Coronation Street is set to highlight a major health issue experts say viewers should take as a warning. The ITV soap will start a new storyline this week based on the risks of getting plastic surgery abroad.
Corrie’s popular character, Bethany Platt, who is played by Lucy Fallon, will come to face the life changing result of her decision to get cosmetic surgery abroad.
Viewers will watch as Bethany accepts a job with a cosmetic surgery company to write an advertorial on its new facility in Turkey.
She makes the decision to undergo liposuction at the clinic, but the operation ends with her in a critical condition.
As a result of the botched procedure, she contracts sepsis and is told she’ll be left living with a permanent stoma.
The storyline comes as research shows the UK has seen a significant rise in patients seeking corrective treatments from botched cosmetic surgeries performed abroad.
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) published data from a 2023 study that outlined the amount of people needing hospital treatment in Britain after going under the knife abroad increased by 94% in three years.
The stats also found procedures carried out in Turkey account for more than three quarters.
The study highlighted an increasing number of individuals coming back to the UK facing various complications too, including issues with wound healing and severe cases of sepsis that could be life-threatening.
Just over 200,000 people in the UK (1 in 335 of the population) have a stoma. Each year, between 13,500 and 21,000 operations are carried out on the NHS leading to stomas being formed.
Coronation Street has been working closely with Colostomy UK to ensure the storyline is told as accurately and sensitively as possible.
Giovanni Cinque, marketing and campaigns manager for the charity, said: “Even though public awareness has grown considerably over the last few years thanks to a number of celebrities revealing they have had surgery, the challenges that the 200,000 plus people living with a stoma in the UK face are less known, which means that we as a society and as individuals are not as aware as we should be of the choices that we can make to positively improve their quality of life.
“We really hope that Bethany’s journey will go a long way in helping to educate the audience, and thus help to create a more Stoma Aware UK. It’s also been a pleasure for us to work with the behind-the-scenes teams at Coronation Street on this story.”
Lucy Fallon added: “The storyline is also incredibly important as there’s countless horror stories out there of people talking about their experiences of cosmetic surgery abroad. I really hope this storyline can make people rethink going abroad for cosmetic surgery.”
Fans expressed concern over Bethany’s upcoming tragic storyline. In real life, Lucy is pregnant with her second child with footballer boyfriend Ryan Ledson.
On Instagram, fans showed support for the decision to showcase the reality of life with a stoma. One wrote: “Corrie is the best when it comes to making awareness of things that don’t get spoken about and let slip under the radar.”
Another added: “As someone with a colostomy stoma I am so happy to see representation on screen! It’s crazy how you are treated when you have one including trying to sort it out in toilets and banging the doors.
“The lack of understanding and respect is crazy! I really hope this shows the challenges but also shows that your life isn’t over when you have one! For many of us, it saves our lives and gives us life to live.”