At 3 a.m. last year, Rachel Velasco walked into the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. She said she was in a lot of pain at the site of the surgery.
In a video she took on her way to the hospital, she said she felt like she was dying. My stitches are burning I pass out when I'm in and out of consciousness when I'm out. I'm feeling unwell. I can't even say a word. I need to get there as soon as possible.
The surgery known as a Brazilian Butt Lift, or BBL, had been on his mind for a long time.
BBLs, which tighten the waist and plump up the buttocks, have become increasingly appealing toinfluencers like Velasco, who has over 11,600 followers and an Only Fans account She hopes that a growing account on the photo-sharing site will result in more paying customers. She said that she wanted to match the popular aesthetic of the celebrities who have built businesses and received praise for their curves. The BBL was found to be the fastest-growing plastic surgery in the world.
The pressures of beauty expectations online push people to try and alter their bodies. According to a previous report from NBC News, the pressure to get plastic surgery is high.
She wanted a BBL so badly that she thought it could help her. She overlooked the risks associated with the surgery because she was desperate.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, dozens of BBL patients around the world have died from the surgery. She said she was surprised at the pain and disappointment she felt after her surgery.
The fat is taken from one area of the patient's body and injected into the other. If the fat accidentally enters one of the large blood vessels found in that region, a clot can block blood flow to part of the lung. The highest mortality rate for all cosmetic procedures can be found in BBLs. Some patients who have shared their stories with journalists have had life-long heart issues.
A confluence of factors, including social media- fueled demand and ineffective regulation, has made the danger worse.
Some patients don't know what to expect from their doctors and procedures.
In her case, she didn't know that her surgeon's license had been put on hold. The board said that she committed negligent acts in her care and treatment of one or more patients, but it allowed her to continue performing surgery on patients. Gevorgyan doesn't have to tell patients her status, but she did say she wished she'd known.
Gevorgyan did explain to her some aspects of her surgery, but she didn't think the side effects would be as bad.
A woman who received a treatment from Gevorgyan in 2020 told NBC News that she wished she had known about Gevorgyan's past.
Today, the surgeon is allowed to practice. In Gevorgyan's case, he was allowed to see new patients if he met certain requirements, including an education course, a medical record-keeping course, a professionalism program, and a monitor. Gevorgyan didn't respond to many questions.
Velasco wanted to change in April of 2021. She said that her backside was not straight. All of her photos were taken above the waist.
Many of the commenters were abusive. She appeared to bebotched, one said. A catfish is someone who deceives others with fake or altered photos. The comments made her feel bad.
He said that he was so thirsty to get a BBL that he wanted to vomit. I knew I could change my body but I didn't know how.
One problem was present. The plastic surgeons he was interested in were all booked out for a long time.
7 Q Spa is a medical spa in Los Angeles that serves some of the city's biggest social media stars.
The ease of a day spa is what makes a med spa so attractive. Under the supervision of a doctor, they offer a number of minimally-invasive procedures, which can be done by a physician's assistant or nurse.
7Q Spa had an impressive clientele, which made Velasco want to go to a surgeon known for operating on celebrities. Tana Mongeau, who has more than 5 million YouTube subscribers, has received procedures from 7 Q Spa and advertised them on social media, including through a partnership for a free lip augmentation. The person did not reply to the request.
7Q Spa has more than 80,000 followers on social media. 7Q Spa has positive reviews on both websites with an average rating of 4.5 stars. She didn't know that 7 Q Spa offered surgical procedures before seeing the posts. She liked the before and after photos on the spa's social media accounts.
They do a lot of people's work there, so I trusted them.
She was told that she could get a BBL procedure almost immediately after going to the med spa.
She said she would see you there for a week and a half.
