After Canadian actor, Kim Kardashian lookalike dies after plastic surgery: How dangerous is going under the knife?
After Canadian actor, Kim Kardashian lookalike dies after plastic surgery: How dangerous is going under the knife?
In two days, there have been reports of two deaths because of the most unlikely reason: Plastic surgery. For those in showbiz, you’d think going under the knife is routine. It’s one thing that for the procedure to go wrong and another to die because of it. A day after Canadian actor Saint Von Colucci died due to post-plastic surgery complications in his attempt to look like K-pop star Jimin from the band BTS, another star died following an aesthetic procedure.
Christina Ashten Gourkani aka Ashten G, the OnlyFans star who was a Kim Kardashian lookalike, reportedly died of cardiac arrest in a hospital while she was recovering from a plastic surgery.
We take a look at these two cases and how deadly can plastic surgeries be.
Dying for a new body
The 34-year-old model Ashten died on 20 April in hospital after undergoing plastic surgery. Her family is now demanding answers, saying that an investigation should be launched into her “sudden” death.
The kin said that they received a frantic call from another family member who was screaming and crying on the other end and saying, “Ashten is dying… Ashten is dying…”
When they reached the hospital, they were informed that Asthen’s health had continued to spiral following the cardiac arrest.
However, this is not the first time Asthen underwent the procedure. She had several cosmetic surgeries, all of which carry risks she would have been aware of.
Colucci met the same fate as Asthen, both going under the knife to look like someone more famous. The 22-year-old Canadian actor had 12 plastic surgeries to look like the BTS singer. He died at a South Korean hospital on 23 April after suffering from complications related to cosmetic procedures he had a few months ago.
The actor had surgery on Saturday to remove implants from his jaw that he had put in in November 2022. However, after the operation, he developed an infection and had to be intubated. He died a few hours later, according to media reports.
According to Colucci’s publicist, Eric Blake, the actor who moved from Canada to South Korea to pursue a career in K-pop spent $220,000 (Rs 1.8 crore) on 12 cosmetic procedures including a facelift, a nose job, lip reduction, an eye lift, and other minor procedures.
Colucci was aware of the risks involved with the jaw implant surgery but insisted on continuing the procedure as he was “insecure about his looks”, Blake said.
It was only last month that an Indian actress grabbed headlines after undergoing plastic surgery at a facility in Bengaluru. Chethana Raj, 21, who appeared in daily soaps like Doresani and Geetha died of a cardiac arrest, the hospital authorities told her father.
The family alleged medical negligence over the “fat-free” procedure she underwent at the cosmetic centre.
The dangers of plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is not without complications; they vary from mild to severe.
According to a report on Healthline, there is a risk of hematoma, where a pocket of blood that resembles a large, painful bruise occurs. It is reported in one per cent of breast augmentation procedures. It is a common complication after a facelift.
Seroma, when a sterile body fluid pools beneath the skin’s surface, resulting in swelling and pain, is common after a tummy tuck, occurring in up to 30 per cent of patients.
Skin infections are not uncommon. They occur in 1.1 to 2.5 per cent of those who undergo breast augmentation. If severe, they need intravenous antibiotics, reports Healthline.
The more serious repercussion includes nerve damage. In some cases, it can be permanent. Those undergoing breast procedures might experience permanent changes in nipple sensation.
Blood clots in deep veins occur usually in the legs. When these break off and travel to the lungs, blocking the blood supply to them, it’s called pulmonary embolism (PE). Though relatively uncommon it can be fatal. The risk of clots is higher for those who have multiple procedures than those undergoing one.
In 2010, former Miss Argentina Solange Magnano died in hospital, after being transferred from a clinic where she underwent an elective surgery on her buttocks. She reportedly died from a pulmonary embolism.
Liposuction can cause damage to internal organs. This requires additional surgery and can be dangerous.
Cosmetic surgery also requires anaesthesia, which can lead to complications. These include lung infections, stroke, heart attacks and even death.
Sudden cardiac arrests during liposuction is a dreadful complication that may occur in healthy people due to fat embolism syndrome (FES), a rare life-threatening condition with a challenging diagnosis, say researchers.
Nigel Mercer, a plastic surgeon, told CNN in 2010, “No cosmetic surgery is totally risk free… Even having botox and fillers is not risk-free. There’s a chance of infection, bruising or bleeding with any procedure.”
Deaths by plastic surgery
According to 2019 data shared by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, some 11.36 million plastic surgery procedures were carried out around the world along with another 13.6 million nonsurgical procedures. The most popular operation performed by plastic surgeons was breast augmentation with nearly 1.8 million procedures carried out, followed by liposuction with 1.4 million and eyelid surgery with 1.26 million.
While deaths are not very common, they do occur.
Instagram influencer Mary Magdalene, a plastic surgery addict who once almost died trying to get the ‘world's fattest vagina’, wrote after Ashten’s death: ‘I don’t know her, [but] I would always just randomly see her on Instagram and think she was really pretty but that is so sad she just died from plastic surgery.”
“It is so scary because you really just never know when you're going to die from [risky surgery],” she added, before expressing her fears about ‘sustaining brain damage’ whenever she goes under the knife.
Dr Vivek Kumar, senior consultant, aesthetic and plastic surgery at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi said that deaths due to complications that people may suffer after undergoing plastic surgery for cosmetic enhancement are very rare. “In fact, as per a global study, the chance of fatality is about 20 per lakh,” he told PTI. However, he stressed that the first 24 hours after the surgery are critical.
According to Dr Kumar, deaths can occur in such cases due to drug reaction after suffering allergy post administering of an antibiotic or strong reaction from anaesthesia effect, pulmonary oedema leading to heart arrest, among other factors.
With inputs from agencies
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