THE BOTTOM LINE BEHIND THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS COSMETIC SURGERY
HER quest is simple: Melissa* wants the perfect bottom. In her mind, it resembles a plump, ripe peach, like the emoji. She’s already halfway there.
In 2018, she had a Brazilian butt lift, known as a BBL, a surgical procedure in which fat is removed from various parts of the body then injected back into the buttocks.
But although Melissa’s bottom is already rounder and fuller than before, she believes there’s still scope for improvement. It could be better. It could always be better.
So on a recent afternoon Melissa visits British aesthetic surgeon Dr Lucy Glancey for a consultation.
Glancey performed Melissa’s first BBL at her clinic on the Essex-Suffolk borders, a suite of rooms boasting shining white cupboards, a full-length mirror and drawers stuffed with syringes.
As she waits for Melissa to arrive, Glancey shows me a picture of Melissa on the beach in Dubai, wearing a palm-print bikini and posing in a kind of provocative crouch – arms, breasts, thighs and buttocks all arranged for optimum effect.
“Look how good she looks,” says Glancey, admiring her own work. “I said to her, ‘I don’t see what else we can do’.”
When Melissa walks into the room, she doesn’t exactly resemble her digital self, but then, who does? She’s swapped her bikini for blue jeans and a pink sweater.
After a quick chat, Glancey – dark-blue scrubs, coral toenails – asks Melissa to take off her clothes. Together, doctor and patient stand in front of the
