An actress well-known in Brazil testified Friday that a Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon was untruthful when he promised that complications she suffered after a facial procedure would clear up soon afterward and she would achieve her goal of looking younger.
“Dr. Garo kept lying to me,” Guedes said with the help of a Portuguese-language interpreter. “I wanted to have the papers in hand so that I could see for myself.”
Guedes, now 45, sued Kassabian in Santa Monica Superior Court in October 2011. The suit, which is being tried in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Guedes sought Botox treatments from Kassabian in July 2010 and that he instead suggested Radiesse, a dermal filler which he injected over both of her cheekbones, saying it would give her a more youthful look.
Kassabian repeated the procedure in January 2011, but Guedes’ face became enlarged, swollen and uneven, according to her court papers. He later used a laser treatment to melt the Radiesse, but that caused her facial burns, the suit says.
As a result, Guedes alleges she lost a lucrative, five-year Brazilian television deal where she would have had a leading role.
“I believed in him,” Guedes said. “He always said he was going to make me younger.”
Asked by O’Keefe to elaborate on her complaints, Guedes said, “I didn’t get the results I wanted; maybe I obtained the results he wanted.”
Guedes said she implored Kassabian to restore her looks.
“All I wanted was for him to get the product out of my face,” she said.
During the trial, jurors have been shown enlarged photos of how Guedes looked before and after the procedures. Outside the courtroom, the actress said it took two years of further treatments and medication to bring back her looks and allow her to get steady work again.
Last week, Brazilian independent film producer Meire Fenandes said Guedes was “really big in Brazil” and that in 2010 she considered the actress, known for starring in many soap operas, ideal to help her promote the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival awards night for a second year in a row in 2011.
“The paparazzi follow her wherever she goes,” Fernandes said.
However, the problems with Guedes’ face were so severe that the festival would have been overshadowed by speculation about what happened to her, Fernandes said.
— City News Service