Christina Ozdag wanted to feel confident in a bikini, but was left regretting her ‘mummy makeover’
A woman who flew to Turkey for a £4.6k “mummy makeover” has described how she was left with misshapen nipples three surgeries later.
Christina Ozdag, a mother-of-three, had experienced success with trips to Turkey in the past.
The 57-year-old “ballooned” in weight and struggled to shift the pounds after being diagnosed with narcolepsy with cataplexy and an underactive thyroid.
She tipped the scales at 16 stone and was bursting out of a size 22.
Christina was offered a gastric band on the NHS and was told there was a three-year wait so instead, she chose to fly to Kuşadası, Turkey, for the operation in June 2018.
She was over the moon with the results of the procedure after dropping seven stone.
“It was brilliant,” she said. “I maintained my weight loss.”
In the weeks and months that followed, however, she began to grow unhappy with the saggy skin the gastric sleeve had left behind and wanted to feel confident when wearing a bikini.
Christina decided to hop on another flight to Turkey and undergo a ‘mummy makeover’ – consisting of a boob job, a tummy tuck and liposuction.
That surgery set her back £4.6k, and it turned out to be money not well spent as Christina says she looked “misshapen” and it left her breasts falling “under her armpits”.
She added that her breasts were rock hard like boulders and that she was left with severe scarring above her bikini line.
“I decided to have a mummy makeover,” she said. “I’d been left with a lot of saggy skin – I called it my bum bag.
“I feel cheated. I would have been better off with saggy breasts.”
The St. Ives, Cambridgeshire native, who is unable to work, returned to Turkey three more times in unsuccessful attempts to rectify the issues.
They cut her open again to remove scar tissue around her breasts and put the implants in the right place.
But when Christina was back in the UK and healed she noticed her nipples were different sizes and her right nipple was off centre.
She said: “One of them was bigger than the other.
“I had a big fat lump hanging down the side of one of my breasts.”
When she tried to visit the same surgeon a fourth time, the agency refused to operate again and she was left regretting her initial decision and unable to undo the damage.
“I feel like Frankenstein’s monster,” she said. “I can’t wear a bikini.
“I wouldn’t even dare.”
In October 2024, Christina noticed a pain in her stomach when she lies down and went to see her doctor.
Her doctor believes the surgeon has left something in there while operating and is sending her for an x-ray.
Christina now hopes to raise awareness for others to do their research before opting for surgery abroad.
She said: “I didn’t bother researching when I went for my makeover.
“I was better off before the surgery.”