LONDON - The number of people opting for a quick and cheap cosmetic surgery on exotic holidays and coming home with botched up faces are rising according to a survey carried out by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS).
The survey said that many members were worried about the number of botched cases they were seeing in the last 12 months. In some cases there were severe wound infections, while there was dangerous tissue loss in several other cases.
The BAAPS survey said that most people who take up offers of cheap plastic surgery abroad risk poor after care and lower standards of quality than prevalent in the UK.
"My experience with patients has shown that counseling is inadequate — the individuals have no idea of the standards of care in the country they are visiting and no knowledge of the abilities or experience of the surgeon," said Douglas McGeorge, the president of BAAPS. "Complications do occur and they are usually left to the British system to treat."
the countries where the cosmetic work was carried out during holidays included South Africa, Poland, Belgium, Hungary, Turkey, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Thailand and Malaysia.
Around 36 surgeons were questioned in the survey. Five of them said they had examined nine or more patients with complications arising from cheap plastic surgery in the past year, while 15 said they had examined three to five such cases.
However John Babbage, co-founder of Europa International disputed the findings of the survey saying it was anecdotal. “Having surgery in winter can lower the risk of infection, while even with reputed destinations such as Beverly Hills, there are risks of embolism and bleeding on a long-haul flight home," he added.
