'I paid £11,000 for surgery which left me unable to close my eyes for years... it destroyed my life'

A man who was unable to close his eyes for more than four years after surgery complications says the ordeal 'destroyed' his life.

Pete Broadhurst, 81, had a cosmetic operation to fix his 'puffy cheeks' in January, 2019, but he claims the surgeon removed too much tissue from under his eyes - leaving him unable to close them properly.

Mr Broadhurst told how he then spent years dealing with the fallout - even using his pension to fix the issue. An operation in Thailand in July 2023, however, finally solved the problem, and he can now open his eyes.

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But the retired painter and decorator, from Birmingham, said: "What happened totally destroyed my life. Instead of starting my life, I was obsessed with trying to get this right. It would knock me sick to look in a mirror. I tried to warn other people but I didn't know how.

"I have used my pension to make my eyes look right. I had to use foodbanks to save enough money to go and get surgery." Health bosses, meanwhile, have confirmed a surgeon has been suspended.

Mr Broadhurst's painful story started in 1959, when a tooth problem led to him having enlarged cheeks. He said: "I had puffy hamster cheeks. Years ago I was in a relationship with a woman and she was leaving me. I said, 'why are you leaving when we've got everything? Look at how lucky we are.'

"And she said, 'go look in the mirror, that's why I'm leaving'." After two further relationships where his insecurities about his looks grew, he decided he wanted to get corrective surgery. The dad-of-two decided late