FLICKING through magazines in her local salon, Christina Ozdag scoffed at the stories of women who’d spent thousands on botched cosmetic surgery overseas.
Yet her dreams of a bikini body eventually lured her to Kuşadası in Turkey for her own – with equally disastrous consequences.
The 58-year-old grandmother-of-two from St Ives, Cambridgeshire was left with folds of saggy skin after she dropped from a size 22 to a size 8 following a £4,500 in 2018.
She returned to KuÅŸadası for corrective surgery, including a boob job and a tummy tuck, four years later in 2022, to the tune of a further £4,600.
Again, the surgery didn’t deliver the dream body she had hoped for. Far from it.
“Reading those horror stories about and dodgy cosmetic surgeons, I’d think: ‘God, I would never do anything like that’,”; she says.
“But here I am today, looking like Frankenstein’s monster.
“Instead of judging those women in the magazines, I should’ve done proper research before making the biggest mistake of my life.”;
The former taxi driver and care assistant is unable to work as she has – a brain condition that affects sleep regulation – cataplexy, which causes muscle spasms, and an underactive thyroid.
Years of staying at home saw her weight creep up from 10st 10lb to 16st 7lb.
“I was miserable and spent my days on the sofa, eating bad food. I was the classic couch potato,”; says Christina, who is 5ft tall.
“My favourite meal was a McDonald’s sausage and egg muffin meal with a hash brown and a coffee. I’d sit on the sofa with it – as happy as anything.
“I wanted to work, but I couldn’t.”;
She longed to be slim, but was told there was a three-year NHS waiting list for weight-loss surgery.
So her three daughters, Donna, 39, Lisa, 30, and Jodie, 24, clubbed together and paid for gastric sleeve surgery in after finding a clinic on .
Christina says: “At first, I was thrilled with the results.
“I dropped down to 7st over 10 months, then I levelled out at 9st and a size 12.
“But I was left with saggy skin, especially around my stomach. I called it my ‘bum bag’. It hung down like an apron.”;
Christina also suffered from extreme discomfort, similar to indigestion, whenever she ate. It is something that still plagues her today.
“I knew my appetite would be reduced forever, but I didn’t know the sleeve would wreck my digestive system,”; she says.
“I was given very little information by the surgeon and I hadn’t asked any questions. I felt stupid.”;
Christina was so lost in the thrill of her rapid weight loss that she failed to notice the impact on her .
“I thought my appetite would come back eventually,”; she says.
“But I never get hungry. It can be two or three days since I’ve eaten anything, then I think: ‘I’d better get something in me.’”;
On top of this, Christina now suffers from humiliating digestive issues and regularly vomits.
“I have to avoid drinking when I eat, because that washes the food down even quicker,”; she says.
I was given very little information by the surgeon and I hadn’t asked any questions. I felt stupid.
“They call it ‘dumping’ – another thing I hadn’t researched.
“And I can’t store the digestive mucus that people produce when they eat, so I often vomit that back up. People refer to it as ‘the slimes’. It’s vile.”;
Christina says the surgery has also ruined her love life.
“Sometimes I’ll be lying in bed and, without warning, the mucus will just shoot out of my mouth,”; she says.
“I’ll never get married or have a man in bed with me ever again. It’s too embarrassing.”;
But there have been other shocking after effects of her weight-loss surgery.
“After a few months, my started to fall out,”; she says.
“Apparently it’s common with gastric sleeves.
“Everywhere I went, I’d leave behind a clump of hair, all because my body wasn’t holding on to any nutrients.”;
As Christina learnt to eat little and often, her hair gradually grew back. But the acidity associated with her frequent vomiting episodes took its toll on her .
She says: “The enamel burnt away and they rotted. I had to have them all removed.
“My mum, 85, paid £2,500 for me to go back to Turkey for implants and dentures.”;
Another issue she hadn’t anticipated was the excess skin that would remain after losing weight.
“I had really big boobs before – I was a size 44G – but I was left with what people call ‘Spaniel’s ears’ and that bum bag of skin on my belly,”; she says.
“I was so self conscious. It was early 2022 and I’d started seeing someone, but I didn’t like him seeing me naked. Thankfully he often slept on the sofa, so the issue rarely came up.
“Eventually he offered to pay £4,600 for a breast uplift and tummy tuck and I agreed as I wanted to feel good naked and have my boobs back in the right place.”;
I had really big boobs before – I was a size 44G – but I was left with what people call ‘Spaniel’s ears’ and that bum bag of skin on my belly.
Christina went to a different surgeon, but through the same Turkish company, which had an agency in the UK.
“The surgeon said a breast uplift would leave me with an A-cup, which was too small. So I took his suggestion of implants as well, to take me to a B-cup,”; she says.
“I had the tummy tuck at the same time and was promised the scarring would be below my bikini line.”;
Christina spent two days in hospital, then had to wear a stomach corset for eight weeks, and a heavy-duty sports bra for six months.
“It was very painful,”; she recalls.
“And as I was healing, my body didn’t look right. It was misshapen. My breasts were under my armpits and were rock hard, like boulders.
“My stomach was covered in lumps.”;
She went back to see the surgeon in late 2022, for free, corrective surgery.
“They tried to remove the scar tissue around my breasts and re-align my implants,”; she says.
But again, the results were shoddy and Christina noticed her nipples were wonky and completely different sizes.
“I also had a lump of fat hanging down the side of one of my breasts,”; she says.
“And the scarring from my tummy tuck was higher than my bikini line, which they promised wouldn’t happen.”;
She flew back to Turkey to see the surgeon for a third time in 2023, who said the size difference in her nipples was due to thicker scarring on one side.
He told her that her scar was unavoidable, as he’d needed to make a higher incision to target excess flesh around her waist.
Christina says he then refused to see her again, leaving her bearing the mental and physical scars of her £12,000 surgery ordeal.
She says: “For anyone considering surgery abroad, do your research. Speak to other women who’ve done similar.
“But they will probably all say the same thing: ‘Don’t do it.’”;
