Romario Dos Santos Alves, a 25-year-old amateur Brazilian bodybuilder who wanted to look like the Incredible Hulk, is facing serious health issues after injecting his arms with a cocktail of oil and alcohol.
“I remember the doctor told me that they would need to amputate both arms — they said everything in there,
all my muscles, were rock,” Alves told Barcroft. “I want other people to see the dangers, I could have died all because I wanted bigger muscles. It's just not worth it.”
Alves, who is married and has a child, has become a social outcast, frightening children with his disfigured body.
He said he became obsessed with the synthetic filler synthol and continued to inject himself after his muscles became too hard for standard needs, leading him to buy specialist needles designed for bulls, he told Barcroft.
Alves attempted suicide, lost his job, and almost lost his marriage when wife Marisangela Marinho said she would leave if he continued to use synthol.
Doctors determined that rather than amputating, they could cut out the synthol rocks that had formed.
It’s been two years since the bodybuilder had injected the substance.
"I regret it a lot — my ambition is still to become a bodybuilder but I've got a long way to go,” he told Barcroft. “I know I will achieve it though."
Twitter users seemed sickened by the story.
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