Thursday, March 29, 2012
A woman who went for a lip line treatment as a birthday treat but ended up with a tattoo line in the wrong place over her lip was yesterday awarded €25,000 damages.
Anne McCaffrey, aged 62, from Scholarstown Rd, Rathfarnham, Dublin, had sued Advanced Cosmetic Surgery Ltd, Malahide Marina, Dublin, which the court heard is now in liquidation.
The award included special damages to cover the price of the original procedure at €254 and over €700 for lip pencils and make up used to disguise the tattooed line.
Counsel for Ms McCaffrey, John Shortt, said she had attended an Advanced Cosmetic Surgery clinic on Lower Leeson St on Oct 26, 2000, for the semi-permanent, lip line treatment. He said it was a “botched job”, leaving permanent disfigurement to the lower lip. The upper lip line had faded after seven years. An examination four years after the operation revealed a pink line tattooed above her upper lip, with a 2-3mm gap between it and her upper lip.
He said a line had been put in the wrong place over her lips that was visible at a conversational distance without make-up. He said the line over her top lip faded after seven years but the bottom line had not.
Ms McCaffrey said she was coming up to her 50th birthday and had decided on the treatment as a treat. She said an anaesthetic cream was put on her lip but the procedure was “dreadful and very painful”.
She said when she went home her friends thought she looked like a monster. She contacted the clinic who offered to fill in the gap between her lip and the tattooed line. They coloured in a temporary filler but Ms McCaffrey said she looked like a clown. After the procedure she said she had to wear make up all the time.