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    Quest For Beauty In Colombia Sometimes Ends In Tragedy

    A mishap in Colombia highlights the dark side of cosmetic work in a country that is a hot spot for body rehabbing. Each year, hundreds of thousands of procedures are performed on locals and tourists.
    by Charlotte de Beauvoir May 07, 2017 5 minutes
    Doris Cuervo holds a photo of her daughter, Ximena Lopez. She died after visiting a spa for an injection to give her a curvier behind.

    Ximena Lopez wanted a bigger behind. She was 21 and lived in Medellín, Colombia, a hot spot for cosmetic work.

    More than 357,000 surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures are performed in Columbia a year, making it the world's No. 8 country for body rehabbing.

    A friend named Hanna Valencia told her, "Look, I've done the butt job." She recommended the "spa" she went to in a mall in a posh Medellín neighborhood.

    "Before we started," she told Ximena, "[the owner's son] said a prayer. It gave me confidence." Then Rafael Nieto injected what Hanna described as a mix of gel and liquids in each buttock with a large needle.

    Hanna loved the result.

    So on March 17, 2016, Ximena went in for the procedure. She didn't tell

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