Boxing promoter Kellie Maloney has revealed that she feared for her life after cosmetic surgery on her face caused her head to swell up to twice its size.

The 61-year-old transsexual, who was born as Frank, underwent the procedure in Belgium two weeks ago with the aim of making her face look more feminine.

A horrific reaction to the surgery almost stopped Maloney from breathing, and it took 10 hours for doctors to prevent any serious damage.

"I was bleeding out of my eyes and I was in unimaginable pain," Maloney told The Mirror. "Then I just felt my head inflating like a balloon. It was getting bigger and bigger by the second, I could hardly see. I feared it was going to explode.

"I am so angry with myself for attempting to do something as radical as I had wanted, but it is every transsexual's dream to leave home one day without anyone even thinking for a second that you could have once been a man."

Maloney, who has undergone hormone therapy, is recovering at her home in Kent.