Malaysian Woman Dies After Botched Liposuction Before Her Wedding

Owners of an unlicensed beauty salon in Malaysia have been detained following the death of a bride-to-be following a liposuction procedure.

What happened: Coco Siew Zhi Shing, 23, went to the beauty salon located in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 17 to get liposuction done on her arms to prepare for her wedding next year in South Africa, her brother, Xiao Mingan, told Sin Chew Daily via The Straits Times.

Siew was reportedly able to book an appointment at the business after finding it on the internet.
She was charged 2,500 Malaysian Ringgit ($602) for the procedure.
The woman arrived at the clinic with a friend at around 2:30 p.m. that day. After being injected with anesthesia, Siew began to feel unwell and her heart stopped about an hour later.

Siew’s friend called an ambulance to help her, but they failed to resuscitate her. She was pronounced dead at the hospital at 5 p.m.
Siew’s friend had noticed the beautician who had administered the procedure was not focused and faced problems during the surgery.

Other details: Her family was notified about the incident, but they were too late when they arrived at the hospital.

The owners of the salon, a woman and her daughter, were not present during Siew’s procedure. The two only arrived at the hospital by 8 p.m.
They have been detained as the police continue to investigate the cause of Siew’s death.
Xiao said his sister, who won an Asian modeling competition in 2014, was living a healthy lifestyle and always cared for her physique.

Shady practices: It was later revealed that the salon and the beautician did not hold official licenses to perform procedures.

“After our repeated questioning, the person in charge of the salon finally revealed that they were not licensed to conduct such medical procedures, but were licensed only for normal beauty treatments,” Xiao said. “The beautician who performed the procedure for my sister did not have a professional license.”
Xiao also discovered the beauty salon was registered under the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) as a beauty product wholesaler, operating illegally when their beauticians performed beauty and cosmetics procedures, China Press reported.
The beautician who worked on Siew apologized to the family after giving her full statement to the police, Xiao said. All social media pages for the business have also been deactivated.
The salon first opened in 2012 in Kuantan but moved to Selangor in 2018.

Feature Image via Coco Siew

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