text: A woman has warned of the dangers of getting a cut-price boob job abroad after a bungling surgeon left her with a deformed breast that 'looked like a croissant'. Alison, 43, from Gloucestershire, has since had to go under the knife a further 12 times but is still living with the damage that ensued following a breast augmentation operation six years ago. 'It's horrible to look at and horrible to live with,' says Alison, who admits she would do 'anything' to look normal again. Badly damaged: Alison was left with a breast that resembled a croissant following an infection . Desperate to improve the look of her breasts, the retail worker has now had a 13th operation on her breasts, this time as part of TLC show Extreme Beauty Disasters. Speaking on the show, surgeon Vik Vijh, a cosmetic doctor who specialises in correcting botch jobs, said he was shocked by the appalling damage. 'When I first saw Alison I thought she looked mutilated,' he said. 'She had an imploded breast, it looked like a croissant.' More surgery, he said, was the only way to fix it but warned more than one operation could be needed. Alison's problems began as a teenager when, embarrassed by her small breasts, she began using a booster bra. Horrible: Alison, who wants to 'feel normal again', has consulted plastic surgeon Vik Vijh . Hopes: Alison had hoped to boost her bust but ended up loathing her body (picture posed by model) 'I was always conscious of the way I looked, I bought a booster bra so I could look bigger,' she remembers. But when she decided to fix the problem by going under the knife in a bid to increase her cup size to a DD, it proved to be the worst decision of her life. Initially pleased with the results, she noticed shortly after the operation that one implant was going hard. 'It started to go hard so I went back and got another implant inserted but that got an infection,' she said. Bacteria attacked her breast tissue causing it to die so she was left with one shrivelled, deformed breast and one enlarged by surgery. Relief: Following 13 different operations to fix the damage, Alison now has the normal breasts she hoped for . Now she says she would do anything to feel like a normal woman again. 'I hate the way I look and want to be fixed in some way,' she adds. Mr Vijh, who had initially thought she would need several operations, used fat cells from her stomach combined with an implant to fix the damage. Although a course of antibiotics was needed to keep a repeat of the infection at bay, Alison says she is delighted with her new-look breasts. 'I feel fantastic and feminine,' she says. 'I can wear anything now. My partner gets flashed on a daily basis and I have a smile back on my face.'
target: Alison, 43, from Gloucestershire, had breast augmentation six years ago .
  She was initially pleased but an infection killed off some breast tissue .
  Left with one large breast and another that was shrivelled and deformed .
  Now the 43-year-old says she is 'desperate to be normal again'
  Extreme Beauty Disasters is on TLC, Thursdays at 8pm .