They’ve been used in medicine since ancient times, but these days, leeches aren’t often required on the operating table.
But when doctors needed to improve the blood flow around an 80s pin-up’s nipples during her seventh boob job, the critters were the solution.
Dr Terry Dubrow and Dr. Paul Nassif performed the gruesome procedure to remove 56-year-old Tawny Kitaen’s breast implants on Thursday night’s season final of E! reality series Botched.
It was her seventh and final boob job to get back Tawny’s ‘natural’ breasts after six previous augmentations.
Tawny Kitaen has had six boob jobs to make her breasts larger but after complications, she asked the Botched doctors to remove her implants
The doctors used leeches to drain blood and improve the flow around her nipples after surgery
The beauty, who rose to fame in the late Eighties by playing a seductress in a music video for rock band Whitesnake, wanted rid of her breast implants after a series of complications.
But when the doctors needed to drain blood from the nipples during the complicated surgery, they needed to use leeches.
When they broke the news to Tawny, she exclaimed: ‘Oh my God!’
But she couldn’t feel a thing while the critters were attached to her nipples, as the animals have an anesthetic in their saliva.
Tawny’s implants were successfully removed after the gruesome surgery (right) after the implants had fallen down ‘through the mesh’ (left)
We may think of leeches as medieval but they actually are still used in modern medicine to drain blood
The doctors attached leeches to Tawny’s nipples during the procedure to improve the blood flow
Tawny had requested the help of the Botched doctors because of complications during her fifth and sixth augmentations.
‘So when I was under, the doctors took the liberty of putting in the size that they felt was going to suit me. And then it gets worse,’ she explained.
‘So I go back to the doctors and say they’re too big. They say, “Great. We’ll take them out and make your implants smaller.”‘
But they did not sit well and six months later they started slipping through the mesh.
‘Now the implants are like down to the bottom of my rib cage,’ said the former pinup.
Tawny said she felt like herself again after the implants had been taken out
Tawny exclaimed ‘oh boy’ when she heard the leeches would be attached to her breasts
The doctors asked Tawny how much on a scale of one to 10 she wanted the implants removed. Tawny said ’10’
The gruesome leech procedure was worth it in the end as Tawny came away implant free.
Tawny explained that she is not even sure why she got implants in the first place.
‘It must have been something inside myself when I wasn’t feeling secure enough about myself and thought this will take care of the problem,’ she said.
She added: ‘Before my surgery I was derailed by the boob train. I felt like I was in the wrong body, especially when you’re considered a sex symbol.
‘Now I’m back on track and I’m implant free and I feel like me,’ Tawny said. ‘I’m so elated that I can do a back handspring on a Ferrari!’
Kitaen began her acting career in 1983 with a minor role in the television movie Malibu which led to a part with Tom Hanks in the film Bachelor Party.
Tawny was a music video pin-up in the 80s (pictured left in 1994) and was married to Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale after appearing in one of their music videos
She rose to fame in the late 80s by playing a seductress in a music video for rock band Whitesnake
But it was her roles in music videos that made her a mini legend in the Nineties.
She appeared in several videos for Whitesnake, including the hits Here I Go Again, Still of the Night, Is This Love, and The Deeper The Love.
She dated Whitesnake’s lead singer, David Coverdale, when she made most of their videos. They wed in 1989 but when she reportedly had an affair with OJ Simpson, her marriage ended.
Tawny and David divorced in 1991.
Kitaen was married to baseball player Chuck Finley from 1997 to 2002. She has two daughters, Wynter Finley and Raine Finley.
She had small parts in TV shows and then in 2006 she entered the world of reality TV.
Kitaen was one of the cast of the sixth edition of the VH1 reality television show The Surreal Life.
In 2008 she went on the VH1 reality TV show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. She also starred with Marla Maples, ex-wife of President Donald Trump, as well as Shar Jackson and Angie Everhart on Ex Wives.