A petite nursery worker claims her nipple rotted off after a ‘botched’ £8,000 reduction of her ‘ridiculous’ size K breasts – only for the clinic to blame her ‘not washing her hands’.
Paige Harvey went under the knife at a private clinic in a bid to rid herself of agonising back pain and painful skin tears and to help her pursue her dream career of becoming a paramedic. At just 18, the now 21-year-old took out a loan to reduce her breasts seven sizes to a D-cup and went under the knife in October 2021.
Paige claims she was turfed out of the clinic just two hours after having the surgery while still ‘high as a kite’, and was driven home by her mum. Halfway home Paige said her horrified mum burst into tears as the wounds split open and left her sitting ‘in a pile of her own blood’ – but was allegedly told by the clinic she was fine.
Over the course of a year, Paige says she took more than 30 courses of antibiotics in a bid to shift infections following the surgery. Horrifying photos show Paige’s breasts ravaged with infection, particularly around the nipple area.
She later developed a golf ball-sized lump in her breasts that doctors said was fat necrosis – death of fat tissue due to injury and loss of blood supply. Three years on from her surgery Paige is suffering from swelling in her armpits, which is under investigation but she also believes is linked to the op.
Now Paige is urging anyone considering getting a breast reduction to thoroughly research their surgeon and try and get it done on the NHS so they can get help if things go wrong.
Paige, from Eyemouth, Berwickshire, said: “I had a breast reduction when I was 18 because I had double-K breasts. I would have to wear a size 14-16 top even though I was a size 8. I was quite little, but I had this massive chest.
“I wanted to go to uni to be a paramedic so that was the plan – to get the surgery done so it would be easier to do that. A single bra would cost no less than £60 because I had to get them all made because I had a 30-inch back but my chest was absolutely massive, I looked ridiculous.
“They were heavy, my back was killing and my skin would tear underneath [them] it was just painful. It always attracted the wrong sort of attention. Going on a night out I didn’t want to be wearing granny jumpers, I just wanted a nice top on like my friends, but there were always comments.”
Desperate to get the op done as soon as possible Paige researched the clinic and opted to go private, undergoing surgery on October 7th 2021.
Paige said: “I was excited, I wouldn’t even say I was nervous, I was just so ready for it. Roughly two hours after surgery I was discharged. They phoned my mum to come and get me, I was high as a kite. I first realised something was wrong half-way home from the clinic after surgery. My mum started crying, I asked her what was wrong [I looked down] and I was in a pile of my own blood. There was blood leaking through my clothes.
“She called them [the clinic] and they said ‘that’s fine go home’.”
After a follow-up appointment at the clinic a week later, where staff changed the bandages and said everything was fine, Paige began to feel poorly. Two weeks after her surgery Paige claims she ‘wasn’t feeling right’ and when her mum and partner checked her breasts they were weeping and bruised so got antibiotics to tackle the infection.
In the following weeks Paige claims that’s when the infection ravaged both boobs, with it ‘eating away’ at breast tissue and her nipple.
Paige said: “A couple of weeks later [after surgery] I wasn’t feeling right. I got my mum and partner to have a look, they saw it looked a wee bit weepy. It was a little infection, I got antibiotics and was reassured it was totally normal.
“The infection list after that is virtually endless, I was getting more and more ill every other week. I was running a temperature, sleeping 16 hours a day and at one point the doctors thought I was on the verge of going septic. My whole chest was yellow black and blue from all the bruising and the underneath was quite red.
“Half my nipple was gone because the infection was eating my whole boobs away. I went back to the clinic at least twice a month.
“My concerns weren’t taken seriously at all, they just kept telling me I was fine and one of the times I started crying and the nurse said ‘I think you’re just feeling a bit sorry for yourself’. I went back again [because of the infection] and was asked ‘do you even wash your hands?’ Meaning it was my fault I was getting an infection.”
Plagued with infection, Paige took a cocktail of antibiotics and did bandage changes at home while signed off work sick – something she couldn’t face doing herself.
Paige said:”My granny is a nurse and I had to move in with her because I couldn’t look at it. I had to change my bandages at home and I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, she did it for me. I had over 30 boxes of antibiotics over a year. I’ve got no feeling left in my chest and lumps everywhere, they’ve butchered me.”
Six months post-surgery Paige discovered a hard golf ball-sized lump in her left breast and was referred to Borders General Hospital in Melrose, Scotland, where it was discovered she had fat necrosis.
Paige said: “I went to my doctor because I found a massive lump in my boob, he sent me straight to hospital because it was so large. They said it was fat necrosis, my boob had basically died. It’s smaller now but three years later if I was to wear a top with no bra you can see the grape-sized lump through my clothes.”
Now, Paige’s breasts have healed but she says they’re lumpy due to keloid scars and she now suffers from swelling under her armpits, which is currently being investigated.
Paige said: “Everything’s healed infection-wise it’s just scars, swelling and three years later I’m still having to go to hospital appointments. I now have golf ball-sized swelling in my armpit, they don’t know what it is, it hangs out of my bra in a lump. I lift weights at the gym and sometimes it swells up really big.
“I paid £8,00 to go to a D cup and I’m an H cup, so really it was a waste of money, I believe I need another breast reduction. I think the clinic have been disgusting, I would never treat anyone the way I was treated. I was so ill and the whole time I was insulted – told I was feeling sorry for myself and accused of not washing my hands.”
Three years on from surgery, Paige is now urging anyone looking to undergo a breast reduction to carry out their research and if possible get it done on the NHS.
Paige said: “My advice to anyone looking to get a reduction is really do your research. If you can get it on the NHS do that because you know you’ll be looked after. Companies just want the money, that’s it, they certainly did anyway.”
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