Eye-lift for my 50th birthday left me looking like a basset hound

A mum-of-three's bid to get rid of her eye bags for her 50th birthday left her 'disfigured' after an op in Turkey left her with drooping eyelids 'like a basset hound'.

Anita Brawders, 51, from Kilkenny, Ireland, paid £830 (€1,000) for nip tuck in which surgeons made a small incision under the eye and pulled the skin up.

But just days after arriving back home she noticed the area below her eyes was beginning to droop — exposing her lower eyelid.

The bar manager was forced to return to Turkey for revision surgery but claims the lower lids dropped once again within a matter of days.

As a result, Ms Brawders said she was too embarrassed to attend family weddings and even her own 50th birthday party. 

Now, she wants to warn others against travelling to Turkey for surgery. 

'I was coming up to 50 and just wanted to feel better about myself. 

'It was a little birthday present to myself,' Ms Brawders said, recalling why she decided to go ahead with the operation. 

She added: 'I started researching about six months beforehand and this clinic came up in Turkey. Everything looked good with the clinic.

'After coming back home, it just didn't seem right. It wasn't healing. I took the plasters off and it didn't look right.

'I started texting my co-ordinator and they said it was just part of the healing process. 

'Then about three weeks after my surgery, they decided to bring me back and reassured me they could fix what had happened.'

However, within four days of going under the knife again in Turkey the skin on her right eye dropped.

'It was devastating. I could see no end to it. I lived with this for a year. I missed out on a lot because of it. I didn't have my planned party as I was supposed to,' she said. 

She added: 'I had weddings that I missed out on. My family were shocked. I felt disfigured and I looked disfigured. I felt like I had been botched. It ruined my 50th.

'I had no self-esteem. I wouldn't go anywhere but working at my own bar. I felt like I couldn't go out.

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'I hated looking at myself in the mirror. You can't hide it, it's the first thing you see. I didn't want to live like that for the rest of my life.'

Ms Brawders has since had another revision surgery in Canada that was successful — but claims she's spent more than £8,300 (€10,000) on operations, flights, and time off work. 

She claims the clinic offered her just £2,000 in compensation, which she described as 'an insult'.  

'I spent money on flights, wages, my business, taking time out of work — it didn't near cover my cost.

'The surgeon never took responsibility for his actions. They told me every procedure is a risk and you've signed your paperwork.

'I haven't heard back from them since. I feel so let down. I don't want them to do this to anyone else.

'I regret going to Turkey about my surgery. You're signing things in Turkey, you have no idea what you're signing. It's dangerous.'