Plastic surgeon faces lawsuit after student claims her 'nose collapsed'

Patient: Mijin Zahir outside court
Champion News

A student is suing one of Britain’s leading plastic surgeons over claims her nose “collapsed” following a botched operation.

Mijin Zahir, 27, went under the knife of Shailesh Vadodaria in July 2010 in search of the “ideal” nose with “perfect symmetry”. However, she says he botched the procedure, leaving her with a kink in it and weakened cartilage that led to the right side collapsing.

Mrs Zahir, of Colindale, needed two more operations to fix the damage, the High Court heard, and is suing the surgeon for “negligent surgical technique”.

Mr Vadodaria, who has clinics in Harley Street and Edinburgh, is fighting the claim for damages, arguing: “A surgeon cannot be held negligent because the result is not perfect.”

He has appeared in magazines and on TV talking about plastic surgery, including on Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies. He describes himself as “one of the UK’s leading cosmetic surgeons”.

Defence: Shailesh Vadodaria denies negligence
Champion News

In court yesterday Mrs Zahir told Mr Justice Garnham that before the operation she had had a “straight” and “very symmetrical nose”. The procedure was meant to shave the cartilage and slim her nose down.

However, Christopher Stephenson, for Mrs Zahir, said she was left with an “irregular nose tip, asymmetrical nose and collapsing right side”, and struggled to breathe out of her other nostril. “In any medical procedure there are a range of acceptable outcomes. We say this was outside that range,” he said. But Ranald Davidson, for the surgeon, told the court: “The results of cosmetic procedures are variable. A surgeon cannot be held negligent because the result is not perfect. Mrs Zahir talks about her nose not being ideal. Any surgeon cannot produce an ideal result. One cannot guarantee perfect symmetry.”

He said 15 to 20 per cent of nose jobs needed to be redone: “She was given adequate warning regarding the risk of revision surgery and residual asymmetry. There is a risk inherent in these procedures of creating asymmetry.”

Mrs Zahir had sued for up to £100,000 but is understood to have agreed to accept £35,000, plus substantial costs, should Mr Vadodaria accept blame.

The surgeon, of Rickmansworth, hit the headlines last year when one of his patients died from an infection after he performed an £8,000 “Brazilian bum lift” on her. A coroner’s inquiry found she died from complications related to the operation, but Mr Vadodaria was not implicated in any wrongdoing.

The High Court hearing continues.

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