NHS Advises to be Careful About Plastic Surgery Abroad
NHS plastic surgeons are dealing with an increasing workload since people who decide to go for plastic surgery in foreign countries come back with complications.
Leicester Royal Infirmary claims it has to treat nearly one case of a failed foreign cosmetic operation a month, which is double the amount of last year. Doctors raise concerns over increasing popularity of foreign operations, since patients are attracted by the opportunity to get a better deal. At the moment popular destinations include Eastern Europe, Asia and India.
Over last year, an emergency correction procedure has been requested by 10 victims of unsuccessful plastic surgery. Among the cases are five women who had paid thousands for breast augmentation procedures as well as people who went abroad for tummy tucks, nose correction procedures and facelifts.
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NHS claims it currenctly charges around £5,000 and more for correction procedures. A woman from Leicester had to undergo reconstruction surgery in order to have a part of her nose removed after an infection had been discovered. The woman, in her 40s, has undergone five procedures so far in order to reconstruct her nose. The initial operation, performed in the Far East, cost her around £600, which is ridiculously cheap compared to around £4,000 she would have had to pay in the UK.
The woman, who did not want to reveal her identity, revealed: “My nose was broken when I was a teenager and as I got older it became more prominent. I didn’t plan it, but was going on holiday, anyway, and a friend said there were the best surgeons in the world where we were going, and it was cheap. So I went into a centre and was out in two hours. It began to smell funny and I went back a week later and was told it was okay.”
In four months later she finally booked an appointment with her GP, but antibiotics prescribed several times did not have any results. She had a part of her nose removed and reconstructed, which took a few procedures, and finally saw a plastic surgeon. “I was too embarrassed to tell anyone what happened and told friends it was an injury – even now they don’t know the truth,” the woman said.
Graham Offer, the cosmetic surgeon who performed the final operation, said: “The two main problems with overseas surgery is that it may be poor and with poor hygiene standards. There must be close follow-up after these operations so that if any infection does occur it can be picked up quickly and treated. I have seen cases where the infection has taken such hold a breast implant has started to come through the skin.”
“Emergency and reconstructive surgery can costs thousands per patients and currently the NHS is providing a safety net for these patients,“ said the surgeon. “We wouldn’t turn them away, but of course with something like breast implants, we can only remove them, we can’t replace them. “People should think very carefully before contemplating this surgery abroad.”
