VietNamNet Bridge – A woman from the southern province of Tra Vinh died at HCM City’s Cho Ray Hospital on Sunday after being injected with silicone by a mobile beautifying service provider.

Doctors said the patient was taken to the hospital on Saturday in a state of weakened breathing, heart palpitations, high fever and sweating. The woman’s body was covered in red bumps and showed signs of infection.

According to the patient's relatives, a day earlier the woman had been visited in her home by a mobile beautifying service provider. The provider, who lacks any certification in cosmetic surgery, injected silicone into the woman’s bust, neck, hands and feet. A few hours later, she began to feel tired and was overtaken by shortness of breath.

Doctors said the patient suffered from shock due to blood sepsis as a result of the large volume of silicone in the body. Though the doctors tried their best, the woman died on the morning of April 27 due to respiratory failure.

This is not the first case of death due to abuse of silicone. Hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City sometimes receive patients who attempt to self-beautify, injecting silicone directly into their own bodies.

In 2011, a 21-year-old man bought 500cc of liquid silicone to inject into his body after friends commented that his buttocks was small. The man was brought to HCM City’s Trung Vuong Hospital in a coma. He died of respiratory failure.

In 2013, Binh Dan Hospital in HCM City treated about 40 young men from a fishing village in the southern province of Ca Mau. The men, of ages ranging from 19 to 32, had all attempted to enlarge their penises by injecting liquid silicone into them.

When doctors asked one of the men – NTK, 22 years old – why he had felt the need to "upgrade” his genitalia, he offered the following account:

It started, said NTK, when he got drunk with friends and all went skinny-dipping in a river. There they commented on each other’s manhoods, and NTK was singled out for having one that was smaller than the rest. NTK was warned that, given his small size, he would be unable to satisfy his future girlfriend or wife.

Someone suggested that NTK buy silicon from Thailand to inject into his penis to make it bigger. NTK’s friends also told him about several men who had had successful penis enlargements from silicone injections. NTK did the same. After several injections, his penis did look bigger and he was very happy with the results.

But it wasn’t long before the organ became swollen and had expressions of edema, became deformed and gave off an odor. NTK also could not urinate. Ultimately, with the pain unbearable, he had to tell his concerned family the truth, and was rushed to a local hospital. To save and restore his penis, the doctors recommended that he go to Binh Dan Hospital.

"In most of the cases, the penises suffer from severe complications and doctors must re-create them," said Dr. Dung.

Le Ha