Workers told her that the procedure would take place next to a sister studio. Representatives for 7Q Spa have said that Gevorgyan works in that sister studio. The med spa and the sister studio are located in the same strip mall. According to California business registration documents, the CEO of 7Q Spa is the same one at the same medical center. 7 Q Spa advertises Gevorgyan's services on their social media accounts. She was able to go to the medical center where her surgery took place because the two units are connected on the inside.
A lawyer for 7Q Spa said in an email that they have honored all policies, procedures and obligations to their customers and patrons.
Steven Williams, a board-certified plastic surgeon in the Bay Area who performs BBLs and owns a San Francisco Bay Area med spa, said that the procedure should be done in a surgery clinic.
According to a search conducted by NBC News, 7Q Spa was not listed in a database of accredited outpatient surgery centers.
According to the California Medical Board, if a surgical procedure uses anesthesia that has the chance of placing a patient at risk for loss of the patient's life-preserving protective reflexes, it must be done in a certified surgery center. Local anesthesia doesn't have to be done in an accredited setting.
She said her consultation was with Gevorgyan.
Gevorgyan isn't a board certified plastic surgeon. A unique identification number for American health care providers, she is licensed in California with a specialty as an OB- GYN. Since 2009, Gevorgyan says she has specialized in plastic surgery and received additional training.
The 7Q Spa staff assured her that Gevorgyan was qualified to perform the BBL procedure, after she was told that Gevorgyan was an OB- GYN.
Williams said that injections should be performed by a plastic surgeon or a dermatologist. Other practitioners have realized that there is money to be made.
She wouldn't be unconscious during the procedure because Gevorgyan described it as a surgery done while she was awake. Velasco said that Gevorgyan told her that she would talk to her during the procedure if something went wrong.
Local anesthesia could make the surgery more difficult for a full fat grafting BBL procedure in which Liposuction is performed on one area of the body before a fat transplant.
Under local anesthesia, moving large volumes of fat can be very difficult. There can be problems if you have more local anesthesia than you need. Local anesthesia can make post-operative pain more difficult.
Williams didn't see or review her case. According to an article in the Journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, there were no deaths or serious injuries among patients who received BBLs with local anesthesia.
The younger brother drove her to the office. She said that Gevorgyan gave her laughing gas through a tube and local anesthesia near the surgery site. In one of the videos she shared with NBC News, she was awake and breathing in the gas during her procedure. Laughing gas, also known as nitrous oxide, is a drug used to calm patients during dental procedures. It isn't meant to be used alone to put people to sleep.
Velasco was awake during the BBL. If I went through my camera roll I was high off laughing. The fat is getting injected into my butt.
Cash was paid for the surgery. She gave NBC News a photo of her receipt.
At first, she couldn't feel her stitches, but after the surgery, she felt great. She said she was put into a garment that looked like a leotard. Gevorgyan told Velasco that she would see her at their appointment the next morning and that she would give her personal cellphone number.
She recalled being told, "Here's some Tylenol, we'll see you tomorrow"
She fell asleep for three hours after getting home. I felt the worst pain of my life around 9 or 10 pm that night.
While in pain, she began to read about other BBL patients and was worried about the level of pain she was in.
"I started to get paranoid, my anxiety started getting to me, I was like, 'I'm literally dying, this is not normal, I'm in so much pain,'" I was alone in my apartment, I didn't have to go to the hospital.
She begged her brother to take her to the emergency room. Cedars-Sinai gave her a urine and blood test. The doctors gave her pain killers. She was released from Cedars-Sinai at 7:30 a.m. so she could consult with her surgeon.
The woman was so angry that she went to the hospital. She wanted to know why you went there. I told you to call me because I had her phone number.
When Gevorgyan rebuked her for going to the hospital, she had to inhale more laughing gas so that the doctor could change her bandages and give her a massage to help her heal. She left Gevorgyan's office without asking further questions after the sedative left her feeling positive.
The consequences of the BBL were still being felt four days after the surgery. She has a scar on her stomach from the procedure. The doctor recommended new services when she told Gevorgyan about her concerns. It didn't reduce scarring either.
