Coronation Street is to air a storyline in which Lucy Fallon's character, Bethany Platt, contracts sepsis as a result of botched cosmetic surgery abroad, leaving her with a permanent stoma.
A stoma is an opening on the surface of the abdomen that has been surgically created to divert the flow of faeces or urine.
In the storyline, Bethany decides to undergo liposuction at a clinic after she accepts a job with a cosmetic surgery company to write an advertorial on their new facility in Turkey.
Following the procedure, Bethany's family has to work out how to raise funds to get her discharged, as she did not declare the surgery on her travel insurance.
Coronation Street star Fallon said: "When I first heard about it, I was pleased that they have trusted me with it because it's an important storyline and, of course, I really enjoy doing issue-based storylines.
"Obviously, this is really hard-hitting, which is exciting from an actor's point of view, but it does come with quite a lot of pressure and responsibility to get it right because this happens to real-life people.
"The storyline is also incredibly important, as there [are] countless horror stories out there of people talking about their experiences of cosmetic surgery abroad.
"I really hope this storyline can make people rethink going abroad for cosmetic surgery."
Bethany has an operation and is given a permanent stoma after the procedure.
For the storyline, the British soap has been working closely with the UK charity Colostomy UK.
Giovanni Cinque, marketing and campaigns manager at Colostomy UK, said: "We're really excited that one of the UK's most-loved TV shows is going to feature a major character living with a stoma.
"Even though public awareness has grown considerably over the last few years thanks to a number of celebrities revealing they have had surgery, the challenges that the 200,000-plus people living with a stoma in the UK face are less known, which means that we, as a society and as individuals, are not as aware as we should be of the choices that we can make to positively improve their quality of life."
The charity said it hopes "Bethany's journey will go a long way in helping to educate the audience".
Coronation Street airs on Virgin Media One and ITV1 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Source: Press Association
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