Plastic Surgery: Have you been botched?

Traditions and embarrassment behind silence of many victims: Dr Marwan

Have you had a bad experience with plastic or cosmetic surgery? Did you tell anyone about it? Did you complain? Most victims don’t, according to medical experts.

Speaking to Emirate 24|7, Dr Marwan Ahmed Al Zarouni, Head of Plastic Surgery Department at Rashid Hospital in Dubai said that traditions, family restrictions and embarrassment are to be blamed for the silence of many plastic surgery victims in the country.

Dr Marwan urged all plastic and cosmetic surgery victims to stand up for their rights and file court cases against the medical centers and doctors who ruined their bodies.

“Many women and men end up in complications after plastic and cosmetic surgeries. Not only that they don’t get the beautiful results which they were promised to by some doctors in the private sector here or abroad, but they also end up with serious complications and irreversible defects and damages.

“We receive many cases of people who have been victims of medical malpractice cases either in the private sector here in the country or abroad.  However, many of them don’t dare to complain, and if they do, many of them give up the case and don’t continue until they get the verdict.”

Dr Marwan believes that this is wrong. “If each one of them kept quiet, then other people will be potential victims of these doctors and medical centers. Instead, they must file court cases, fight for their rights, and stop these medical centers and doctors from continuing the harm.”

Dr Marwan stressed that if people raise the point and complain, then these medical centers and the doctors will work hard to improve their services and develop themselves and prevent similar mistakes.

Dr Marwan added: “If the mistake was performed by a private sector doctor or medical center, then these women usually don’t dare to file a court case. They do so because they will have to be examined by a medical committee and then start court sessions which will take some time. They rather prefer to seek medical treatment from government hospitals or the other doctors in the private sector.”

He added: “At Rashid Hospital in Dubai, we don’t fix problems of victims of plastic and cosmetic surgeries which were done in the private sector here in the country. From our experience, we receive many cases of women who come to the Emergency of Rashid Hospital suffering from side effects of wrong plastic surgeries. We don’t touch those who got these side effects from surgeries done in the private sector in the country. We do so because normally, the victims end up suing the doctors of the government hospital who tried to help them and fix the problem and they forget those who caused the problem in the first place. We ask them to return to the same doctor who did the wrong surgery or procedures. We only accept them if they court case which they filed against those doctors or centers is over and they have got the final verdict from court. Until they do so, we don’t touch them.”

Dr Marwan said that they only offer medical treatment for the victims of plastic and cosmetic surgeries which were done abroad.

“We can’t send these victims away, or ask them to travel again to fix the problem. We try to help them instead and offer them medical help here in the country.”

Muna Al Khanjari

emirates247