Eighties pop singer Pete Burns recently came out ahead in an out-of-court settlement with his cosmetic surgeon.
Burns, former lead singer of the eighties dance band Dead or Alive, won 450,000 pounds in light of a botched lip filler surgery.
Sources say Burns consulted surgeon Maurizio Viel in 2002 for lip injections, since he was unsatisfied with earlier operations. However, Dr. Viel’s work reportedly made things worse, causing his client’s lips to blister and swell and produce discharge.
Dr. Viel allegedly had injected Burns with a filler product called Outline Original over several appointments, despite the evidence of bad side effects. The surgeon reportedly overused this product – which was not designed to be used with other filler products – over a short period of time.
Eventually the singer was left so disfigured he could only drink through a straw and became a recluse, even contemplating suicide, according to media reports.
Burns has said the surgery made him look mutilated and that he had to undergo more than 100 additional operations to fix the problem.
Dr. Viel’s lawyer recently confirmed that aside from paying the settlement, the surgeon has made “certain admissions” about treating Burns. But the lawyer declined to give more detail.
