\u2018I started what would evolve into Asetica with \u20ac100 in my back pocket,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018Actually, it wasn\u2019t even mine. I borrowed it. I built everything myself.\u2019<\/p>\n
Dressed in neat scrubs with perfectly manicured nails and her long, blonde hair hanging loose about her shoulders, Michelle looks every inch the successful aesthetician.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But her professionalism is hardened by a horrific personal experience in Turkey, during which she genuinely thought she might die.<\/p>\n
On her return home, she ended up in hospital for weeks, as doctors battled to stabilise her and correct the damage done to her body. She faced years of surgery and, eight years on, is still not fully healed.<\/p>\n
The whole nightmare started with a throwaway comment in her clinic.<\/p>\n
Michelle was treating a high-profile Irish actress preparing for a major Hollywood role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the star was leaving, one of her assistants leaned into the actress and said: \u2018She\u2019s really good at her work, but she\u2019s not aesthetically pleasing.\u2019<\/p>\n
Michelle was 37 years old, a mother to two beautiful daughters, and a size 18 to 20.<\/p>\n
\u2018It floored me,\u2019 the now 45-year-old says quietly. \u2018I had always been skinny, but after my first child I put on weight and never lost it. But believe it or not, I was happy at the time.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019d married the previous year, my business was doing really well and my reputation was growing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet in that one moment, it was like none of the hard work mattered because of how I looked. It was a low, body-shaming blow.\u2019<\/p>\n
![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/107975805-15743043-image-a-17_1776446865785.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Michelle is still battling to return to full normality and still suffers debilitating symptoms<\/p>\n
After a restless night battling self-doubt, disappointment and the return of long-dormant insecurities, Michelle mentioned the comment in passing while chatting to friends in a nail bar the next day.<\/p>\n
To her surprise, a couple of the women mentioned they had recently travelled overseas for cosmetic procedures.<\/p>\n
\u2018At the time, plastic surgery still felt like something for celebrities or millionaires,\u2019 Michelle says.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u2018But here were normal girls, lifting their tops, showing me the results of going abroad and it suddenly felt accessible.\u2019<\/p>\n
Later that evening, Michelle found herself scrolling through Instagram posts from the Istanbul clinic the women had used.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The images showed flawless transformations, glowing testimonials and smiling patients.<\/p>\n
\u2018I went down the rabbit hole,\u2019 Michelle admits. \u2018Their social media was so slick. It looked professional and polished, and it looked safe.\u2019<\/p>\n
Michelle contacted the clinic through social media.<\/p>\n
\u2018That was my first mistake,\u2019 she says. \u2018My next was thinking their interest in me was care when really it was sales.\u2019<\/p>\n
Almost immediately, the conversation was moved from Instagram to WhatsApp. Michelle revealed she wanted a tummy tuck and they asked for photos. Seconds later she had a quote of \u20ac8,000 for the procedure.<\/p>\n
There was no consultation, no medical discussion, no proper assessment, only a price tag \u2013 and then pressure.<\/p>\n
A few days after receiving her quote, the clinic called to say a date had come available with their surgeon, but it was a case of act now or lose the opportunity.<\/p>\n
The next day, Michelle boarded a flight for Turkey, full of hope and blissfully unaware that she was about to step into a \u2018living nightmare\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018When I arrived, I was picked up in a Mercedes and taken to a swanky villa,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n
\u2018There were ten other patients there in various states of recovery, including Katie Price and some faces from reality TV, as well as a couple of average Joe Soaps like me.<\/p>\n
\u2018I was greeted by someone who didn\u2019t even know my name and then taken to a room furnished in black and gold, where the owner was waiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘I handed over the cash that I had begged, borrowed and saved \u2013 and that\u2019s when their interest in me faded.\u2019<\/p>\n
The following day, Michelle was taken to hospital for what she was told would be a routine procedure lasting two hours.<\/p>\n
