A MUM who had plastic surgery to save her marriage was left with horrifying "smelly" wounds that caused her husband to walk out.
Dale Gaglio, 54, spent more than £12,000 on a boob job and tummy tuck after cruel bullies dubbed her "Dale the Whale" for years – but she was left "ripped open" by a botched surgeon.
Dale woke up from the operation to find she had two belly buttons, a missing front tooth, and two 36DDD uneven breasts which made her feel "like a porn star".
The mum-of-two, from New York, had asked for breast implants and a circumferential tummy tuck – where surgeons also remove fat from the lower back.
But Dale said she woke up to find a gaping hole in her back that was so big "it looked like you could put your hand in and grab my spinal cord".
She claimed her husband was left so "disgusted" by the results and aftermath of the surgery that he walked out on her after 20 years of marriage.
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After being bullied throughout her childhood for her looks, Dale said her self-esteem has hit rock bottom.
Speaking to The Sun, she said: "The smell and look of the wound was pretty much the nail in the coffin of my marriage.
"My whole back was torn open. It looked like you could put your hands in and grab my spinal cord.
"One breast is completely different then the other and pops out of my bra all the time which is embarrassing.
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"How do you move forward with such horrific scars?"
Dale said there were four medics in the room before the operation – but claims there was only one when she woke up.
The mum claims the staff had "plans" and prioritised their social lives over her health, leaving her wounds half-stitched before she was sent home.
"It was a day where they all had to rush out and be somewhere," Dale said.
"I’m sure I was bleeding when I was wheeled out and thrown into my friend's car."
Dale's pal pleaded with her to go to the hospital – but she refused as she couldn't afford to pay for treatment and believed her insurance wouldn't cover complications from plastic surgery.
She had no choice but to return to the clinic to have the wound sewn up again.
But it then split open for a second time.
Dale said the pain was "awful" and the hole in her back was left wide open for a whole summer.
The wound had started to tear from both sides before it was finally closed by the same surgeon, she said.
She was finally given a wound vac machine to help heal her injuries – which pulls fluid from the wound over time and keeps it clean.
But Dale described it as "utterly disgusting and smelly" – and claims it was the final straw for her husband.
"He was disgusted by me," she said.
"The worst part is that I did this because my marriage was falling apart, but the smell and look of the wound vac pretty much was the nail in the coffin of my marriage."
And once the wound was healed she was left with “horrific scars" and advised by the surgeon to have laser scar removal.
The procedure was carried out by a nurse from the first op – and Dale believes it was the surgeon's way of trying to make up for the horrific damage she had caused.
But the mum allegedly caught the nurse altering the images of her scarring on an iPad to make it look less severe.
The 54-year-old feels she was "lured” into the practice through “fake kindness” and free gifts of skincare products worth $120.
She said: "They were so sweet and said ‘look how beautiful you are’ – just over the top kind, and the kindness was fake.
"I honestly believe that they knew they had a desperate, insecure woman on their hands, so they saw dollar signs.
"I got scammed so bad."
Dale said she was fooled by the "brand new and pristine" office at the practice and had felt like she was in safe hands.
"This was supposed to be me going to the beach in the summer and now I can't even wear a two piece because I’m paranoid about the scars," she said.
Dale explained that she has struggled with body confidence issues since her childhood – and now her self-esteem is "in the toilet".
"The scars on the inside are worse than the ones on the outside," she said.
"How do I explain to a man why I’m so scarred? The thought of taking my clothes off in front of anyone causes me major anxiety.”
The ordeal has affected every aspect of her life – including her career.
She used to be a high-flying business woman but had to give this up due to her poor health and now works a part time job in a UPS store.
"If you have to do something like that to hold onto a man then it’s not worth it," Dale warned.
"I want women to know that to just love yourself the way you are.
"You don’t have to be perfect and have plastic surgery.
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“We all age and there’s beauty in ageing and also strength in ageing."
The surgeon declined to comment when approached by The Sun.
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