Brazilian beauty queen, 28, dies of heart attack after acid injection to remove wrinkles

A Brazilian model who was a finalist in a national beauty contest died of a heart attack hours after undergoing a cosmetic procedure to remove wrinkles, the pageant said.

Raquel dos Santos, 28, died Monday in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro after receiving an acid injection in her face from a doctor who did not specialise in cosmetic surgery, Brazilian media reports said.

Her husband said that shortly after the procedure, she complained of an accelerated heart rate and shortness of breath, said a statement on Thursday from the Muse of Brazil pageant, in which Dos Santos competed as a finalist last year.

The doctor, Wagner Moraes, denied responsibility for her death, telling newspaper O Globo that Dos Santos was a “ticking time bomb” because she was taking an anabolic steroid designed for horses and was a chain smoker.

“She lied, she denied it. She didn't mention her use of this veterinary medication. She had a ticking time bomb in her body and I didn't know it,” said Moraes.

Despite not having a cosmetic surgery licence, he said, “in the past two years I've performed this procedure on 2,000 women and there's never been a problem, it has only made them more beautiful.”