\u2018I had no blood tests, no ECG, nobody took my medical history and the paperwork was in Turkish so I couldn\u2019t even read it, never mind question it,\u2019 she recalls.<\/p>\n
When the surgeon finally appeared, the interaction was brief and cold.<\/p>\n
\u2018He entered the room with six other men, marked my stomach, and left,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n
\u2018Like I was a number on a conveyor belt.\u2019<\/p>\n
![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/107975799-15743043-image-a-18_1776446898373.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Michelle after she returned to Ireland following the surgery in Turkey<\/p>\n
At 1pm, Michelle was taken to the operating theatre. Ten hours later she woke in complete darkness.<\/p>\n
\u2018There was nobody there, nobody to tell me I was okay, and the pain was overwhelming,\u2019 she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I couldn\u2019t breathe properly. My throat was in agony and I could tell my vocal cords were damaged.<\/p>\n
\u2018I switched on a lamp and saw a biohazard bag beside me holding the contents of my stomach. Immediately, I felt this dread within me and I knew something was terribly wrong.\u2019<\/p>\n
Scared and desperate for help, Michelle forced herself out of the bed to find a nurse.<\/p>\n
\u2018I stood up and blood poured everywhere, over the bed, the floor, everything,\u2019 she says.,\u2019<\/p>\n
Weak and disoriented, Michelle staggered towards the bathroom and banged on the door. Eventually, a nurse arrived.<\/p>\n
\u2018She didn\u2019t speak much English,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018She just grabbed some damp tissues and started wiping my face and chest. It wasn\u2019t much, but it felt like some small kindness.\u2019<\/p>\n
It was during that perfunctory act that Michelle discovered a catheter in her body that hadn\u2019t been properly attached to her bladder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, when the nurse ushered her back to bed, Michelle caught sight of her surroundings.<\/p>\n
\u2018The chair, the walls… they were spattered with my blood,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n
Shocked by the amount of blood she saw and confused by the lost hours from what should have been a routine tummy tuck operation, Michelle asked to see the surgeon. The response stunned her.<\/p>\n
\u2018I was told he was still operating,\u2019 she says. \u2018It was 11 o\u2019clock at night and I suddenly felt like I had been part of a production line rather than a patient.\u2019<\/p>\n
When the surgeon eventually appeared, Michelle says he was abrupt, irritated and offered no reassurance. The next morning, she was discharged with no explanation and no aftercare plan.<\/p>\n
\u2018They put me in the back of a van and drove me back to the villa,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n
Once in her room, Michelle was all but left to her own devices.\u00a0Racked with pain, she discovered she still had drains attached, which a nurse in a tracksuit emptied in a public toilet by pulling them out.<\/p>\n
The only food she was offered was a thin, peppery soup, and the only medication she received was water tablets and painkillers taken from a basket in reception.<\/p>\n
\u2018I had to change my own dressings,\u2019 she reveals.<\/p>\n
\u2018My wounds were leaking and nobody ever came to check them.\u2019<\/p>\n
That night, Michelle drifted in and out of consciousness, instinctively aware that she was suffering far more than normal post-surgery pain.<\/p>\n
\u2018I remember being woken by the call to prayer,\u2019 she says quietly, tears welling in her eyes. \u2018I was relieved because it at least meant I was alive for another four hours.\u2019<\/p>\n
Though Michelle was meant to stay at the villa for five days, she knew she needed medical help.<\/p>\n
\u2018I wasn\u2019t fit to fly,\u2019 she says. \u2018But I had to get out if I was to save my life.\u2019<\/p>\n
What followed is a haze of fragmented memories \u2013 a taxi to the airport, the sound of blood rushing in her ears, finding a seat on the plane and being afraid to move in case it caused her more damage.<\/p>\n
When she landed in Dublin, her then-husband John-Paul immediately took her to the nearest hospital, where it was recommended that she seek the help of specialist surgeons at St James\u2019s.<\/p>\n
It was at the renowned Dublin hospital that doctors discovered Michelle was not only on the verge of septic shock, but had a five- litre seroma in her abdomen \u2013 a dangerous accumulation of fluid \u2013 along with extensive internal damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But what shocked them most were the unexplained procedures.<\/p>\n
