One failed marriage and multiple failed tummy tucks is a lot to have under your belt.
In tonight's June 1 episode of Botched, Drs. Terry Dubrow and Paul Nassif treated 49 year-old divorcée Maritza after a series of traumatic tummy tucks. "My plastic surgery in Mexico didn't just destroy my stomach, it destroyed my marriage," Maritza explained.
Her marriage ended after 17 years following her first procedure in April 2019. "I never really followed through with the exercise or the dieting so I just decided I would get a tummy tuck," she confessed. After many surgeries and complications, Maritza was left with a "Frankenstein" stomach that she believed was "deformed" without a belly button.
The father of her children filed for divorce in January 2020. "My husband felt like it was my own fault for wanting this surgery," Maritza admitted. "I was in a really dark place right after he left. I begged him to come back."
Now, Maritza is ready to kick off her single life—but she needs a new stomach to fully feel confident. Maritza brought her daughter to a consultation with Dubrow and Nassif, and Dubrow especially was shocked at her situation.
"That was a very extensive complication you suffered," Dubrow said.
Maritza explained that her previous doctor performed liposuction on her abdomen before the tummy tuck, which Dubrow called "the classic F up."
"In general you shouldn't liposuction the lower stomach area before tummy tuck surgery because once you do that, then you're killing the primary blood supply that would allow the tummy tuck to heal," Dubrow stated in a confessional.
Sure enough, Maritza's skin turned black after the first procedure and the doctor went back to cut off dead skin three times.
"You could put a fist in my stomach," Maritza admitted. She later received a skin graft due to her severe stomach indentation, but she lost her belly button along the way.
"When I hear that kind of story, it makes me think the surgeon cut it out and didn't realize it and he's making excuses," Dubrow added. "Creating a belly button is one of the most difficult things to do in all of plastic surgery."
Dubrow hoped that there is a belly button under Maritza's skin graft. After a bikini-clad consultation, Dubrow reiterated just how severe the surgery would be for Maritza. "This is complicated, fixing this. That exact complication that happened to you could happen to us because now I have beaten up damaged tissue," Dubrow explained before asking Maritza to fill out a special consent form for high risk surgery.
Yet, Maritza more than ready to go back under the knife. "I'm hoping that I have this life without this on my stomach," she told the camera. "I'm just desperate for a fresh start in my new single life and feeling confident in my own skin."
Post-surgery, Maritza didn't feel comfortable looking at her bandaged stomach after her past traumatic experience with plastic surgery. However, eventually Maritza sees her fixed torso. "I feel liberated," Maritza gushed. "I have a complete body. I'm whole again."
Plus Maritza approved of the newly reconstructed belly button! "I'm completely in love with my belly button that Dr. Dubrow created," Maritza concluded.
The episode also featured a man with silicone "superhero" biceps and a woman who suffered from a jagged nose after three failed nose jobs.
See the shocking episode here, and binge past seasons of Botched on Peacock.
(E! and Peacock are both a part of the NBCUniversal family.)