Pensioner Left Unable To Close His Eyes For Three Years After Elective Surgery

79-year-old Pete Broadhurst had a dental procedure in the 1950s that left him with puffy cheeks.

Even after further surgery to fix the allegedly botched operation, he still can’t close his eyes and has to keep putting in eyedrops to stop them from drying out, as well as taping his eyes shut in order to sleep.

He claims that he’s lost relationships as a result of his appearance, and says that he now looks ‘frightening’.

The retired painter and decorator now wants to warn others about the dangers of elective surgery.

He explained: "Getting on the bus one day a man said, 'my God, what's happened to your face?'.

"I was already feeling down it just made it worse. Now I'm only worried about getting my eyes comfortable.

"It's gone beyond how I look. I just want relief. I want to tell others to be careful because it can ruin your life."

Everything kicked off in 1959 when he underwent a procedure to fix a problem with his teeth that left him with enlarged cheeks.

That caused his girlfriend at the time, the mother of his two children, to leave him.

"I said, 'why are you leaving when we've got everything? Look at how lucky we are.' And she said, 'go look in the mirror, that's why I'm leaving'.”

Then, after two more relationships ended, he decided to pay out for surgery to fix his appearance in 2019.

The surgery at BMI The Priory Hospital didn’t go as he expected.

Pete continued: "I looked like I'd been beaten up. It was horrendous, and I couldn't close my eyes.

"I'm being sick all through the night and in my sleep. The day after the surgery I wished I'd never gone."

When another doctor noticed his eyes at a routine check-up, he was referred to the specialist Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre.

They couldn’t treat him, as the first procedure was privately performed, so he went back to BMI.

He was given free corrective surgery in May 2019, but the problems persisted.

Pete added: "My eyes were distorted, I could barely see at all. She'd lifted my left eyelid up and my right eye had a blinker in the corner. It never improved again.

"I was unable to see and at night I still had to tape it shut."

Now, he can’t drive a car and has to tape his eyes shut at night, as well as microwaving a towel to place across his face when he sleeps.

Pete has also had to pay more money for extra surgery in Turkey aimed at fixing the problems.

Despite that, he still has issues to this day.

"My left eye is still open today. Whoever you trust, even a top surgeon, please be careful because it can ruin your life,” he warned.

A spokesperson for BMI Healthcare said: "We can’t comment on the detail of individual cases, but we are committed to the highest standards of patient safety and care quality and are investigating this matter thoroughly.

"The surgeon in question is currently suspended as we are mirroring an NHS trust suspension."

Lindsey Sharp, from BHI Parkside – which performed one of the follow-up surgeries – said: "BHI does not provide healthcare. It provides space to NHS, private consultants and other healthcare professionals to undertake services they are qualified to provide."

The surgeon who performed that procedure declined to comment on confidentiality grounds.