The truth about social media’s cosmetic surgery boom | The Sunday Times Magazine | #ukscams | #datingscams | #european

Evelyn Peters woke up and realised something was wrong. She had lost sensation in her leg, which was disturbing because she had just undergone surgery on her bottom. Soon she was unable to walk. She was at a European medical clinic, far from home, terrified. “The pain was excruciating,” she recalls. An infection developed and she was put on a course of antibiotics and high-powered painkillers.

Peters, whose name and personal details have been changed, had flown from her home in Manchester to the clinic for a Brazilian butt lift (BBL), a cosmetic procedure in which fat is taken from the torso and injected into the hips and bottom. The result is an exaggerated hourglass shape that has become popular in recent years, especially on