When looks can kill

Laura Pillarella was hugely disappointed the first time she had ­plastic surgery. The naturally-attractive, but insecure, young woman had hoped the procedures to remove the bags under her eyes and insert a chin implant would improve not only her looks, but also her life. They didn’t.
‘When the bandages came off, I was disappointed,’ she says. ‘I wasn’t ­beautiful — just different. It wasn’t enough.’
So Laura planned another operation ... and then another. For the next ­decade she became trapped in a vicious cycle of surgery, dissatisfaction and more surgery.

Insecure: Laura Pillarella became trapped in a vicious cycle of surgery

Finally, after her 15th procedure, a plastic surgeon told her the real ­problem with her looks was that she had had excessive amounts of surgery. It was too much for Laura to bear.
After ­spending more than £40,000 ­trying to be ­beautiful, she seriously thought about taking her own life.

 

‘I had my suicide all worked out. I was going to rent a room in a hotel, get some sleeping tablets and wash them down with red wine,’ says the American ­personal trainer and author.
‘I wasn’t going to leave a suicide note. People would know why I’d killed myself. One look at my face said it all — I’d made myself look ­hideously ugly. My face was lopsided, my nose was too skinny, my lips were ­distorted and my chin was crooked.’
Laura is typical of many cosmetic ­surgery patients who are left profoundly depressed by their appearance ­afterwards.

Naturally pretty: Laura, pictured before her surgery, had procedures to remove the bags under her eyes and insert a chin implant

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