Odalis Santos Mena Mexican fitness influencer & bodybuilder dies after botched operation to fix constant sweating. Procedure took place at unlicensed medical practice.
A popular Mexican fitness influencer and bodybuilder has died after undergoing a botched operation to remedy a profuse perspiration condition at an unlicensed medical practice last week.
Odalis Santos Mena, 23 — who regularly uploaded pics of her physique to her 147,000 Instagram followers — had been recruited by the SkinPiel clinic in Guadalajara to promote a breakthrough antiperspirant treatment called MiraDry.
The July 7 procedure purportedly combated excess underarm sweat by using heat energy to remove sweat glands, mitigating body odor and even reducing armpit hair.
But it wasn’t to be. The ‘endorsement stunt’ came undone when the bodybuilder suffered cardiac arrest after being anesthetized. The Instagram influencer died shortly thereafter, when the clinic’s employees were unable to revive her via CPR.
Enamored of the so-called antiperspirant panacea, Mena had reportedly promoted MiraDry on social media with assurances that the ‘no sweat’ treatment was safe and effective.
Operation carried out by non professionals
Reports allege that the young Instagram star’s death was due to negligence after it was it was carried out by ‘non-professionals’.
Local authorities attributed Mena’s death to negligence stemming from the anesthesia reportedly being administered by someone who wasn’t a trained anesthesiologist.
Coroners attributed the bodybuilder’s death to a combination of the anesthesia and a steroid Mena was taking, something the SkinPiel clinic claimed it was unaware of at the time. How or why the clinic was unaware of what Mena was using leading up to the risque operation remained unclear.
The freak accident marks a tragic end for the young musclewoman, who frequently took part in bodybuilding competitions, most notably winning the 2019 Miss and Mr. Hercules title, as well as the Wellness Fitness Juvenile contest just before she died, according to the nypost. Mena was reportedly also studying for a degree in nutrition.
Mena’s death led to commentators on social media lamenting, with the Instagram star’s personal trainer and boyfriend, Victor Gomez Carreno, posting on his private Instagram account:
‘Your actions in life, echo in eternity,’ he wrote. ‘I will take you with me forever short, it makes no sense to write here what I feel in my heart @odalis_sm, I love you.’