
‘The tape around it was slightly raised but you couldn’t take it off so I couldn’t see anything. And I had no feeling in my nipples, so I couldn’t feel pain or anything.’
When Chloe could take the tape off her breasts at the end of May, she realised ‘the edge of my nipples were red and raised’.
She said: ‘There weren’t major signs of infection. I was putting on cream they gave me and I sent them messages – they said just keep doing the cream..’
But within a week, Chloe’s breast was visibly infected. ‘I got directly in touch with them,’ she said. ‘It’s hard, England won’t really touch them if it’s plastic surgery. Doctors said it was an infection around the stitch area. They didn’t say it was necrosis or anything.
‘But my auntie, she’s a beautician for 25 years. She was ringing me and said, that’s necrosis, you need to get that seen, you could lose your whole nipple.
‘I immediately booked flights back. I didn’t know if it was an impact infection, I didn’t know anything.
‘I’ve got four kids to deal with at home, I’m trying to arrange care. My mum is retired, she’s disabled looking after two of my sons. My son is pushing her around the supermarket in her wheelchair.
‘I’ve had to pay for two lots of flights with my daughter and partner who were worried about me. It’s not something I wanted to do on my own.
‘When the doctors saw me, they had to give me six shots of antibiotics and four local anaesthetics directly into my breasts.
‘It was a really bad infection, they had to scalpel all the infection out. They said I’d lost that part of my nipple, and they confirmed it was necrosis at that point.
‘They gave me antibiotics by injection into my boob and then two antibiotics to take for seven days.
‘I booked it for seven days thinking it’ll be all right, I’ll be going home.. They didn’t say, book a one-way ticket – they weren’t really forthcoming with any details. Then, they told me I needed to stay here longer.’
The initial £3500 price of the surgery would be on the lower end of the expected surgery price in the UK according to NHS guidance, but the problems Chloe has faced means her expenses skyrocketed.
Chloe, who used to work as a nurse until suffering health problems, said: ‘The flights in total cost me £550, I’ve got a stop-off on the way home because it was the cheapest flight and I’m not in a position to spend any more.
‘I had to move my hotel closer to the clinic because the clinic moaned about that, so I had to pay for two hotels for £1500, they’re so expensive here and you can’t really get anything cheaper.
‘Then general costs of living, food, drinks, which is a bomb. The surgery was £3500. Antibiotics I’ve paid for myself, around 30 Euros.
‘I know these complications happen but necrosis happens from lack of blood supply, it often happens because of the surgery. I’m waiting for them to give me all the documentation.
‘I’ve asked for their insurer, but I’m nervous to do it while I’m here because I’m nervous they won’t treat me.
‘I’ve got a course of antibiotics and I’m dressing the wound myself and sending photos to them, but they haven’t told me anything about when I see the doctor next. I’m totally in the dark.
‘I feel bad I’ve actually come out here and done it. People will tell me I shouldn’t have done it. It’s partly my own fault.
‘I’m feeling drained from it all, mentally and financially drained. I’ve got such bad anxiety at the moment. The doctor said to my partner, it’s not 100% the infection won’t come back.’