Raquel Santos Brazilian model death: A cover up?
Raquel Santos a finalist in one of Brazil’s most prestigious beauty pageants has died after undergoing cosmetic surgery to remove laugh lines.
The 28 year old model from Sao Goncalo died from a heart attack after having fillers injected in her face on Monday. The woman’s death has since led to a police investigation.
According to local reports police are investigating whether the beauty pageant who came in as a runner up in the Musa do Brasil contest in December was using illegal horse medicine. It is thought that the performance enhancer may have contributed to her death.
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The Potenay drug which contains contains mefentermine, a cardio-respiratory stimulant, is increasingly used in Brazil by bodybuilders for muscle gain, but also raises users’ blood pressure.
Police went so far as to interrupt the woman’s funeral on Tuesday as they took her body away for further examination after suggestions that the model’s death certificate had been wrongly completed.
Ironically the Brazilian model’s death comes after friends of the mother of two told of how Santos was terrified of dying from plastic surgery. Nevertheless she elected to go forward with the surgery, as friends told she was a ‘slave to vanity’ who submitted herself to ‘every procedure imaginable’.
Responding to her best friend’s death, Debora Azevedo told a local media outlet that Santos was ‘obsessed’ with cosmetic surgery.
Told the woman: ‘She was very concerned about her looks. She would go off and have procedures without telling her friends so we wouldn’t fight with her.
‘She was terrified of dying during surgery. But she did it anyway, that was how much she was obsessed with looking good. And she did every aesthetic procedure imaginable, from artificial tans to lymphatic drainage.
‘She was so vain. She worked out religiously, she was as addicted to working out as she was to plastic surgery.’
Her boyfriend Gilberto Azevedo said her quest for beauty was unnecessary and dangerous.
Told the man: ‘She was fascinated by it all, carnival, working out, and she always wanted more.
‘I thought that she, ugly or beautiful, was fine as she was. But she always wanted more, unnecessarily.
‘She smoked a lot and injected Potenay before going to the gym.
‘She was a very happy person, friendly and full of dreams. All she ever wanted to do was become a model.’
In the face of increased scrutiny, the woman’s plastic surgeon, Wagner Moraes insisted the procedure wasn’t responsible for her death.
Told the plastic surgeon: ‘It was a simple procedure which lasted two minutes. The big problem is that she was already suffering health complications, applying Potenay to her body every day, including on the day of the surgery.’
The woman’s death comes in one of many increasing mishaps on the operating table as pressure to excel in one’s looks in a bid to move forward in society has led to many women risking injury or their life. A risk that many feel resigned to take ….
