Pete Burns Cosmetic Surgery

For those who have never heard before his name, Pete Burns was once a pop icon and fairly obscure frontman of the 1980s band "Dead or Alive" (he’s actually the "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) singer"). In the past Pete accused Boy George of ripping off his image. Burns is a cosmetic surgery addict. He agreed and actually filmed a special in the UK called "Pete Burns’ Cosmetic Surgery Nightmares".


Pete Burns started getting work done on his face: first, there was an awful nose job and then an intervention that almost killed him, when his lip implants got infected and the doctor who did them would not treat him properly. His lips seem undoubtedly scary now and Pete (reasonably) was filing a lawsuit against the Harley Street surgeon who gave him lip implants.

The tragic thing is that Pete claimed his nose was so crooked he could no longer wear sunglasses.

Pete stated about his cosmetic surgery gone wrong: "My doctor punctured it and the yellow dishcarge that came out filled two mugs. I was put on antibiotics but my whole face began to swell. I was housebound for nine months and couldn't move my head - discharge would pour out."





However, Pete revealed he would continue to go under the knife and insisted: "I don't feel like I'm addicted to surgery. I could leave it alone for long periods of time if I wanted...I'll wait another couple of years before my next overhaul...my face might fall off! I developed rashes around the mouth, then I developed lumps. (The plastic surgeon) just kept injecting me (with steroids)"

"My lip was at least 18 inches away from my face, the lower lip… When you wake up and your adam’s apple has come out… further than your jaw and one side of your face is so swollen you can’t open your eye and there’s yellow discharge, not just leaking squirting with a hiss it would squirt from my face," Burns explained.

"It was like one of the worse science fiction or horror movies you could ever see," Burns was quoted as saying. Eventually, he found a surgeon to fix him: a man who specializes in operating on those whose faces have been "eaten away" by cancer.





"It was removing what amounted to pints of fluid that my body produced trying to fight this substance that was in me. I had 11 kidney stones, near liver failure, thrombosis, nearly lost sight in one eye, I couldn’t eat food… so for two years like that," Burns tells of his long way back to recovery.

"The Celebrity Big Brother" star suffered a reaction to injections of lip filler which resulted in swelling, blisters, discharge and lumps.

Burn claimed the treatment had left him looking like he had been "mutilated with a Stanley knife".

Thankfully, Pete Burns has won an out-of-court settlement of £450,000 after launching a legal case against his plastic surgeon for "ruining his career and life".

Dr Maurizio Viel admitted negligence.

"As I looked in the mirror it felt like everything I had worked for was ruined due to the disabling injuries I suffered caused by Dr Maurizio Viel," Pete revealed.

"I am just glad the case is now over. It is a terrible experience living with the trauma and worry of injury and disability and to have to re-live and recount the details and circumstances of how your injuries happened for the purposes of evidence for the court." Pete added.

The £450,000 payment follows treatment which Pete began to receive in 2000 from Dr Viel at the London Centre for Aesthetic Surgery.


Burns originally received treatment for the correction of problems associated with a previous implant of a product named Alloderm, which had diminished in size and failed to provide sufficient volume and definition.

But from 2002 Dr Viel then went on to inject Mr Burns' lips with a filler called Outline Original, disregarding warning signs on the product relating to its use in conjunction with other products.

Despite evidence that Burns was suffering a reaction to the filler during 2003, Dr Viel continued to administer an excessive number of follow-up injections, contrary to product guidelines, causing swelling, blisters, discharge and lumps.

When Burns launched his legal case in 2007 he stated the treatment had left him suicidal.



It has to be mentioned that Burns had had more than 100 operations by specialists in Genoa, Italy, to try to correct the damage.

Burns declared: "It has taken away my life and my career. I saw doctors in London who said the only option was to amputate my lips. I was suicidal. Eventually I found a doctor in Italy who knew the product and said he could remove it."

Burns stated he had lost his Notting Hill home and his singing career was in tatters.

Burns claimed he was left so disfigured he could not eat normally, could only drink through a straw and did not leave his house for months.






Burns revealed his career would have been at its peak if it were not for the botched cosmetic surgery, as he was about to record with the Pet Shop Boys, pursue a number of solo projects and launch a greatest hits album.

Today Pete's lawyers stated it was likely he would need further treatment.

His solicitor Auriana Griffiths, of law firm Irwin Mitchell, claimed: "Pete's life and career have been severely affected as a result of this negligence. He required more than 18 months of corrective surgery in Italy to try to remove the product from his lips. Unfortunately, it is likely he will suffer further flare ups in the future for which he will require further treatment. However, Pete is relieved finally to be able to put this ordeal behind him at last. It has been an incredibly difficult time for him."

Burns added: "I would like to express my sincere gratitude and thanks to Auriana Griffiths and Irwin Mitchell for all of their hard work and determined efforts to fight my case and get me justice for the injuries I suffered. In my view, the legal process should be changed dramatically to enable the injured parties to get a much quicker result and compensation to fund their rehabilitation and reconstruct their lives."

Miss Griffiths told Dr Viel had admitted negligence on a number of allegations, which centred mainly on failing to heed the instructions of the manufacturer of the filler in respect of its use.

These included failure to have regard to the fact that no studies had been done by the manufacturers of the interaction of Outline with other implants or fillers.



He also failed to heed the instruction that Outline should not be mixed with other products and repeatedly injected Burns' lips with Outline when he had already administered other fillers.

Dr Viel also admitted injecting other fillers when he had already administered Outline and over-correcting the appearance of Burns' lips with the repeated injection of Outline.

And he admitted failing to heed the instruction that further injections of Outline should only be administered after a minimum period of 4 to 6 weeks.

Dr Viel's lawyer, Majid Hassan of legal firm Capsticks, confirmed the case had been settled out of court and "certain admissions had been made" but he refused to discuss the details.





The irony of it is that despite Pete's face is damaged from the terrible cosmetic surgery he's had over the years, Pete insists he will never stop going under the knife in a bid to fix his features.

Burns has revealed in 2010 that he's had yet another facelift, despite previous procedures maiming him to an extent he thought his face would "fall off" and he'd have to have his lips amputated.

Pete has admitted that photos taken in 2010 showing him with a swollen face as he sat in the front row of a fashion row were because of a further surgical procedure.

Pete told Reveal magazine: "My most recent overhaul was about a month ago. I had a minor facelift and my eyes slanted. I also have regular peels and Botox. It is something I'll always do. People redecorate their homes every few years and I see this as no different. Changing my face is like buying a new sofa."

What do you think of Pete Burns' cosmetic surgery?

Sometimes it's hard to understand the insecurities and vanity celebrities have... Too much money, time and trouble for ruining your face, life and career? Crazy!!!

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