Fw: Quest for beauty kills, disfigures ~ SUN-SENTINEL

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From: " Ilena Rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2001 11:05 AM

Subject: Quest for beauty kills, disfigures ~ SUN-SENTINEL

~~~ thanks much to Marge of www.siliconeholocaust.org ~~~

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-asec-silicone072201.story?coll=orl%2

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e%2Dheadlines

Quest for beauty kills, disfigures

By Maya Bell | Miami Bureau

Posted July 22, 2001

Charged in silicone death. (SUN-SENTINEL)

Jul 21, 2001

MIAMI -- His voice, honey-sweet like the woman he yearns to be, is now

laced with fear. He knows the silicone injections that have transformed

his masculine features into womanly contours could kill him at any time.

In his quest to look more feminine, the Orlando cosmetology student is

among the scores of Floridians -- men and women, straight and gay, old and

young, black and white -- who are turning to back-alley practitioners to

smooth out wrinkles or plump up lips, cheeks, buttocks and breasts.

" It¼s not only people like us, " said the 25-year-old Orlando transsexual

who refers to himself as a woman and asked to be identified only as

Sherry. " Straight people do it. Women do it. I¼ve seen it. It¼s

everywhere. "

Authorities say hundreds of people hoping to revise nature or reverse time

have been conned by traveling cosmetologists, phony doctors and even a

couple of house cleaners into playing Russian roulette with silicone

bullets.

All over Florida, they are pumping their bodies full of substances that

might be magic potions used legally overseas. Or they might be nothing

more than furniture sealant or bathtub caulk.

State health investigators launched an investigation into the deadly fad

almost two years ago, when a Miami woman complained of her face turning

" hard as a rock " after a silicone injection. Today, after more than a

dozen arrests, Operation Hot Lips is no closer to stamping out an industry

that thrives on greed and vanity.

Compared with injections of legal collagen, an animal protein, manmade

silicone is cheap because it¼s permanent. Users don¼t need repeat

injections every few months to maintain results. But the price is high: At

least one Florida woman is dead and others are disfigured for life.

counts herself among them.

About three years ago, the former Miami Beach model who asked to be

identified only by her stage name said she visited a neighborhood salon

that advertised rejuvenation treatments. She was delighted when the

cosmetologist told her about a new product.

" I told her I wanted to look more refreshed but didn¼t want plastic

surgery, " said. " I told her I was looking for collagen. She told me

she had something better. She said, åPut this in and you¼ll never have to

do it again.¼ "

For the next three years, , now 36, battled bloated lips, baggy

eyes, lumpy skin and underwent numerous plastic surgeries. The first

doctor who attempted to correct the mess under her eyes gave up when he

found tissue infused with hard plastic. often contemplated suicide.

" I couldn¼t go anywhere. I couldn¼t stand looking at myself. I looked like

a monster, " she said.

It¼s åa little time bomb¼

Even silicone users who are satisfied with their results -- and there are

many -- are taking grave risks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration

warns against injecting silicone for cosmetic enhancement because it can

migrate in the body, invading limbs, muscles or vital organs and

threatening lives years after its introduction.

" It¼s like injecting a little time bomb, " said Enrique , chief

investigator with the state Department of Health¼s Office of Unlicensed

Activity. " Only problem is you never know when it¼s going to go off. It

could take hours or years. "

For Vera Lawrence, it took minutes. In March, the longtime Miami secretary

and doting grandmother visited an apartment in south Broward County to

enhance her figure. But soon after receiving three dozen shots of

silicone, her breathing grew labored. Two hours later, she was dead, the

36 puncture marks on her buttocks and thighs still oozing a clear

substance.

The medical examiner ruled that Lawrence, 52, died from a silicone

embolism, caused when the foreign substance flowed into her bloodstream.

Her death opened a window on the world of transsexuals like Sherry who are

desperate to change from men to women. Lawrence, a mother of three who

sang in her church gospel choir, was not one of them, but police say her

late son had friends who were.

A silicone circuit

One of them was Corey , who lived in the Miramar apartment

Lawrence visited the night of her death. Police say had a common

silicone quid pro quo. In exchange for the injections that were turning

him into a woman, he lined up clients for two South Carolina men who had a

far more profitable side business than their listed occupations as " house

cleaners. "

Donnie " Viva " Hendrix and Mark Hawkins, both of Greenville, S.C., are

suspected of running a silicone circuit from Atlantic City, N.J., to Key

West, making regular stops in ville and Orlando to inject clients

at what Sherry calls " pumping parties. " All three men are charged with

manslaughter in Lawrence¼s death and have pleaded not guilty.

Orlando police say they have no complaints or knowledge of the pair

working in Central Florida but Sherry, the transsexual, said she has the

proof: the breasts and body of a woman.

