A woman who underwent botched cosmetic surgery in Turkey has urged others to avoid making the same mistake, calling the results “horrible”.

Leah Mattson, from Hereford, spent more than £6,000 on a tummy tuck, breast and arm lift in July to remove loose skin from her body after losing 12 stone (76kg)

Instead, the medical professional was left with a crooked belly button, deep scars on her arms and stomach that she said made her worse.

“I paid a little less than six and a half thousand dollars to feel worse than before the operation,” she said.

The young mother was horrified at the sight of her body after hiding it under bandages and compresses for two months.

“After nine weeks, when I was finally able to get rid of the bandages, I really started to look at myself and noticed how bad the results were,” she said.

“Nothing, nothing was symmetrical.

“I still had loose skin which I paid to have removed, I still have bingo wings which are more visible as I have horrible scars.”

She said the clinic in Türkiye had refused to refund her money and the company had yet to respond to the BBC’s requests for a response.

Aenone Harper-Marchin, a member of the British Association of Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS), said the scars on Ms Mattson’s body were typical of commercial plastic surgery offered overseas.

“This is not to say that there are not excellent plastic surgeons doing fantastic work in other parts of the world, but the regret of the operation knowing that there is no possibility of coming back from this constructive or reconstructive procedure is common,” she said.

Ms Harper-Marchin said people were often attracted to surgery abroad because of the price.

“These companies are having a really hard time selling,” she said.

“Patients are told that their surgeons are board-certified, but where we see problems is that these people are not actually board-certified plastic surgeons.

“The NHS is seeing increasing numbers of people requiring emergency care for these surgeries carried out abroad.”

Ms Mattson is now documenting her experience on Instagram, to dissuade people from resorting to cosmetic surgeries presented as a vacation.

“Before the operation I had a reason to have loose skin, it was almost like a medal – as if I had been on such a journey to lose weight.

“I didn’t expect this to happen to me.

“Companies lure you in and make these packages look like a dream vacation, but they’re not. It’s surgery, it’s serious and it’s very difficult to take legal action (because it’s not in the UK).

“I put off putting down a deposit on a house for this because my partner and I agreed that I had come a long way to lose this weight and I just needed it to my mental health, but obviously I can’t go back in time, it’s horrible.

• Choose your own surgeon “without the pressure of price”

• Research relevant medical boards and societies specific to the country in which you are having the operation.

• Confirm that the clinic and surgeon are registered with their governing body and are approved to perform the operation.

• Translate the consent forms into English or your native language so that you know what operation is being carried out and know the consequences.

• Ask to see before and after photographs of a surgeon’s previous work

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, advice is available from BBC action line.