Sandcastles, Sightseeing and Medical Tourism

As the summer draws to a close and the beach resorts of Spain and the canaries are closing for the winter, have you given any thought to your next getaway? For some people, a holiday is about more than sandcastles and sightseeing – it’s about cheap cosmetic surgery.

Medical tourism – the practice of obtaining private (and up to 70% cheaper) medical attention abroad – has increased in popularity over the past few years and now scores of companies are offering all-inclusive packages of accommodation, flights and surgical treatments in one neat and tidy package.

Sandcastles, Sightseeing and medical tourism

However, with some procedures costing hundreds of pounds less than here in the UK, experts are warning people not to make hasty decisions and take the procedures lightly. If surgery goes wrong the patient often has little rebuke, follow-ups or checkups, protection or even medical records as they would in the UK.

Experts are seeing a rise in treatment tourists needing corrective surgery after they’ve come home, meaning they have to fly back out again or pay to see a different surgeon in the UK. Douglas McGeorge, plastic surgeon and BAAPS member, has spoken out against the trend after two patients' wounds re-opened after they underwent a tummy tuck in Eastern Europe. Therefore the cost of cheap surgery can be more than the bargain seeker expects.

2010 statistics from Datamonitor show that the UK spends more money on cosmetic surgery than any other European Country. This coupled with the economic downturn over the past few years has thousands of surgery seekers heading to Eastern Europe. Approximately, 10,000 people headed to the Czech Republic in 2010 with medical tourism now accounting for 1/5^th of the total procedures performed in the country in 2010.

Complications are a risk of any surgery, home or abroad, and whilst we are not underestimating the skills and knowledge of many skilled surgeons around the world, we do believe the patient should be well prepared if anything does go wrong.

You should remember that laws, standards and training differ from country to country and it may not be easy to communicate your chosen goals in broken English. Read our list of advice for anyone who is considering surgery abroad.

A study published in the August 2011 edition of the Aesthetic Surgery Journal has investigated the phenomenon closer. Of the 2000 people studied, more than half had required multiple operations seeking treatment for complications that had arisen as a result of foreign surgery and 1 patient required over a month of hospitalisation in a surgical intensive care unit. 31% of these complications were a direct result of infection during surgery. Compensation for complications was highly varied and not all of the respondents were covered by insurance.

It‘s always concerning to see society taking a relaxed and laissez-faire attitude to serious elective aesthetic surgery and seeing as these cosmetic surgery holidays are being marketed at families, these package deals seem set to prove increasingly popular over the next few years.

If you want to read more, the experts at Consulting Room really know what they're talking about and have put together Botox, facelift, and tummy tuck FAQs just for you.

If you have more questions, you can use the Botox, facelift, and tummy tuck questions feature to talk to our panel of trained medical experts.

If you're keen to get started with any of these treatments immediately, then you're in luck. Those clever folks also have a list of trusted, accredited Botox, facelift, and tummy tuck clinics in your area.

Sandcastles, Sightseeing and Medical Tourism

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