A tragedy has hit the hearts of Malaysians this weekend when a 23-year-old model died at the hands of an unlicensed beautician during a cosmetic surgery.
This incident is reported to have occurred on Saturday (17th October) when the deceased, Coco Siew Zhi Shing, visited a beauty salon in Cheras for liposuction surgery in her arms. Coco was to be married next year to her long-term boyfriend in South Africa and wanted to do the surgery in preparation for their wedding.
Coco’s brother, Xiao Mingan, told Sin Chew Daily that his sister decided to do the surgery so she can look her best as a bride. This home-style beauty salon, which charged RM2,500 for the liposuction surgery, was found online by the deceased victim.
Coco visited the salon with a friend at 2:30pm on Saturday to undergo the cosmetic surgery. According to the friend, the model received an anaesthetic injection once the surgery began, whereafter the surgeon became visibly flustered within half an hour of the operation.
After noticing that something was not right, the friend immediately called an ambulance and rushed Coco to the hospital. Unfortunately, the medics were unable to resuscitate Coco and she was pronounced dead at 5pm.
Following this terrible incident, Xiao stated that their family immediately made a police report against the beauty salon and its practitioner. The brother also told China Press that he had done a background check of the salon online and found that the salon was actually registered as a beauty product wholesaler by the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM).
“Under our repeated questioning, the person in charge of the beauty salon revealed that the salon did not have an aesthetic clinic license. They were operating under an ordinary beauty salon license, and the aesthetic doctor, who performed the operation on my sister, did not have a professional medical license either,” added Xiao.
The beauty salon was clearly carrying out its activities illegally, and now these malpractices have led to the death of a young woman. “I hope my sister’s experience will serve as a warning to other young women so that a tragedy like this won’t happen again,” stated Coco’s grieving brother.
Coco is said to have lived a healthy life, was diligent in her fitness activities, and gave a lot of importance to body management. Coco pursued a career in modelling since the age of 16, which was when she won the Asia New Star Model Contest in Petaling Jaya as a Form 4 student in 2013.
A Facebook post written by one of Coco’s close friends reads, “For the girls who love chasing perfection, I hope you will be more cautious and responsible in choosing a clinic. I’m so sorry this happened to her. I hope the one who did wrong takes responsibility for this.”
Read the full post here:
The results of Coco’s post-mortem has not yet been confirmed. However, the police are currently investigating the unlicensed beauty salon and Coco’s brother also pointed out that the family will be pursuing this matter to the end.
According to China Press, the unlicensed surgeon is reported to be a 23-year-old young woman who has recently visited the police station to issue a statement on this matter. The beauty salon has deleted all of its social media accounts and is yet to make a public statement regarding its illegal activities and the death of their customer.
The 23-year-old beautician and her 49-year-old mother have been arrested. This case is being investigated under Section 304 of the Penal Code for causing death by negligence, not amounting to culpable homicide.
We urge everyone to always do their prior research, understand the risks and make an informed decision before signing up for operations of this type.
Sources: Sin Chew Daily, China Press.
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