Who is Gao Liu? Chinese star gets nose job to be ‘more beautiful’, ends up with ‘nightmare’ necrosis infection
When Chinese actress Gao Liu went in for a nose job, she wanted to be "more beautiful". Little did she know that the four hours were going to change her life - and not for the good. Soon after the surgery, her nose became seriously infected leading to a rotting nose. She now says that the botched-up surgery she got done from a clinic in the southern city of Guangzhou in October last year has destroyed her career.
After being away from social media for months, Liu took to the popular Chinese social media network Sina Weibo to explain her absence due to a "cosmetic surgical incident". The botched surgery has left the singer and actress with necrosis of the nose, which means that the tissue at its tip has died.
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'Nightmare' of a surgery
In the post she shared on Weibo, Gao wrote how she decided to go for the surgery after a friend of hers suggested that her nose was too short. The operation lasted four hours and involved removing a small part of the cartilage from Gao's ear and transplanting it to her nose in order to build it to the desired shape. Gao wrote that she hoped the "four hours would make me more beautiful. I didn't expect these four hours to be the beginning of a nightmare."
The clinic, at the Xishi Shiguang hospital, told her the operation was safe and that she would recover just fine within half a month, which was in time to resume work on a film that Liu had signed in December and January. But nothing went as per the plan as shortly after the operation, Liu's body rejected the transplant causing a serious infection.
Liu writes that she later learned that her nose had appeared irritated during the infection, and also claimed that the drastic effects of the botched up surgery could have been avoided if her doctors had reacted accordingly.
But this one transplant was not the end of Liu's ordeal. Days after the procedure, Gao had to undergo a second operation to remove the prosthesis and keep her nose from falling off. At that time, she was informed that she would recover completely, only to find out that her situation kept worsening until her nose became necrotic - a condition where cells begin to die in tissue.
She then had to be transferred to another hospital for emergency treatment. Liu spent 61 days in the hospital recuperating after undergoing the procedure, but the damage was done. According to the latest reports, doctors there told her that her nose was permanently damaged and her face would likely stay disfigured, which has left her devastated. "[The infection] may cause my nose [not to] return to the way it was before surgery, which may mean that my career had ended in a hurry," she wrote in the post. "Everyone knows that the film industry looks glamorous to outsiders, but in fact it is full of hardships and pains. My daily life needs strict self-discipline [and] austerity. All these efforts are just to chase my dreams."
Liu paid heavily for the one operation that she hoped would change her life. She now may have to wait a year or even longer before she can safely undergo follow-up surgery to repair the damage to her nose. In the post, she said that the disfigurement has caused her to lose $61,814 (£45,000) worth of filming work she had lined up. She may also face a $312,779 (£227,700) compensation claim for breach of contract.
Irresponsible clinic
Liu also revealed that the police had found the cosmetic clinic staff who performed the operation did not have the qualifications they should have. When she tried to speak with the clinic about the botched operation, she was referred to their lawyers.
According to a BBC report, popular news website The Paper shared public data from the Tianhe District Health Bureau in the city, showing that the clinic had already received five administrative penalties between March and October 2020, but it is unclear what rules it had breached. The Paper also reports that several complaints have been made to the bureau about the clinic since Liu shared in her experience.
So why speak up now, after months? Liu added in the post that she had decided to share her ordeal because she had to "stand up and remind all the girls who love beauty in the world" about the dangers of some cosmetic treatments.