A woman who claimed she lost £54m as a result of permanent damage caused to her face by plastic surgery, has won over £6m in compensation.

Penny Johnson said that the permanent damage sustained in the facelift in 2003 had directly led to her financial and IT consultancy business going into administration and when the case had gone to trial she asked for a proportion of the £54m that she claimed was her financial loss, as a 50% shareholder in the company, which failed in 2009.

Johnson said that nerve damage had been caused to her face by the experimental surgery carried out by Le Roux Fourie and she said that her face is constantly contracting and that she suffers from permanent buzzing around the eye. The judge in the case said that she had been a happy, confident and outstanding businesswoman, but that the negligent surgery had resulted in serious consequences, both physical and psychological.

In awarding her £6,190,884, mainly related to lost earnings, both past and future, the judge said that unless she makes a full recovery and recovers something of her previous self-confidence, "the prospect of engagement in business activities that involve face-to-face contact with others is limited". £80,000 of the damages had been for the facial disfigurement, the asymmetry and the pain caused by breast surgery, which she had at the same time as the facelift, as well as the psychological consequences of the injuries.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/may/23/plastic-surgery-award-businesswoman