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The victim wished to be identified only by the pseudonym Cherry. Photo: Handout

My botched HK$80,000 nose job was done by doctor with no medical licence, Hong Kong woman says

  • Surgeon was stripped of licence for 15 months in 2011 on professional misconduct charges, but victim alleges he operated on her just last year and left her disfigured

A Hong Kong woman who underwent a nose job costing more than HK$80,000 (US$10,200) at a local beauty clinic says the procedure was carried out by a man without a medical licence and left her face swollen and asymmetrical more than a year on.

The victim, who wished to be identified only by the pseudonym Cherry, on Sunday said she had only learned of the man’s identity when she confronted staff at the clinic in August – 15 months after the botched operation took place.

She then approached the city’s Medical Council and was told the former doctor had his medical licence suspended in 2011 for 15 months.

The council’s general register of doctors currently does not list the man as a medical practitioner in Hong Kong.

The surgery took place at the Jordan branch of a major beauty salon chain. Cherry said she had been told by a beauty consultant that the procedure would be done by a registered doctor.

Ramon Yuen Hoi-man (left), spokesman for the Hong Kong Beauty Industry Monitor, has been helping Cherry (right). Photo: Handout

“After I woke up from the anaesthesia, this man appeared and said: ‘I did the procedure for you. Was it done well?’ I’m 100 per cent sure the surgery was performed by him,” she said.

Three days on, Cherry noticed a scar about a centimetre long around her left nostril, which she said was intensely painful.

“They didn’t care about the scar. It left me with inflammation several times over,” she said.

Records from the Medical Council show the man’s licence was suspended after he was found guilty of four professional misconduct charges, including injecting a patient with a drug not registered in Hong Kong.

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The clinic in question was closed on Sunday. The Post has reached out to a Causeway Bay branch but has not received any response.

Police said the force had received a report on September 14 from a 29-year-old woman about a suspected unlicensed medical practice. No one has since been arrested.

Ramon Yuen Hoi-man, spokesman for the Hong Kong Beauty Industry Monitor, which has been helping Cherry, said the case showed stricter law enforcement was needed to discourage unlicensed medical practices.

Yuen said a specific police team was required with specialist knowledge in medical laws. He also suggested the government’s Department of Health conduct more undercover operations to weed out unlicensed work.

The department said it was aware of the case and would provide assistance to police if necessary.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Doctor with no licence ‘botched’ nose job
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