Alex, a former 7Q Spa customer who left a negative review online, said she didn't know the status of Gevorgyan's license when the doctor performed surgery on her.
I was wondering if you could show me your credentials. She was shady about it. Alex's name was agreed to be kept confidential.
Alex claimed that she was mean to him.
Alex arrived at Gevorgyan's office for her procedure. She wanted to get rid of her fat in her thighs and under her arms so she wouldn't get sick.
Alex said that the back of her legs looked weird after her surgery. She said that the surgery didn't do anything. Alex said that when she went back to Gevorgyan with her complaints, the doctor advised her to buy a massage to reduce swelling from the procedure.
Alex consulted with another doctor about the areas of her body that had been operated on.
She said that the scars are still terrible. He couldn't touch parts of me because of the scar tissue.
Medical professionals and medical facilities in the state are overseen by the California Medical Board. In a March 18, 2020 complaint, the board alleged that Gevorgyan had failed to provide an appropriate physical examination and written clearance for a cosmetic surgery procedure. Less than a month before Alex's surgery, Gevorgyan agreed to a settlement with the board.
Gevorgyan gave up her right to contest the allegations brought against her in order to accept the terms of her parole.
The board called into question Gevorgyan's conduct during a liposuction procedure at the clinic she used to own. According to the complaint, Gevorgyan pre-medicated a patient with a number of drugs before the procedure.
As part of the settlement, her license was revoked by the California Medical Board, but they stayed the revocation and gave her 35 months of supervised release. When taking action against a physician's license, the state code requires the board to pursue rehabilitation efforts, the board said in a statement.
The board considers the facts and circumstances of each case to decide if revocation is necessary to protect the public or if the public can be protected with appropriate terms and conditions in order to rehabilitate the licensee.
The level of supervision Gevorgyan can expect from the California Medical Board and her ability to supervise medical assistants are restricted by her being on parole.
State records show that Gevorgyan co-owned the business next to 7Q Spa in January of 2021. It has been changed to a medical center.
Alex provided NBC News with an invoice for her procedure that was printed on 7 Q Spa letterhead.
Consumers looking for surgical procedures at med spas can have a hard time knowing what they are getting into. The medical center was connected to 7 Q Spa, but they didn't know it was a separate company.
Gevorgyan was identified as the surgeon who performs BBLs advertised by 7Q by a representative who answered the spa's phone. The procedure was described on the med spa's website as a minimally-invasive Brazilian Butt Lift procedure, but it was removed from the website shortly after NBC News contacted the spa. 7 Q Spa took the word "BBL" out of their bio after being contacted by NBC News, but has advertised the procedure in posts as recently as November
One 7 Q Spa post from November was captioned "Petite BBL" and "Liposuction of the midsection with fat transfer by Dr. Gevorgyan!"
The surgical office located next to 7Q has begun advertising BBLs since NBC News contacted them. Gevorgyan is identified as the surgeon in the caption of the advertisement for the procedure. 7q spa added a line to its bio that said Surgeries performed by Dr. Gevorgyan
She uses the popular photo-editing app Facetune to blur her scar.
If I knew that I would have a scar, I wouldn't have done this. She said that the BBL had barely changed the appearance of her body when she was asked for a before and after photo.
My body was cut open for something. "Do you want to know?" Velasco asked.
Gevorgyan's former state of practice took permanent action against her after her license was placed on parole. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation placed Gevorgyan in the "refuse to renew category" for a medical license based on the findings of the Commercial Mortgage Broker.
Not including her hospital bill, she has paid more than $13,000 for her procedures.
She said in October that she was still interested in pursuing the BBL treatment.
She wanted Gevorgyan to give her the results she was looking for so she didn't think to tell her story. She decided to speak out because she wanted to prevent other people from going through what she did.
The little brother had already made a TikTok about the experience. More than one million people have viewed it.
The article was first published on NBC News.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
