Ads promising cosmetic surgery patients a ‘dream body’ with minimal risk get little scrutiny

Cosmetic surgery, especially for procedures such as liposuction and butt lifts, remains a “buyer beware” market, with little scrutiny for ads and sales pitches.

Lenia Watson-Burton, a 37-year-old U.S. Navy administrator, expected that cosmetic surgery would get rid of stubborn fat quickly and easily — just as the web advertising promised.

Instead, she died three days after a liposuction-like procedure called AirSculpt at the San Diego office of Elite Body Sculpture, a cosmetic surgery chain with more than 30 offices across the U.S. and Canada, court records show.

Cosmetic surgery chains setting up shop in multiple states depend heavily on advertising to attract customers: television, print, social media influencers, even texts hawking discounted holiday rates. The pitches typically promise patients life-changing body shaping with minimal pain and a quick recovery.

Yet there’s no federal requirement that surgery companies post evidence supporting the truth and accuracy of these marketing claims. No agency tracks how frequently patients persuaded by sales pitches sustain painful complications such as infections; how effectively surgeons and nursing staff follow up and treat injuries; or whether companies selling new aesthetic devices and methods have adequately trained surgeons to use them safely.

In 2023, Watson-Burton’s husband and six children and stepchildren sued Elite Body Sculpture and plastic surgeon Heidi Regenass for medical malpractice, alleging that the thin cannula the surgeon used to remove fat perforated Watson-Burton’s bowel, causing her death.