São Paulo , Brazil ( CNN ) A Miss Bum-Bum runner-up , Andressa Urach , now admits her obsession with beauty -- and cosmetic surgery -- almost killed her . Urach , 27 , launched her career as a model and reality TV star with a face and body sculpted in the operating room . `` I 've had more than 10 surgeries , '' she told CNN . `` My nose , my cheekbones , my jaw . I injected my lips numerous times , changed my breasts twice and did liposuction two times . '' In 2012 , she got second place in the uniquely Brazilian contest known as Miss Bum-Bum , or Miss Backside . Modeling contracts followed . `` I idolized my body , so it had to be perfect , '' she said during the interview in the São Paulo apartment she shares with her 9-year-old son . Her agent brought out the before-and-after pictures . First , snapshots of a thin teenage mom nicknamed `` Beanpole , '' smiling and hugging her baby . In the more recent pictures , her body fills out : pouty lips , enormous breasts and her now-famous derriere as well as voluptuous thighs . `` I had plastic surgery like going to the supermarket , '' she said . `` I wanted to take out ribs to have a slimmer waist . I wanted to cut off my toes to wear smaller shoes . '' Eventually , the medical procedures took their toll . Last November , Urach was rushed to the hospital in septic shock . She spent weeks in intensive care , then in a wheelchair . Hoping for more curvaceous thighs , Urach had taken large quantities of anabolic steroids . Then , she injected her thighs with hydrogel and a plastic known as PMMA . By November , the tissue in her legs was rotting . Pictures taken at the hospital show huge , gaping ulcers . More than two months later , she is still getting her legs drained . We accompanied her on a doctor 's visit . `` Back when Andressa injected the hydrogel , she put in 10 times the amount allowed , '' said plastic surgeon Felipe Tozaki . `` It 's injected into the muscle and fat and skin , and it 's difficult to remove . '' After the bad publicity , authorities said they would n't renew the license for hydrogel to be used in Brazil . Now Urach is warning against excessive vanity . `` I hope those injuries , those holes can be an example to warn women that there is a huge risk . You have to respect the limits of your body , '' she said . Brazil , according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery , surpassed the United States in 2013 as the country with the most cosmetic surgical procedures -- 1.45 million . While American women received more breast implants than their Brazilian counterparts , Brazilians got 64,000 buttock augmentations , almost six times more than Americans . Unfortunately , many women take shortcuts or seek doctors who are n't qualified but are willing to try more risky procedures . `` If my doctor had n't been willing to put the 500 milliliters of hydrogel in each leg , I would have gone to four or five doctors , getting a little bit from each one , '' Urach said . According to the Federal Council of Medicine , there are 5,500 recognized plastic surgeons in Brazil , but nearly 12,000 doctors perform cosmetic procedures without proper training . The demand for cosmetic procedures spikes in the summer months and especially ahead of Carnival , when many women seek a nip and tuck before they strip down to their glittery bikinis in Carnival parades . Doctor Tozaki said the problem is cultural , but it is also medical , noting that 10 % to 15 % of patients `` have psychiatric issues , '' more specifically body dysmorphic disorder . `` They look in the mirror and they 'll always find something wrong , '' Tozaki said . `` Like me , '' Urach said . After her nightmarish surgeries to remove hydrogel from her thighs , Urach said , she 'll never go under the knife again . But she also would never go back to the way she looked before . `` I like the way I look now , '' Urach said . `` It 's good to take measures to improve your looks , just not excessive measures . '' Dubai , the world 's plastic surgery hub .
2012 Miss Bum-Bum runner-up Andressa Urach had `` more than 10 '' cosmetic surgeries . After steroid , hydrogel and PMMA injections in her thighs , she suffered septic shock and was hospitalized . The lesson she hopes this teaches is , `` You have to respect the limits of your body ''