\u2018I had stitches in my ears, my neck, my back, my legs, even inside my cheeks,\u2019 she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018None of it made sense. We could only guess that they had mixed me up with another patient who was having liposuction and buccal fat removal, but we\u2019ll never know because the clinic blocked me on social media and refused to reply to requests for information from the Dublin surgeons.\u2019<\/p>\n
![\"Some](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/107975801-15743043-image-a-19_1776446914883.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Some of the mysterious stitches Michelle found all over her body<\/p>\n
Michelle stayed at St James\u2019s for more than a week. After reopening Michelle\u2019s abdomen and draining litres of fluid, surgeons attempted to reconstruct her.<\/p>\n
\u2018They had to wash everything out, scrape tissue, remove infection and essentially rebuild my stomach,\u2019 Michelle says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018It wasn\u2019t a quick fix. It was years of surgeries, years of complications, years of trying to undo damage that should never have happened.\u2019<\/p>\n
However, her body continued to react. In the years that followed, she developed dangerous levels of visceral fat, seizures, migraines and extreme hormonal imbalances.<\/p>\n
At one point, she lost nearly ten stone in a matter of months following further corrective surgery abroad, using a trusted clinic for speed rather than cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As her hair started to fall out and her gums receded, she understood her body was in crisis.<\/p>\n
\u2018I was being tested for everything \u2013 Cushing\u2019s, neurological conditions, autoimmune disorders, it never stopped,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n
While medics eventually managed to stabilise Michelle, some eight years later she continues to struggle, most recently fainting in the bath and splitting her nose open after developing postural tachycardia syndrome, a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, characterised by an excessive heart rate increase. She also suffers from PTSD.<\/p>\n
Yet remarkably, out of that pain something unexpected grew \u2013 a desire deep within her to safeguard others from the \u2018cosmetic tourism predators\u2019 she had fallen victim to.<\/p>\n
After documenting her ordeal in a private Facebook group, word spread and messages began to arrive from people like her \u2013 botched, abandoned and desperate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seeing how widespread the problem was, she actively started to guide others towards reputable surgeons, offering emotional support and financial help where possible.<\/p>\n
\u2018At Asetica, we offer discounted treatments on free products that I\u2019m sent, and I put that money towards helping people who can\u2019t afford surgery when they absolutely need it, whether they be victims of botched surgeries, trauma or domestic violence,\u2019 she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t want another person looking in the mirror and seeing someone else\u2019s bad decision on their face forever.\u2019<\/p>\n
While Michelle is careful not to demonise all surgery abroad \u2013 Asetica regularly sends clients to a partner hospital in Lithuania \u2013 she has little patience for the ghouls of social media<\/p>\n
\u2018There are good surgeons overseas,\u2019 she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018But don\u2019t shop for surgery on social media, don\u2019t be rushed by scare tactics, and if you can\u2019t speak directly to the surgeon, walk away.\u2019<\/p>\n
Despite everything she has been through, Michelle refuses to let her story end in tragedy, adding another incentive to her mission to educate and help.<\/p>\n
\u2018Kindness is free,\u2019 she says. \u2018I\u2019ve been given a talent \u2013 different to the musicians in my family, but still a talent \u2013 so who am I to not use it to help someone else?<\/p>\n
\u2018Every time I help or stop someone going through what I went through, a little piece of me comes back to normal.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By any measure, Michelle Furey is a woman who has built her life the hard way. The daughter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4501,539,93,61,542,60,99,43,3791],"class_list":{"0":"post-405026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-belfast","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-instagram","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-turkey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}