Florida woman looked 'like an alien' after botched cosmetic surgery

Pre discussion questions

Can you imagine what happened in this story?

What do you know about cosmetic surgery?

A woman felt that she looked like “an alien” after botched cosmetic surgery.

Carol, 54, from Florida had surgery to fill in lines (fillers) in her face in 2009.  But the filling was injected into a part of her face it shouldn't have been.  And after that her forehead blew out so much she had to use tape to keep her eyes open so she could see.

And more surgery to fix the problem made things worse. She became so "grossly ugly" that she lived as a recluse for more than three years and thought about suicide.

Finally Dr. Reza Jarrahy from UCLA agreed to do surgery on Carol's face.  Carol is now fighting to warn others of the dangers of what she thought was non-dangerous surgery.

She was on the television show, The Doctors to speak about her change. Carol said that it was the first time in six years that she had gone into public without sunglasses to cover her face.

"When I was in my 20s and 30s people looked at me. I was beautiful. I felt confident," she said.

"I started doing Botox in my 30s for the lines between my eyes. It was amazing. It made me look younger.”

It took many painful operations at UCLA to fix Carol's face.

"There came a point in time where I felt I needed some filling on my face. So I visited a cosmetic surgery doctor and I was persuaded to have fillers."

After three months, Carol started to see her face getting bigger and smaller and she didn't recognize herself when she looked in the mirror.

"I was not looking at Carol," she said. "My face was blowing up and my forehead began to protrude out like an alien.

"My forehead was becoming so heavy that I could not see. I began to have to tape my eyes open to walk."

Carol had some surgery to fix this problem, but it caused more damage.

She said she would not go into public areas because she looked so ugly. She felt secluded myself from all her friends and family for three-and-a-half years.

"I'm extremely thankful for Dr Jahri who was the only doctor in the country who would help.  It was unprecedented. Very high risk, unknown risk," she said.

Now she is fighting to stop this disaster happening to others.

Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. Some of the answers are very close and have similar meaning. The meaning of these words is how they are used in the reading. Some of these words have different meanings in the dictionary depending on how they are used.

 The answers are below the table.

A=2, B=8, C=1, D=7, E=3, F=5, G=4, H=6

Some example sentences using the new words or phrases from the meaning of how they are used in the reading to help you understand better.

1.      I am so sad, I botched my test.

2.      What you say is grossly untrue.

3.      North Korea is known as the reclusive nation.

4.      At some point in time this will become a problem if we don’t fix it.

5.      My piano teacher persuaded me to study to become a famous piano player.

6.      Be careful, there is a piece of broken glass protruding out of the grass.

7.      My dream is to live on a secluded island far away from all people.

8.      It is unprecedented to see snow fall in July.

Some questions using the new words/phrases. Try to use the words/phrases in your answer.

1.      Is what happened to this woman unprecedented? Do you know of similar stories?

2.      Have you heard of botched cosmetic surgery before like in this story?

3.      Would you recommend someone who was grossly ugly to get cosmetic surgery?

4.      How would you feel if you had to live as a recluse?

5.      Has there been a point in time when you thought you needed cosmetic surgery?

6.      What usually persuades people to get cosmetic surgery?

7.      The tallest building in Korea protrudes into the sky. What do you think of it?

8.      What is one of the most secluded places in your country?