Earlier this year, Paulina Ramirez - a 26-year old woman from Sinaloa, Mexico - died from complications after getting a plastic surgery procedure. What Paulina didn’t know is that her surgeon was not a plastic surgeon and that the clinic she was walking into was unregulated. VICE News Latin America editor Deborah Bonello headed over to Sinaloa to investigate how under the table plastic surgeries have become an industry of their own, leading to the deaths of Paulina and many other women who aspire to transform their bodies into a very culturally specific aesthetic. 

This episode was produced by Adriana Tapia and edited by Janice Llamoca and Stephanie Kariuki. Reporting by Deborah Bonello with help from America Armenta.

VICE News Reports is produced by Sophie Kazis and Adriana Tapia. Our senior producers are Jesse Alejandro Cottrell, Janice Llamoca, and Julia Nutter. Our supervising producer is Ashley Cleek. Our associate producers are Steph Brown, Sam Eagan, and Adreanna Rodriguez. 

Sound design and music composition by Steve Bone, Pran Bandi, and Kyle Murdock. 

Our executive producers are Adizah Eghan and Stephanie Kariuki.

Annie Aviles is our Executive Editor and Janet Lee is Senior Production Manager for VICE Audio. Fact Checking by Nicole Pasulka. Our theme music is by Steve Bone. Our host is Arielle Duhaime-Ross.

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