A mother-of-four has revealed how her boob job, which was done by an Australian doctor, left her with a serious infection and lopsided breasts.
Samantha Humm from the Gold Coast said she dreamed of having breast implants since she was 19, and that she jumped at the chance after seeing an ad on Facebook offering affordable surgery.
The 30-year-old told 9Honey she didn’t want to have the procedure overseas because she had heard that the doctors ‘could be dodgy.’
Gold Coast-based Samantha Humm (pictured) said she jumped at the chance to have surgery after seen an ad online
She said she attended a consultation, chose a breast size, signed paperwork and booked in for the procedure.
Ms Humm said she didn’t research her choice of surgeons extensively because she thought she would be covered by regulation as her doctor was based in Australia.
Her operation was carried out in 2015, and the Gold Coast mum said at first everything seemed fine.
‘They were healing really well. I wasn’t in much pain and they looked really good.’
However, two weeks into her recovery Ms Humm said she noticed her left breast had reddened and she had started to feel pain.
Two weeks after her surgery, Ms Humm said she notice her left breast had started to become red and was feeling pain
She said she didn’t think too much of these changes at first and put them down to being part of the healing process.
It wasn’t until she had a shower and was drying herself that she noticed how much her left breast had swelled, and there was now fluid seeping out of a wound.
She made a call to her cosmetic surgeon to alert him to the situation, but because it was a Friday she claims he told her he wouldn’t be able to see her until the following Monday.
Samantha Humm (right) said although her left breast was leaking fluid her doctor assured her this was part of the healing process
At her appointment, her doctor took a swab and assured her it was part of the healing process.
But Ms Humm said her breast continued to swell, was painful and was still leaking fluid – so much so she had to wear pads in her bra.
She said she became very concerned about the state of her breast after it turned black, and that she had started ‘freaking out’ because now silicone was coming out of it too.
Doctors at Ms Humm’s local hospital were horrified by her breast job, telling her they had never seen anything like it
‘I was actually pulling it out with my fingers out of my breast,’ she revealed.
She said she sent her doctor a photo to show him how bad things had become and that he had told her to come into his rooms the following week.
Instead, Ms Humm said she went to her local hospital who told her they’d never seen anything like it – telling her she looked like she been ‘butchered’ and that her doctor had done ‘a horrible job.’
On the hospital’s recommendation, she returned to her original doctor and had her left implant removed at a further cost of $2,000.
On the hospital’s recommendation, Ms Humm (left) returned to her original doctor and had her left implant removed at a further cost of $2,000
Her left breast developed another infection, and while this eventually healed, she was told she would need to pay a further $2,000 to have the implant put back in.
She said she made the decision not to do this and was left with a saggy breast with nothing in it, and one with an implant that ‘was a horrible job.’
The mother-of-four had the right implant removed just three weeks ago, after years of living with mismatched, lopsided breasts.
While Ms Humm has since made contact with other dissatisfied patients of the same doctor through Facebook, she wasn’t aware previously there had been multiple complaints made.
In September 2017, Jean Huang, 35, died after an allegedly botched cosmetic procedure at a salon in NSW
Although it’s not known whether Ms Humm’s surgeon was practising without adequate qualifications – this is an issue those in the industry say is a serious problem.
As a result women are suffering disfigurement, depression and, in some rarer, cases death.
Last year, Jean Huang, 35, died after an allegedly botched cosmetic procedure at a salon in NSW.
In 2008, 28-year-old Lauren Edgar from Adelaide died from a bacterial infection resulting from a liposuction procedure.
And in 2007, Melbourne-based Lauren James, died after complications from liposuction on her legs and buttocks.
According to Associate Professor Gazi Hussain, the Vice President of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, the industry isn’t properly regulated and this is leading to significant issues across Australia.
‘We’ve really seen this increasing number of practitioners who are not trained in surgery, let alone in plastic surgery who are undertaking procedures, and it is primarily because the area is unregulated.’