A pensioner who was unable to close his eyes for more than four years after surgery complications says the ordeal "destroyed" his life.<br /><br />Pete Broadhurst, now 81, had a cosmetic operation to fix his "puffy cheeks" in January 2019.<br /><br />But he claims the surgeon removed too much tissue from under his eyes - leaving Pete unable to close them.<br /><br />He then spent years dealing with the fallout - even using his pension to fix the issue.<br /><br />An operation in Thailand in July 2023 finally solved the problem for Pete, and he can now open his eyes.<br /><br />But the retired painter and decorator, from Birmingham, said: "What happened totally destroyed my life.<br /><br />"Instead of starting my life, I was obsessed with trying to get this right. <br /><br />"It would knock me sick to look in a mirror. I tried to warn other people but I didn't know how.<br /><br />"I have used my pension to make my eyes look right. I had to use foodbanks to save enough money to go and get surgery."<br /><br />Pete's problem started in 1959, when a tooth problem led to him having enlarged cheeks.<br /><br />He said: "I had puffy hamster cheeks. Years ago I was in a relationship with a woman and she was leaving me. <br /><br />"I said, 'why are you leaving when we've got everything? Look at how lucky we are.' <br /><br />"And she said, 'go look in the mirror, that's why I'm leaving'."<br /><br />After two further relationships where his insecurities about his looks grew, Pete decided he wanted to get corrective surgery.<br /><br />The dad-of-two decided late in 2018 to undergo another procedure. <br /><br />He approached BMI The Priory Hospital in Birmingham - who quoted him £11,000 to undergo a neck lift, under eye blepharoplasty and a rhinoplasty that would help reduce his cheeks. <br /><br />And, on January 24, 2019, he underwent the nine-hour procedure, and was discharged the next day.<br /><br />Pete said: "I looked like I'd been beaten up. It was horrendous, and I couldn't close my eyes.<br /><br />"The day after the surgery I wished I'd never gone."<br /><br />Pete returned to the hospital two weeks after the surgery to get the stitches removed, and says he told the medics his eyes were very irritated and watering.<br /><br />But he claims that they told him all was normal and these side effects would pass by themselves.<br /><br />He then went to the Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham, on March 23, 2019 to have a routine prostate exam.<br /><br />But the doctor noticed his damaged eyes - and he was referred to Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre.<br /><br />There he was told his eyes weren’t closing fully when he blinked or slept causing him irritation.<br /><br />However, the doctors there couldn’t treat him as he had the original surgery privately, so he returned to the BMI.<br /><br />His surgeon arranged for a free corrective surgery elsewhere for a skin graft to help the skin in his cheeks meet his eyelids.<br /><br />He then had the hour-long surgery on May 13, 2019 - but the problem still didn't go away.<br /><br />Pete says he was prescribed eye drops to take eight times a day, and was told to microwave a towel to wrap around his eyes for when he sleeps.
