(NewsNation) — The cause of death for popular influencer, businesswoman and actress Jacky Oh remains unknown, but some say it could be from a potentially deadly cosmetic surgery procedure.
The star of the comedy improv series “Wild ‘N Out,” whose real name was Jacklyn Smith, died last week at the age of 32 while in Miami. Her body was found in a hotel, and Miami-Dade Police are now investigating.
Love and support from producers and networks involved with the show poured out, including from the father of Smith’s three children, comedian D.C. Young Fly.
An official cause of death for Smith has not been revealed.
However, in a now-deleted Instagram post, Smith said she was in the city for plastic surgery, writing that she was “getting ready for my mommy makeover,” according to TMZ.
“Mommy makeovers” often include tummy tucks, breast augmentation and sometimes Brazilian Butt Lifts. “BBLs,” as they are known, are the deadliest cosmetic surgeries — and Miami is home to high-volume, low-cost clinics where many patients travel to get them done.
A BBL often involves taking fat from the stomach area and adding it to the buttocks to make them rounder.
“It’s a procedure that is considered the most dangerous,” Dr. Arthur Perry, of the Perry Plastic Surgery Center, said.
An estimated 1 in 3,000 people die from the procedure, per numerous plastic surgery organizations.
Despite recent warnings coming from within the plastic surgery industry, the BBLs are still gaining in popularity.
Between 2020 and 2021, the number of people getting them grew by 37%.
But some doctors, like Perry, won’t even perform the procedure.
“When we’re talking about injecting many, many cupfuls of fat, pounds of fat into the buttocks, it becomes a common occurrence, unfortunately, to inject into the blood vessels,” Perry said. “That’s why there have been so many deaths.”
What’s driving the increase behind such procedures?
One reason is that body-conscious celebrities and social media influencers are promoting the surgeries more online.
“These aren’t technical terms that you’ll find in textbooks — so the ‘mommy makeover’ is just something that kind of got out there because influencers did it,” Perry said. “Whenever these things are out there, I get calls the next day.”
Some in the public eye are pushing back, though. Recently, former reality TV personality Blac Chyna started reversing her plastic surgery, even possibly saving her own life by removing silicone and fillers from her body.
“I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I knew that I wasn’t living my life right, so I had to make a change,” she said last month on “CUOMO” about her life transformation
