News, Thursday, January 27, 2011 3www.thisiskent.co.uk CAK-EO1-S2

In brief

Report by Max Evans

max.evans@KRNmedia.co.uk

A MOTHER-OF-TWO whoshaped-up using a gastricbypass and a tummy tuck, hasopened a company selling cutprice plastic-surgery holidays.

Angela Chouaib, 34, of GreenLane, Grain, lost more than halfof her 19 stone weight after agastric bypass in 2009.

But she struggled to find anaffordable surgeon to tightenthe half-stone of loose skin lefthanging from her body.

Then in November 2009 shetook a trip to Poland.

Mrs Chouaib discovered afive star clinic in Wroclaw,south west Poland, whichoffered a range of cosmetictreatments up to 75 per centcheaper than those offered inUK.

SecretNow her company, Secret

Surgery, sells packaged breaksfor people who want a boob jobor liposuction built into theirholiday.

Mrs Chouaib said: “Oftenpeople don’t want other peopleto know they have had a littlenip or tuck.

“You can actually book yourcity break, and when you gethome you can show yourfriends the site-seeing photos.

“It can be a secret.”Her tummy tuck and skin

tightening cost around £3,000,instead of around £12,000 – theaverage cost of the procedureswhen they are carried out theUK.

She also decided to have abreast uplift at the clinic at

fraction of the UK cost.Mrs Chouaib, who quit her

job in occupation health andsafety to start the company, saidpeople should not raise theireyebrows at a face lift, or sniff ata nose job.

She said: “I think you have towalk in someone else’s shoes toappreciate what it is they aregoing through and how it isaffecting their lives.

“It affects peoples’ confid-ence, their mentality, their fam-

ily life and their professionallife.”

In 2007 there was a rise in thenumber of patients treated onthe NHS for complicationsarising from botched surgeryabroad, as recorded in researchby the British Association ofPlastic, Reconstructive andAesthetic surgeons.

But Mrs Chouaib, who liveswith her two children and herhusband Pedro, 39, said peopleshould not be frightened off byhorror stories of “back streetbutchers” abroad.

The resident surgeon at herclinic is in the process of regis-tering with the British generalmedical council.

Secret Surgery trips arearranged so that holidaymakers have their operationand recovery-time in the firstfour days.

They are then free to spendthe rest of their trip enjoyingthe delights of Wroclaw, whichis described as the Venice ofPoland, with its historic build-

ings, its beautiful river andgothic architecture.

A personal assistant helpsthem each step of the way, evenguiding them around the city.

With non-vital surgery cutfrom the list of services offeredby the NHS, Brits could be look-ing abroad for cosmetic pro-cedures in the future.

Around 60,000 people trav-elled to Poland for cosmetic sur-gery last year.

For more information aboutSecret Surgery visitwww.secretsurgery.co.uk

Super dieter launchessecret surgery holidays

News

Mum offers discreet plastic-surgery package breaksafter she struggled to find a clinic for tummy tuck

Uplifted: Angela’s husband, Pedro, can sweep her off her feetafter she lost 10-stone with a gastric band GIPM20110124A-023_C

Before: Angela Chouaibneeded her skin tightened afterlosing weight

Brave schoolboy toidentifysavagedogTHE SCHOOLBOY who was savagedby an unleased Staffordshire bullterrier type dog will have to comeface to face with the suspect animalin a bid to identify it.

Liam Monks,13, was playing foot-ball with his mates at the GarrisonGround in Gillingham when the dogripped into his leg gouging a holehalf the size of a tennis ball.

The attack has left the soccer-madRobert Napier pupil in need of coun-selling and he is still undergoingplastic surgery treatment at a spe-cialist hospital at East Grinstead.

ArrestedA 15-year-old boy was arrested in

Gillingham just over a week after theincident on Wednesday December29, on suspicion of failing to control adog in a public place.

He has been placed on bail andwas due to return to Medway PoliceStation today.

Liam’s mum Debbie Monk saidher son, who has been told he will be

scarred for life, has suffered a set-back after an infection set into thewound.

He managed to return to schoolafter the Christmas break, but thengot a bout of chicken pox.

Debbie, 47, a nursery school work-er, said “He is still getting flash-backs, but the counselling ishelping.

“He is achieving different goalseveryday. We are very proud of him.

“We are being told he has to identi-fy the dog. But it will be in a con-trolled environment.”

Skin from Liam’s thigh was graf-ted to fill the gaping wound in anemergency two-hour operation.

Amazingly, two days later theplucky lad was allowed back to thefamily home in Belmont Road,Gillingham.

Liam’s friends, Jordan Mills andKayleigh Williams, both aged 14,who were with him at the time,described the dog as white withblack spots all over it.

Savage attack: Liam Monks,13, with mum Debbie

Passer-by saveshouse from blazeA CAR went up in flames and threatened toset a house alight in the early hours of themorning until a quick-thinking passer-by tookaction and called firefighters.

After spotting the burning Peugeothatchback in the driveway of a home in StMargaret’s Street, Rochester, at 4.50am onWednesday, they woke the owners.

Firefighters from Medway and Strood werecalled and doused the blaze, but not beforethe heat smashed several windows andscorched guttering.

Garage fireFIREFIGHTERS battled a blaze at a garage inChatham in the early hours of yesterdaymorning. A crew from Medway spent an hourdealing with the fire in Gerard Avenue,Chatham.

The garage, which was piled with rubbish,was destroyed. The cause is unknown.

New-look storeTHE CO-OPERATIVE will open a new-lookstore in Hoo today (Thursday) after a£260,000 refit.

Pupils from Hoo Primary School will cut theribbon at the Main Road store, which hasbeen redecorated and fitted with a new till aswell as a kiosk to ease the congestion in thestore.