" I¼ve personally spent thousands, " Sherry said.

Sherry trusted Hendrix and Hawkins because, " infatuated with becoming a

woman " she believed Hendrix had the medical training and license to

administer silicone. She said she thought Hendrix just opted to free-lance

so he could offer his services at cut rates.

Investigators say that¼s a common story in South Florida, where

image-conscious women of all ages are lured by slick sales pitches at

spas, salons and cosmetics counters. They¼re told about a new product,

often called biopolymer, that¼s legal and widely available in South

America, but is, they say, being kept from the public by overly cautious

rules.

" These butchers are very slick, " said. " They convince people they

have a really good product and the U.S. is just behind the times. "

åI just didn¼t think¼

That¼s how Morales¼ nightmare started. On a visit to her beauty

salon last August, the Broward County real estate agent said a licensed

cosmetologist she had known for years showed her before-and-after pictures

of people who had facial lines removed by a friend. Morales said

Gamez told her that her friend¼s sister was a doctor in Miami and " able to

get this stuff " from Colombia.

" I thought, åWhy not?¼ " Morales, 59, recalled. " It sounds so stupid, but

you trust people. I just didn¼t think. "

Morales twice visited Gamez¼s Boca Raton home where she said Martha

Mendez, a Colombian national, pulled on surgical gloves and injected her

face on a examination table set up in the living room. Seven months later,

Morales noticed a hard lump inside her left cheek and rushed to the

dentist.

Making a small incision for a biopsy, the dentist was stunned to find a

white, glue-like substance oozing out. His call to the state prompted

Gamez¼s and Mendez¼s arrests for practicing medicine without a license,

and the closure of what authorities said was a thriving business.

" This place was like a fast-food restaurant, " said health investigator

Curry. " Cars were pulling up on the swale, woman were jumping out

and running in. At $200 to $600 per patient, that¼s not a bad day¼s work. "

Gamez is awaiting trail, and Mendez has disappeared.

åIt was treated so casually¼

Trudy Weitzer¼s experience this past December would lead to the arrest of

another woman who authorities say was one of South Florida¼s most prolific

silicone peddlers, earning at least $1 million a year. Weitzer said she

paid Grace Caggiano $750 for biopolymer injections at a " silicone party "

held at an Aventura high-rise. When her face swelled and her lip turned

red and tender like a boil, she realized how foolish she had been.

" I can¼t believe how stupid I was, " Weitzer told WTVJ-NBC 6 in Miami.

" It¼s like . . . the Avon lady coming over. I mean, it was treated so

casually and everybody was so excited. . . . They were all staring at each

other saying, " How do I look? How do I look? " and there they are all

bleeding and bruised and they think they¼re beautiful. "

The news report prompted authorities to raid Caggiano¼s Plantation home.

Inside, they found what they said were her appointment books, containing

hundreds of names. Many of the names could make a who¼s who of South

Florida elite. Few of the people listed have come forward.

Investigators believe some silicone users are embarrassed or afraid, but

others are worried about cutting off their supply. Sherry finds herself in

that quandary. After learning about Lawrence¼s death, she contacted the

Broward prosecutor handling the case. Determined to testify, she agreed to

round up other witnesses who she says have attended pumping parties with

Hendrix and Hawkins in Orlando.

Now, she¼s having second thoughts, afraid of earning the enmity of her

friends.

" Everybody down here is so infatuated with becoming a woman that they

think I¼m messing it up, " Sherry said.

Prosecutor looking for others

Scheinberg, the Broward prosecutor, hopes she¼ll change her mind.

After Lawrence died, he said, Hendrix and Hawkins went on to Miami and

then Orlando to pump more people. He encourages them to come forward.

" They may know something about what happened in Broward, " Scheinberg said.

" More importantly, their lives are in danger. They are facing serious

health risks if they don¼t see a doctor about what¼s in them. "

Authorities have a pretty good idea what it is. Purchase records indicate

that Hawkins and Hendrix were regular buyers of industrial-grade silicone.

Sold as a furniture sealant and rubber additive, the stuff had been

delivered in bulk to their Greenville home for years.

isn¼t surprised. He said silicone peddlers use anything they can

get their hands on, none of it legal for human injection in the United

States. When practitioners can¼t find the legal " biopolymers " sold

overseas, he said, they resort to medical-grade silicone, which is used to

coat syringes or lubricate artificial joints and medical equipment.

" And if they can¼t get medical grade, they go to paint manufacturers and

use industrial grade. And if they can¼t get that, guess what? "

said. " They go to Home Depot and buy caulk for your bathtub. "

Maya Bell can be reached at 305-810-5003 or at mbell@....