Catherine Cando: Beauty Queen Gets Free Plastic Surgery For Winning Pageant, Dies On Operating Table

Catherine Cando won a free round of plastic surgery when she took first prize in the Queen of Duran pageant, but tragedy struck when the Ecuadorian beauty queen ended up dying on the operating table during her procedure.

The 19-year-old Cando won the contest last October, receiving a number of prizes, including a new car and tablet. The prize package also entailed a free round of liposuction, though Cando initially told local media that she had no intention of using it. Instead she wanted to exercise to shed a few extra pounds.

But after a lot of pressure from local surgeons, Catherine Cando changed her mind. Her brother told local media the following.

“Before having the surgery, she received a lot of calls from the surgeon trying to persuade her to do it, but she kept saying no… She was thinking about letting someone else have it as a freebie but eventually she agreed to have it just to get him off her back.”

This is not the first time that plastic surgery has led to tragedy for a beauty queen. Andressa Urach, a Brazilian beauty queen who was the runner up in the Miss BumBum contest in 2012, was rushed to the hospital with a severe infection after her butt implants began leaking.

The Miss BumBum contest draws more than 500 competitors each year, with online voting determining which contestants move on to finals in Sao Paolo, noted the New York Daily News.

“[Brazilians] definitely have a thing with butts,” said Brazilian Graciela Murano, writer and editor for Oddee, in a 2012 interview with the Huffington Post.

Andressa Urach, also known as a reality television star and reported mistress of football star Cristiano Ronaldo, said she realized this summer that her thigh injection was causing her leg muscles to rot.

“The hydrogel was not absorbed by my body and started to harm me. Now I’ve discovered that the PMMA is sticking to my muscles and causing the tissue to rot… That’s why I am feeling such strong pains. I’m taking morphine every four hours and antibiotics to alleviate the suffering.”

The death of Catherine Cando prompted local authorities to launch an investigation, and prosecutors ended up charging the two doctors involved.