Experts advise against cosmetic surgery abroad
Medical tourism is big business, and now cosmetic surgery experts are warning patients against seeking cosmetic surgery abroad without doing their homework.
India, Hungary, Turkey, Germany, Poland and Spain are all popular destinations for the estimated 50,000 Britons who travel overseas for medical treatments like cosmetic surgery.
Prices are up to 50 per cent cheaper than they would be privately in the UK, often with the added incentive of recuperation and relaxation on a sunny beach.
But UK surgeons and medical bodies are concerned that British patients are being lured by promises without taking the time to understand the risks of cosmetic surgery abroad. Last week, the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons said that one in four cosmetic surgery patients were returning home with complications that required emergency surgery.
“You have to ask yourself, who is regulating the clinic?” Katherine Murphy of the Patients’ Association told the Daily Mail. “And what happens if something goes wrong?”
For Dawn Cracknell, a trip to Prague for a tummy tuck left her with an injury in the side of her abdomen.
Ms Cracknell chose Prague for the procedure because it was the cheapest option, with the total cost ending at about £3000 – a savings of around £7000 compared to the same treatment in the UK.
Unfortunately, after the procedure Ms Cracknell suffered from terrible pain and low blood pressure. She was later found to have suffered internal bleeding. Eventually, she saw a UK plastic surgeon to fix the injury.
“He said in all his years of being a surgeon he’d never seen anything like it,” she revealed.
Ms Cracknell said she now urges other cosmetic surgery patients to research and learn as much as possible before choosing to have plastic surgery abroad.
Tags: cosmetic surgery, surgery abroad, Tummy tuck