A press release from the The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons issued on the 18th November 2007 entitled “Survey Reveals Rise in Botched Holiday Surgery” is a bad attempt at scaring people away from going abroad for their surgical procedures.
It quotes a so called survey conducted by them stating “Over 80% of Surgeons Have Seen Problems with Patients Returning from Holiday Surgery”, now at first you might think wow that is a lot but nowhere in the article does it state how many surgeons were interviewed. Did they ask 5, 10, how many? It simply isn’t professional reporting to state percentages without giving timeframes and solid numbers. The entire survey is worthless without this; conclusions cannot be drawn from such vague ‘statistics’.
Now something else that we must also take into account is that obviously there will be an increase in people who are dissatisfied if there is an increase in the amount of people actually travelling abroad. We don’t even have the overall figure if how many patients travelled abroad, which mean inferences, cannot be objectively drawn.
Now don’t forget that after a surgery, a patient must take it easy and it may not necessarily be the surgeons fault if the patient does not stick to the post care regime. It is just as much the responsibility of the patient to do what the doctor advises to ensure an effective recovery.
Patients must remember that after certain surgeries they are not advised to travel but if they rush back of course there will be complications, these aren’t the fault of the surgeon unless they don’t warn the patient of the risks of travelling but again since this is omitted from the survey, we don’t know how many patients travelled too soon. This isn’t to say that every patient is irresponsible but it is very convenient that questions like this seem to have been omitted from the survey. Something else that is omitted is how many patients are dissatisfied with UK surgeries; a comprehensive survey would have comparisons.
Attempting to clarify this issue we talked to a respected Hungarian plastic surgeon, Dr Vincente Rodrigo http://www.meditourists.com/dr_rodrigo_plastic_surgeron_budapest_1.html of the Zeta-Vidal Clinic who is well aware of the problem. He states the problem is the lack of patient awareness in the importance of the aftercare. He states it isn’t the quality of the surgery or the availability of aftercare that is the issue but the fact that many patients are adamant that they want to travel as soon as possible. If they travel back there is nothing the surgeon can do and it may result in recovery issues which presents itself as a botched surgery. Dr Rodrigo states that he always explains the dangers of travelling back soon after a major surgery but many patients stay less than the least amount of time required and then leave. He also tells his patients to get in contact with their GP’s before and after leaving so they are aware but many patients are taking their cosmetic surgery too lightly, they seem to forget that many procedures are major operations. This has become such a problem that Dr Rodrigo has required patients to sign a waiver which states that it is of their own choice that they are leaving against the orders of the surgeon.
This seems to me like a cheap shot at surgeons abroad, made by surgeons in the UK who are angry at losing market share to other surgeons. Pure and simple this report seems like scaremongering. Now of course there will be people who have ‘botched’ surgeries abroad but you can also have ‘botched’ surgeries in the UK. This is why it is very important that you do the appropriate research whenever you are going to get cosmetic surgery, home or abroad.
Now something I have an issue with is the fact that many of these countries are misrepresented on this list. The report is actually quite degrading and groups countries together as though they were backwards and the hospitals were located in farms without electricity. Hungary for instance has incredibly high standards of medical care. For quite a long time it has had a burgeoning dental tourist industry, which is known across Europe for its high standards. There are similar expectations in the plastic surgery industry. And remember just because something is ‘cheap’ as the report calls it, doesn’t mean its bad quality, just cheaper than the UK. The actual reason it’s cheaper abroad in many countries is not lower standards but because the malpractice insurance is handled differently allowing the doctors to lower their overall prices.
I do agree that it is important for patients to research every aspect of their surgery but at the same time, it is in human nature to look for the best deal and with the prohibitively high prices in the UK I am not surprised people are going abroad for the surgery. In many cases the price is almost double for certain procedures, I wonder and here’s a ‘survey’ I conducted, is the quality of care really double? 80% interviewed said ‘No’.
