Cosmetic Surgery Malpractice, Woman Lost Her Hands, Legs and Buttocks
Apryl Michelle Brown, 42, mother, shared her ordeal caused by illegal silicone implants through an exclusive interview with The Sun.
Ms. Brown lost her hands, legs and buttocks because of a black-market injection which doctor found to be bathroom sealant.
She shared her story and lessons learned for giving in to the seduction of vanity.
She started her interview saying, "I want to share my story to warn others about these so-called quick fix surgeries."
She said that she did not think through about the dangers of the injection. She just wanted to have the perfect butt, "But the reality was the silicone used wasn't suitable for humans. It was, in fact, bathroom sealant only suitable for DIY."
After the injection, her body was subjected to massive allergic reaction which left her almost dead. The physical pain was tremendous that she thought of wishing she was just dead. "The only way doctors could save my life was to amputate ny buttocks, my hands and feet."
Ms. Brown shared that she had dreamt of the perfect butt since she was young. She had always been teased about her flat butt that she vowed she will have the perfect behind when she gets older. "I didn't know if I wanted mine to look like Janet Jackson or J-lo. I didn't' even know how you could do it. I just wanted a new, bigger bottom."
Dream Coming True...
Ms. Brown owns a salon where she does hairdressing herself. One day in 2004, two women came in her salon to have their hairs done.
She shared that one of the women told her that she gives bottom injections and in fact she was the one who injected the butt of the other woman with her.
Thinking that it was a miracle that she met these two women, Ms. Brown kept herself blind from the fact that the woman admitted holding "pumping parties." According to The Sun, "pumping parties" are events where unqualified practitioners inject illegal silicone into patients at their home.
Right at that very moment, Ms. Brown decided to have her butt injected by the woman despite her knowledge that the woman has no medical background. But she said, "I didn't do any research. A combination of naivety, misplaced trust and insecurity led me to take this disastrous decision."
Ms. Brown recalled that the procedure was only done inside her daughter's room. "The first procedure took an hour. I remember asking, Is it meant to be so painful and she said yes. It felt like it was squeezing through my nerves."
Apryl returned for her second injection but the pain was so terrible that she finally realised that she has done something terribly wrong.
Indeed, over the next two years, the body area where the injection was applied became hard and the skin blackened.
Waking Up to a Nightmare
As her butt continued to harden and the skin grew blacker and blacker, she endures the tremendous pain that comes with it. She said she was ashamed to come out and let other know of what she had caused her body. "As time went on it got worse as the skin blackened. I developed hard lumps. Then the searing pain started. I had to tell my doctor what I did. I was so ashamed."
Ms. Brown endured the pain for four years until a surgeon conducted a successful operation but had left a hole in her butt. "I was 24 hours from dying. I didn't think of leaving my family. It was a relief I'd finally be free of pain."
The surgeons put her into coma for two months in order to conduct 27 surgeries starting with removing her buttocks and doing skin grafting. "They saved me but gangrene set into my hands and feet. I was brought out of sedation shortly before I became a quadruple amputee."
"My hands looked like those of a dead person. I knew then I was going to lose them."
"I had dark times. I cried a sea of tears. I had to face the fact I'd lost my hands, feet and buttocks because of complications from bottom injections. I was overwhelmed by shame and guilt... all because I wanted a bigger bottom."
Ms. Brown's Message to all Women
After six months in the hospital, Ms Brown was determined to turn her bad experience into something uplifting.
"I decided to do a triathlon. I told myself if I could achieve that I could do anything. I took my first steps again by the end of 2011. I built up to training six days a week, learning to walk, cycle then swim again using my residual limbs. I'd be crying in pain but I'd push through it. And six weeks ago, I did it. I completed a three-mile walk, ten-mile cycle and a 150-meter swim."
"When I crossed that finish line with my family cheering me on, I cried tears of joy."
"I haven't sued or ought compensation. I just want to move on. There are things I miss dearly - I'll never be able to do my daughter's hair or feel sand between my toes. But I believe I survived to share my story. I want to warn others of the dangers of black-market surgery. We were born whole, perfect and complete."
"My greatest message is we have to learn to love and accept ourselves for who we are."