Perth woman unable to breastfeed her baby four years after boob job nightmare

FOUR years after treating herself to a cut-price boob job, Perth woman Courtney O’Keefe says she is still paying a horrible price.

A YOUNG Perth mum claims she was left with a superbug “festering” in her new breast implants after flying to Thailand on a cosmetic surgery holiday.

Courtney O’Keefe, 28, ended up in hospital for seven months, was forced to undergo a partial mastectomy and has revealed she is now unable to properly breastfeed her five-month-old baby in the wake of her boob job nightmare, she told Nine News.

Ms O’Keefe claims she was infected with bacteria in Thailand’s Pattaya Hospital after travelling with nine other Perth women on the surgery holiday in 2013. She’d treated herself to the $7500 breast implant trip after losing 35 kilograms but was soon alarmed at what she found when she arrived.

“I just remember thinking to myself ‘This isn’t like Australian standards,” Ms O’Keefe told Nine.

“It was dirty, it didn’t feel right and it didn’t look right. It didn’t look clean.”

Courtney O'Keefe travelled to Thailand for a boob job, but says it all went horribly wrong. Picture: Channel 9

She returned to Australia and was placed in hospital quarantine, suffering seizures.

“My liver, my kidneys, my heart and my brain started to shut down.”

Doctors have reportedly disputed her version of events, however, telling Nine she had developed an infection because she failed to look after herself post-operatively.

After four years and radical corrective surgery that has left her permanently scarred and feeling “less of a woman”, Ms O’Keefe says she now struggles to feed her baby daughter and is desperate to warn others about cheap cosmetic holidays overseas.

Ms O'Keefe’s infected breast left her in hospital for seven months. Picture: Channel 9

Ms O’Keefe’s removed implant. Picture: Channel 9

At least three Australian women have died undergoing procedures including liposuction and breast augmentation in foreign countries.

In 2015, Gold Coast woman Evita Sarmonikas died on the operating table while having buttock implants in Mexico.

“At least 15 per cent of my breast surgery practice is correcting problems from overseas,” says censor in chief of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS) Dr John Flynn told the Adelaide Advertiser.

CUT-PRICE COMPARISON

Thailand

Breast augmentation - $5,000

Mummy makeover - $14,000-$15,000

Rhinoplasty (nose job) - $6,000

Australia

Breast augmentation - $5,880

Mummy makeover - $35,000

Rhinoplasty (nose job) - $15,000 - $20,000

TOP SIX PROCEDURES

1. Breast augmentation

2. Breast lift with implants

3. Tummy tuck

4. Breast revision (going larger or unhappy with Australian surgery)

5. Mummy makeovers (includes breast lift, breast implants, tummy tick, liposuction and face lift.

6. Rhinoplasty