Increased Cosmetic Surgery Complications from Medical Tourism
Low prices have made medical tourism an increasingly popular choice for many bargain-hunting Americans who seek cosmetic surgery. Sporadic reports of disastrous results and even death have periodically made the news, but until recently no study had tracked the number and severity of complications resulting from cosmetic surgery procedures performed in foreign countries.
Cleveland cosmetic surgeons have become increasingly concerned about the medical qualifications and competence of foreign physicians and consortiums that drive medical tourism via internet advertising. Cleveland cosmetic surgeons say they are treating an increasing number of patients for surgical complications resulting from foreign cosmetic surgery. On their return to the U.S., medical tourism patients frequently need extensive reconstructive surgery to repair botched cosmetic procedures. Advanced wound care is also often required to treat serious infections from surgeries performed under non-sterile operating conditions.
A recent survey of 2,000 members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons bore out those fears, finding that more than 80% of surveyed cosmetic surgeons had treated medical tourism patients after their return home.
According to an August 18, 2011 article in Cosmetic Surgery Times E-News, more than half of returning medical tourism patients had to be treated for complications arising directly from their foreign cosmetic surgery. Conducted by researchers at Nassau University Medical Center in New York, the study was published in the August issue of Aesthetic Surgery Journal and is the first attempt to track the results of medical tourism.
According to the survey, breast augmentation and body contouring accounted for the majority of medical tourism cosmetic procedures with more than 50% resulting in serious complications. More than half of the medical tourists who underwent breast augmentation or body contouring procedures required multiple operations to correct surgical complications that developed after their return home. Infection caused nearly a third of those complications which also included contour abnormalities, hematoma and wound dehiscence (the reopening of a closed wound).
Next time: Assessing medical tourism risks