I Can’t Even Close My Eyes – Woman in Pain After £5,200 Facelift in Turkey

A woman who spent £5,000 on facial surgery in Turkey has revealed that she is now unable to close her eyes.

Joanne Law, a 56-year-old mother, said she underwent the procedure hoping to achieve a look similar to a Snapchat filter. However, the results were far from what she expected or wanted.

She explained that after losing seven stone following a successful gastric sleeve surgery in Turkey in February 2023, she began to feel wrinkly. Wanting to improve her appearance, she decided to have additional cosmetic work.

Joanne saved up £5,200 for another procedure at the same hospital, undergoing a face, neck, and eyelid lift, along with a fat graft, in June 2023.

However, shortly after the surgery, she developed blepharitis—an inflammation of the eyelids. On top of that, she suffered from painful scars behind her eyes and ears, making the experience even more unbearable.

Narrating, she said: “When I lost seven stone I just felt wrinkly, so I thought this is my next step, I’ll get my face done,” she said.

“I was chuffed the whole time and that was my downfall. I didn’t research enough because I trusted them. The procedure was around the back of the hospital in a basement. It frightened the hell out of me, it was awful, like a horror movie. 

“There was an old-fashioned bed screen separator, someone was being operated on the other side in the same theatre. Immediately after I got blepharitis, which is a bacterial infection, and had blisters under my eyes for three months.

“I still can’t fully close my eyes now. I’m struggling to drive at night now because the car lights hurt my eyes and I just can’t close them. When it’s windy out I just can’t see, my eyes fill with tears. My eyes are so dry so they need to tear up to be protected from the elements.

“When I get tired, the bottom of my eye droops. I’ll be driving and will have to pull over at services and shut my eyes because I’ll be driving as if I’ve had no sleep for a week. You can see one of my eyeballs more than the other.

“I got a turkey neck, it wobbles, and they didn’t tighten my muscles. I have scars on the back of my ear and earlobe so I can’t put earpods in my ear and it is still painful. It’s like a five-year-old’s done it.

“I’m really deflated because my sleeve was such a success I thought I was going to look like something straight out of a snapchat filter.”

Joanne also shared that her eyelid issues have severely impacted her confidence. When she reached out to the hospital about her condition, they assured her that the scarring was normal and advised her to wait 12 months for recovery.

She added saying; “I’m not rich, I was saving up and gave things up, and I was really excited for the surgery. One side of my scars is different from the other, as if two different people were stitching me up for quickness.

“The fat graft made me look like a cartoon character, it’s changed how I look. It just made my face flat and weird. I’ve sent them pictures every month and they kept saying to wait 12 months. Now they’re just ignoring me.”

“What made me suspicious was I couldn’t find any before and after photographs of the surgeon’s work.

 “I remember he fobbed me off to the point that I believed him. I was excited about what I was going to have done and ignored my gut feeling.

“I’ve been so frustrated, I want to scream to other girls and say don’t do it. The recovery was horrendous, there was no aftercare. That hospital is a butcher’s shop.”