Olivia Oras’s death exposes gaps in beauty clinic oversight

Olivia Oras’s death has highlighted how Finnish legislation and supervisory authorities have failed to keep pace with the rapid growth of beauty clinics, Yle investigative journalist Veli-Pekka Hämäläinen writes in an analysis.

Oras, a young social media influencer, died at Helsinki University Hospital on September 3 after losing consciousness during a cosmetic procedure at the private Plastic Surgery Center clinic.

The causes of her death are still being investigated. It is not known whether a treatment error occurred at the clinic, and the death may have resulted from causes unrelated to the clinic. The clinic has also pointed to a possible delay in emergency care by Helsinki University Hospital as a contributing factor.

However, Hämäläinen writes that problems at beauty clinics have been serious and widely known for years. In 2023, Yle’s MOT published a documentary about the darker side of cosmetic surgery. Several doctors interviewed at the time said they feared that indifference by clinics and authorities would eventually lead to a death.

Plastic Surgery Center was one of the operators examined in the documentary. The Finnish Association of Plastic Surgeons filed a complaint about the clinic and its founder, Karl Johan Svedjeholm, with the former supervisory authority Valvira seven years ago. After the complaint did not progress, the association notified the police.

In 2023, Valvira advised Svedjeholm to limit himself to procedures covered by his training. He is not trained as a plastic surgeon. In 2024, three doctors left Plastic Surgery Center and filed a complaint about their former employer with Valvira. The complaint is reportedly still being processed.

Hämäläinen writes that Svedjeholm continued to promote the liposuction procedures he performed and Brazilian butt lift operations, which have caused deaths elsewhere in the world. MOT has been unable to reach him for an interview since Oras’s death, despite several attempts.

The Permit and Supervisory Agency, known as LVV, suspended the operations of Clinic Estetic on Tuesday. On the same day, its owners established a new company. According to Kauppalehti, it was the third aesthetic clinic this year whose operations LVV had stopped.

Oras’s death has brought the sector’s problems into wider public debate. Social Affairs and Health Minister Wille Rydman of the Finns Party, Mia Laiho of the National Coalition Party and Pinja Perholehto of the Social Democratic Party have called for adequate regulation of the industry.

Hämäläinen says responsibility cannot be placed entirely on the state. Beauty clinics and social media influencers promote the pursuit of an almost unrealistic body ideal, while liposuction is marketed and performed even on young women who are already slim.

Svedjeholm has presented himself as an artist specialising in young and attractive clients. He has also said he had performed tens of thousands of liposuction procedures.

After Oras’s death, the risks of cosmetic surgery are increasingly difficult to ignore, Hämäläinen writes.