Leeds mum died after Brazilian butt lift at clinic which featured on UKTV show Sex, Knives and Liposuction

THE so-called "Brazilian Butt Lift" surgery that tragic Leeds mum-of-three Leah Cambridge underwent at a clinic in Turkey is still being advertised online.
Leah CambridgeLeah Cambridge
Leah Cambridge

Ms Cambridge, 29, died following complications following the procedure after she travelled to Izmir in August last year to have the "butt lift" carried out at a clinic, which last year featured on Sky TV show Sex, Knives and Liposuction.

A pre-inquest review at Wakefield Coroner's Court heard Ms Cambridge paid just over £5,000 for the procedure through Elite Aftercare, which acts as a go-between linking clients and surgeons.

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The Elite Aftercare website was today still advertising the procedure, stating : "This procedure has become very popular over the coming years, The Brazilian Butt Lift known as BBL is a perfect and most natural way to enhance and shape the buttocks via surgery, sculpting your waist and resulting in a desirable hourglass-like shape."

Richard Paige, legal counsel for Ms Cambridge's family, told the pre-inquest review that the surgeon and clinic involved in Miss Cambridge's surgery was featured on a TV programme on Sky called Sex, Knives and Liposuction last year.

Senior coroner Kevin McLoughlin said he wanted to see a recording of the programme at the full inquest.

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The programme on UKTV saw presenter Cherry Healey speak to young women who go to extraordinary lengths to get the bodies they want.

The UKTV website states: There's 29 year-old Keisha who is travelling all the way to Turkey on an all-inclusive surgery package to get the procedure tis sweeping the globe thanks to Kim Kardashian; a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL)."

During the pre-inquest review hearing, Ms Cambridge's partner, Scott Franks, revealed how the mother had been interested in having the procedure for some time.

He said: "She spoke with me regarding it on several occasions, and it was obvious that she was quite interested in doing it for some time.

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"Obviously she's booked it and just gone, and that's it, she's gone."

Mr Franks also said his partner was told that she would need to put on 7kg prior to having the work done.

Richard Paige, who represented the family at the inquest, quoted a report from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps) which suggests that the "Brazilian buttock lift"

has the highest death rate, believed to be as high as one in every 3,000 operations, of all cosmetic surgery procedures.

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The report, issued in October last year, suggests that surgeons refrain from performing the treatment until more data can be obtained, due to "the risk of injecting fat into large veins that can travel to the heart or brain and cause severe illness and death".

Sarah Hemingway, representing Elite Aftercare at the inquest, told how the firm does not directly employ the surgeons themselves, and has no formal contract with the hospital involved in the surgery.

But Mr Paige explained how the company's website claims to employ "the best surgeons and nurses" for procedures.

The inquest also heard how Ms Cambridge had been asked to fill in a "patient information anaesthesia form" prior to travelling for the surgery, but no direct contact was made between Elite Aftercare and her GP.

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It had previously been explained how a provisional post-mortem examination had revealed that the mother died from a fat embolism caused by a cosmetic surgical procedure.

It had been reported that the beautician had been paranoid about having excess stomach weight from having children, and opted for the butt lift procedure, which involves the reshaping of the buttocks by transferring fat from other areas including the stomach and back.

Reports in the aftermath of her death told how Ms Cambridge had three heart attacks during the operation, which took place on August 27 last year.

During Tuesday's hearing, the coroner suggested that a three-day inquest into her death would take place in early July, focusing on the contact between Ms Cambridge and Elite Aftercare, any pre-assessments done prior to the treatment, and the procedure itself.