A recent article in The Sun newspaper details how Katie Price, the famous glamour model, singer and entrepreneur has recently travelled abroad to Turkey for more cosmetic surgery.
Katie has never been one to shy away from controversy and is well known in the media as a glamour model and mother and we all know that she is often quoted on her recent surgeries and happy to talk about having plastic surgery. In the past she had oversize breast implants which she had reduced down to a more manageable size some years ago.
The subject of travelling abroad for cosmetic surgery has been in the news a lot recently and many people see it as a good idea as they will get their cosmetic surgery at a reduced price and have a holiday at the same time.
Cheap Cosmetic Surgery
Many people are seeing the opportunity to travel abroad to places like Turkey and Thailand to have cosmetic surgery as an ideal opportunity to get reduced price cosmetic surgery, often cheaper than what it would cost in the UK. This practice has been stimulated by the use of famous celebrities on Instagram talking about their positive experiences in these clinics who go to work appearing in glamorous destinations..
The issue was thrown into a bad light recently when one of these clinics in Turkey treated Mum Leah Cambridge with a Brazilian butt lift and due to complications of her cosmetic surgery she had multiple heart attacks and died. I have spoken about this case recently in the media as I am passionate about preventing further unnecessary deaths. This has also led to the British Association of Plastic Surgeons calling for a ban on the brazilian butt lift procedure as it has one of the highest death rates of any cosmetic surgery that we do, at a rate of one in 3000 deaths. This is still under review and may be changed in the near future when clear guidelines about safety are introduced.
The Risks of Having Cosmetic Surgery Abroad
If you go abroad for your cosmetic surgery for a simple procedure like a breast augmentation or more extensive procedures like a mummy makeover involving a breast enlargement or uplift of the breasts and an abdominoplasty then you need to be certain about the facilities that are on offer and the qualifications of the Cosmetic Surgeon who will be operating on you. It is difficult to fully check the reputation of a Cosmetic Surgeon abroad as the Company is going to be offering you the cosmetic surgery service may employ a large number of Cosmetic Surgeons and it may not be possible to actually confirm that the person the clinic says will do the surgery will perform the actual procedure on the day.
Let’s say however that you have got a decent clinic and that your Cosmetic Surgeon does a job to a high standard. Then surely all is well. This is not necessarily the case, no matter how good the Surgeon is, there is always going to be a small number of incidents of complications. These complications tend to present within the first 10 days to six weeks after cosmetic surgery and sometimes up to many months later.
The most common complications of cosmetic surgery is a late onset of a collection of fluid or poor scarring which is something that will only appear when you are back home and many thousands of miles away from your Cosmetic Surgeon.
The Cost of Cosmetic Surgery
The question that must be asked is what is the value of your house? I personally believe that a house is something that is priceless. Although the incidents of complications maybe small even in my own practice I make sure that I take steps to minimise all of them and to make sure that I am always available for full aftercare of all my patients.
If you do develop a complication after cosmetic surgery abroad, then you may have to use the NHS to care for you and they would only provide emergency and life-saving care to you but any problems you are left with such as poor scarring or perhaps your breast implants having to be removed then this would not be corrected for free on the NHS.
Even if the clinic does agree to look after you or perform corrective surgery, it would be necessary for you to travel on an aeroplane for many hours in an uncomfortable and frightened state, to undergo further procedures which you cannot be absolutely certain will not result in further complications.
It is for these reasons that I do not recommend you travel abroad no matter how good the deal may appear to be on the face of it. I ensure when I operate on my patients that I am available for them at all times and that I make a promise to look after them and correct any problems. If you are interested in procedures like a mummy makeover, Liposuction, breast reduction, or a facelift, then you should make sure that you have fully researched your Surgeon and their reputation and that you make sure your procedure is done at a facility that offers excellent levels of after care should you require it. This will inevitably convert to a higher cost but I believe safety in cosmetic surgery is the most important thing and patient care is overall what any good Surgeon would wish to provide. I would not dream of operating on patients who travelled over from Turkey or Thailand and then sending them back home. I would not be certain that I could provide care for them and I would not see the final outcome of the surgery and overall I consider this practice to be unethical no matter how good a job I did whilst they were with me in the UK.
Cosmetic Surgery Tourism Redos
I perform many “redo” cosmetic surgery corrections on patients who have learned the hard way about the true cost of cosmetic surgery abroad. If you have any questions about cosmetic surgery or cosmetic tourism or perhaps you have had a bad experience, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with me and I will be able to provide information about how you can proceed safely. Remember that health is priceless and a cheap deal for the cosmetic surgery of our dreams plus a holiday abroad may turn into your worst nightmare.