3:37pm Thursday 23rd December 2004
An 'arrogant' Harley Street surgeon can still treat patients despite being struck off on Tuesday for disfiguring two women during cosmetic laser surgery.
Dr Fayez Abu Mahfouz, 57, earned thousands of pounds treating clients who responded to magazine adverts for treatment at the London Laser Cosmetic Centre.
The Egyptian-born doctor botched procedures on the women between January 2000 and October 2001 after claiming his skills with a laser transformed 'lucky' patients lives and made them look younger.
But the female patients were left with hideous scarring and in constant pain after they paid up to £5,000 to improve their looks.
Dr Mahfouz had claimed the allegations were 'fake' and said his care of women at his clinic was 'sheer magic.' But a committee at the General Medical Council found Dr Mahfouz guilty of serious professional misconduct and ordered his name removed from the Medical Register.
But despite being struck off Dr Mahfouz can still use a laser machine and treat clients at his 'exclusive' clinic which employs 16 staff.
The hearing was told only a licence from a local health authority is needed to use the equipment.
This means he is still free to charge huge sums to treat clients from around the world.
Dr Mahfouz had attended most of the hearing but did not appear at the proceedings today.
The GMC are also investigating six new cases of complaints brought by female clients about substandard treatment at his hands at the clinic at Harley Street, central London.
Dr Mahfouz, of Blenheim Court, Kenton Road, Harrow, denied serious professional misconduct.
This is the second time Dr Mahfouz has been struck off.
In 1987 his name was removed from the Medical Register after working he failed to refer a critically-ill diabetic patient to hospital who later died.
Dr Mahfouz disfigured one patient, Mrs B, whose face became a 'huge weeping swollen crust' after she had skin resurfacing treatment.
Mrs B, 60, paid £2,505 for the procedure which left her in constant 'excruciating pain.' The woman, who lived in Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, at the time said she 'lost half my eyebrows and I lost my eye lashes.' Dr Mahfouz was found guilty of failing to carry out the procedure with sufficient care and skill after not giving sufficient time for the anaesthetic to take effect.
He was cleared of botching treatment on Mrs B's daughter, a pretty driving instructor, known as Miss A.
She claimed she was 'burnt' by the laser wielded by Dr Mahfouz which failed to removed pigmentation marks on her legs left by mosquito bites.
Dr Mahfouz also bungled an operation on a Yorkshirewoman known as Mrs C.
She still needs camouflage make-up to hide white areas on her face left by surgery.
Mrs C, a multiple sclerosis sufferer, who lives in the Middle East, paid £5,000 in cash for the treatment but found herself in agony and requiring treatment at a Leeds clinic.
A London taxi driver, Mark Robinson, had alleged his arm was 'overcooked' by Dr Mahfouz in a bid to remove a Lion's head tattoo from his arm.
He is still receiving treatment from a consultant dermatologist at Hampstead's Royal Free Hospital.
Dr Mahfouz was cleared of providing inadequate treatment for Mr Robinson.
But he failed to assess his condition adequately and also made inaccurate claims about the effectiveness of the procedure.
The clinic attracts 40 people a day from all over the world for either an initial free-of-charge assessment or treatment.
Dr Mahfouz advertised in glossy magazines including Cosmopolitan and New Woman and also in the London Evening Standard.
He told the hearing he decided to work as a laser surgeon in 1997.
Dr Mahfouz boasted: 'I do things other people cannot dream of treating. I concentrate on making people look genuinely younger, changing their lives.' He trained at the Laser Care clinic in Harley Street in 1998 before setting up on his own.
'I always wanted to do something exclusive and unique,' he added.
Dr Mahfouz was working from Dartmouth Mews, Cecil Place, Portsmouth at the time he was struck off in 1987. He was allowed to rejoin the profession in 1992.
Striking him off chairman Mr Manny Devaux said: 'Dr Mahfouz used his status as a registered medical practitioner to assist in obtaining substantial sums of money from vulnerable clients without sufficient time for consideration of his offer to treat them.
'Dr Mahfouz has demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the duties of a registered medical practitioner to those whom he has accepted as his patients - by whatever name called - and an arrogant refusal to accept any criticism of his work.
'The panel have found that Dr Mahfouz's conduct towards these four separate patients fell seriously short of the standards to be expected of a registered medical practitioner and amount to a grave departure from Good Medical Practice.' He added: 'Dr Mahfouz has shown no appreciation of the seriousness of his actions and at no stage has he apologised for the distress he has caused these four patients.
'Moreover Dr Mahfouz's evidence to the Panel indicates contempt towards them.
'In view of Dr Mahfouz's lack of insight, the Panel are satisfied that he continues to pose a risk to the public by remaining in medical practice.
'Only erasure is sufficient to protect the public and the reputation of the profession.'
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