Woman's navel explodes after botched surgery

A UK woman's stomach "erupted" on a flight after doctors removed and then left her belly button inside her during a botched tummy tuck.

Patricia Jackson, 68, from Bridlington, East Yorkshire, was flying home after a week's holiday in Portugal in 2011 when her mid-section burst and began leaking a foul-smelling fluid, causing a fellow passenger to complain, the Hull Daily Mail reported.

An air stewardess dressed the wound but Mrs Jackson was left tearful and embarrassed.

When the plane landed, she called her brother to  take her to hospital where tests revealed her old navel was still inside her and had become infected, causing the pain and leaking.

"For the first year after the operation, everything was fine and I went to work as normal," Mrs Jackson said.

"However, I was due for a yearly check-up and it was during this time that the surgeon was concerned about the scarring because it looked quite bad. It didn't really bother me but he admitted me to hospital overnight."

In January this year, Mrs Jackson was awarded more than $36,000 in compensation after suffering "years of pain and embarrassment" as a result of the 2005 cosmetic procedure.

She says she has come forward now to raise awareness of the potential risks of having cosmetic surgery.

During the abdominoplasty, surgeons removed extra skin and fat and tightened the muscles in Mrs Jackson's abdominal wall, but they did not create a new belly button because there was not enough material left over.

But solicitors claimed doctors failed to realise her old belly button had been left inside, despite numerous scans and hospital investigations.

After undergoing reconstructive surgery, Mrs Jackson was given a new belly button.

Source: Hull Daily Mail
Author: Chloe Ross, Approving editor: Jack Hawke