A popular former actress, model and TV presenter has died in Argentina after years of health issues related to a plastic surgery nightmare.
Silvina Luna, 43, died Thursday (August 31) after a long period of hospitalisation at Buenos Aires’ Hospital Italiano. News of her death was confirmed by her lawyer Fernando Burlando.
The lawyer later confirmed that family members had decided to disconnect her from life support after the doctors said she had to be intubated once again.
“We’ve always loved you, we’ll always love you, we’ve gone down the same roads, we’re always together in my heart, because you are my chosen family,” wrote her friend, actor Gustavo Conti, in a post on Instagram.
Luna’s death at such a young age is shocking, but not surprising. She had suffered from severe health issues for many years and had been in and out of hospitals for some time.
Nearly all her health issues stemmed from the application of a toxic substance to her body during cosmetic surgery carried out years ago by Aníbal Lotocki, a disgraced doctor who is facing prosecution for malpractice.
Luna, a former TV presenter and reality TV star, was in need of a kidney transplant and normally had to undergo three dialysis sessions a week, for four hours at a time, just in order to survive.
"There are times of acceptance and times when I wake up and say ‘I’m living a nightmare’,” the model admitted in a recent television interview.
Luna had been in hospital for 79 days. She was admitted to the institution in Almagro on June 13 with hypercalcaemia, which had led to acute renal failure. Complications from a Covid-19 diagnosis had also troubled her immune system.
Medical professionals were also seeking a way to combat a bacteria that prevented a kidney transplant from being performed.
Malpractice claims
Aníbal Lotocki has multiple malpractice suits against him, including many people in show business who have publicly denounced the doctor for health consequences suffered in the wake of surgeries and implants carried out by him.
A court in Buenos Aires recently rejected an appeal from Lotocki’s defence team against a ruling that bars him from conducting any treatment and cosmetic surgery.
Celebrities who assure they have suffered serious injuries and complications as a result of procedures conducted by Lotocki include Silvina Luna, Stefania Xípokitakis, Gabriela Trenchi, Mariano Caprarola, Fran Mariano and his former partner, Pamela Sosa.
Earlier this month, Caprarola died in August aged 49. The hairdresser, dancer, TV panel show star and presenter died from acute kidney failure suffered in the wake of a cosmetic procedure performed by Lotocki.
In 2010, Lotocki injected methacrylate (a banned substance also known as PMMA) into Caprarola’s buttocks. Use of the substance, which is mostly used to manufacture bone or dental prostheses, can be dangerous and cause significant health damage.
Methacrylate can cause allergic reactions, migration to other parts of the body, infections, pain, necrosis and hypercalcaemia.
The same substance was injected into Silvina Luna the very same year. She wanted to have liposuction to remove body fat and then inject some into her buttocks, but the doctor persuaded her to add methacrylate to make the effect last longer.
The substance, however, made her calcium levels in her blood rise and she took corticoids to solve the problem. This caused a drop in her defences and a deterioration of her health to the point that she needed a kidney transplant.
She was unable to go through with the operation, however, due to the appearance of a bacteria, which her body was unable to fight.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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