You may have probably heard about a young lady who died from Brazilian Butt Lift which you know as BBL. This young lady by name Elena had done some
You may have probably heard about a young lady who died from Brazilian Butt Lift which you know as BBL.
This young lady by name Elena had done some body enhancement procedures in the past and the result was a banging body. Unfortunately, one of the procedures she did, that is the BBL was botched and she sought to correct it. She approached a clinic in the Lekki area of Lagos for a corrective surgery. The clinic declined to do it. Maybe because of the complications that may arise. This lady then went elsewhere; Cynosure Aesthetics and they agreed to do the corrective surgery. Today she is no longer alive to flaunt that her banging body.
Elena
Dr Omoruyi
What is worse is that Elena’s death is not the first to be linked to this particular clinic. It is not the second neither is it the 3rd.
Following the death of Elena, the clinic released a statement denying any wrongdoing. They said that two weeks after performing a corrective procedure, they referred Elena to a foremost teaching hospital for further evaluation and care. However, they claimed that Elena was instead taken to a different facility. And according to them, that decision was made outside their hospital. The clinic also claims that no patient has ever died in their facility since inception. Infact, back in 2022 the clinic’s Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Dr Omoruyi boasted that since the clinic was established, it had conducted over 120 body enhancement surgeries in that year alone and done close to 800 procedures in the five years it has been in existence.
But that isn’t quite true as investigation reveals a very uncomfortable pattern with this said clinic dating back 5 to 6 years. Records and past reports suggest something very different. In 2022, a young woman named Crystabel Gabriel reportedly passed away after undergoing liposuction at the same clinic. Crystabel had travelled all the way from Port Harcourt in Rivers State to Lagos for the procedure. But after the surgery, things went wrong. According to her friend who brought this to the public, Crystabel had complained of serious bleeding following the procedure. Her friend later took to social media accusing the clinic of neglecting her condition. The situation became even more alarming when Crystabel was reported missing for days before the full story started to emerge. Eventually, authorities including the Lagos State Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) and the police launched investigations. But up until today, no one knows the final outcome of that investigation.
Then in 2023, another case surfaced. 23-year-old Divine Benjamin. She died four days after undergoing a BBL procedure at the same clinic. Once again, the clinic denied that the patient died during surgery. They explained that Divine had complained of difficulty breathing, days after the procedure. She was then referred to a Hospital in Ikeja, where she passed away.
Yet again in 2024, another name entered the conversation. A young woman identified as Sandra Baba passed away following a body enhancement procedure that went wrong. Again, questions were raised and again, the issue quietly faded after some time.
These are just four publicly documented cases connected to the same facility over the years and just when people began to ask what the place of regulation is in the safety of patients and the growing cosmetic surgery tourism in Nigeria, the Lagos State government has waded into the matter and has began a full scale investigation into her death. Hopefully, this case doesn’t go the way of others.
