Inside Miami’s Deadly Plastic Surgery Industry | Fault Lines Documentary

Jun 7, 2023 | In this episode of Fault Lines, we look into Florida’s cosmetic surgery industry, which has made national headlines for its high incidence of patient death and disfigurement, especially with regard to the extremely popular Brazilian butt lift (BBL) surgeries.

The Florida Board of Medicine has spent years trying to place guardrails on the industry, particularly with regard to BBL surgeries, but our investigation reveals a pattern of surgeons engaging in unsafe practices and lobbying lawmakers to allow them to continue doing so.

Producer: Nicolas Pollock
Correspondent: Natasha Del Toro
Director of Photography: Jeremy Raff
Editor: Warwick Meade
Executive Producer: Laila Al-Arian
Fact Checker: Abdulai Bah
Sound Mixer: Linus Bergman
Production Manager: Anabelle Rojas
Archivist: Shelley Simpson
Legal: Mike Abed, Eithar Abu Taha
Special Thanks: Diarmuid Jeffreys, Rafi Mustafa

Oberschicht in Iran: Operierte Partyschönheiten
ZEIT ONLINE: Zu Hause zeigen Nasrin und Hana stolz ihre unnatürlichen Nasen. Schönheitsoperationen sind hip in Iran, Partys mit Alkohol auch. Denn sie versprechen Veränderung.

In einer Teheraner Klinik wird einer Patientin die Prozedur ihrer bevorstehenden Nasenoperation erläuter. Bild: Zeit Online
Hana sieht aus wie Mariah Carey, ihre Schwester Nasrin wie Demi Moore. Nichts deutet darauf hin, dass Hana und Nasrin, beide 32 Jahre alt, eineiige Zwillinge sind. Hana hat eine Stupsnase, herzförmig aufgespritzte Lippen und honigblonde Locken. Nasrin hat der Chirurg ein griechisches Profil verpasst. Hana und Nasrin sind stolz auf ihre Schönheitsoperationen. Die Verbände auf den Nasenrücken trugen die beiden Studentinnen der Sozialwissenschaft noch, da waren die Wunden längst verheilt.

Plastische Chirurgie verstößt eigentlich gegen die Ideale der Islamischen Republik. Seelische Schönheit gilt mehr als die äußere. Doch das Regime duldet kosmetische Operationen, sie sind hipp. Ungefähr 3000 plastische Chirurgen haben sich in Teheran niedergelassen. In keinem Land der Welt werden mehr Nasen verschönert als in der Islamischen Republik, jährlich zwischen 60.000 und 70.000. Der Hype ist so stark, dass sogar Schaufensterpuppen einen Verband im Gesicht tragen. 
Hana und Nasrin leben im reichen Norden von Teheran in einem Appartement, das wirkt wie eine Kulisse aus der US-Serie Reich und Schön: weiße Ledersofas, Kristalllüster, Clubsessel. Die Familie hat genug Geld für Schönheitsoperationen. Hana denkt jetzt noch über eine Brust-Vergrößerung nach. Im Bekanntenkreis der Zwillinge gibt es kaum eine Frau, die sich nicht unters Messer legt. >>> Carola Hoffmeister | Montag, 02. November 2009

The New Face of Plastic Surgery in Iraq
LOS ANGELES TIMES: After a chaotic period helping victims of violence, plastic surgeons now find themselves ministering to a public interested in nose jobs.

Reporting from Baghdad -- There was a time when Baghdad's reconstructive surgeons were rushed off their feet trying to repair the terrible disfigurements caused by war.

These days, they're just as likely to find themselves giving Botox injections or performing nose jobs, as Iraqis take advantage of the calmer conditions to enhance their looks.

"Definitely we are performing more plastic surgery than before, mainly because the security situation of the country has improved," said Rida Ali, a plastic surgeon who estimates that half her patients are seeking cosmetic surgery, compared with less than a quarter a few years ago.

They include men as well as women, and most of them want nose jobs, which cost $600 to $1,000 each. Among the women, breast surgery is also popular, Ali said, but not the augmentations common in the West.

"In Iraq we do more breast reduction than augmentation," she said. "Some of the breasts we reduce in size are huge . . . and they cause back pain."

The trend has been fueled largely by the arrival of satellite television, which since 2003 has beamed into Iraqi living rooms the glamorous Egyptian and Lebanese celebrities who are reputed to keep regular appointments with their cosmetic surgeons.

The results aren't always what the patient expected.

"Our patients get all their ideas from TV, then they come to us and request the operation," said Mahdi Hameed Abood, a senior surgeon at the Wasiti Center for Reconstructive Surgery. "It's good having television as a source of information, but what you see on TV is not always reality. There are special effects, lights. People believe what they see and come to us expecting results that may be unrealistic." >>> Caesar Ahmed | Sunday, July 12, 2009