Snake venom was "accidentally" injected into the face of a Romanian woman instead of Botox — paralyzing her face for nearly a year — and now she is suing.
"My face was paralyzed for about eight months to one year," Racula Crisan, 38, told Central European News (CEN),
Fox News reported Friday.
"My lacrimal glands [tear glands] were paralyzed, and I had to permanently use pharmaceutical drops. I could not use any facial muscles: I couldn’t laugh, I couldn’t cry. It was terrible."
Crisan has taken plastic surgeon Adrian Oancea, 47, to court, saying the explanation she received for the supposed mix-up was not sufficient.
"He said he did not actually know what it was that he gave me because he’d ordered it from a Chinese supplier — and the writing was all in Chinese," she said.
During two years of subsequent medical treatments that gave Crisan the majority of her facial function back, the Ministry of Health was able to find the Chinese supplier, and confirmed that the substance was snake venom — which is illegal in Romania.
The Alba County Hospital has suspended Oancea from practicing there, but he continues to practice medicine in private.
Snake venom is contained in very small quantities in some beauty products meant for topical use only. No mainstream treatments recommend it for injection.