Obesity surgery to butt lifts: UK concern over unregulated plastic surgery expo

Organ replacement procedures to obesity surgery, Brazilian butt lifts to hair transplants and full body MOTs. This is not the body modification menu of a sci-fi novel, but packages for sale at the Health Tourism Expo – a two-day sales conference for surgical alterations held in London last month.

The event was teeming with doctors and hospital representatives staffing promotional stands, many of them from Turkey where clinics attract thousands of British tourists looking for surgical alterations at a lower price, with flights and accommodation thrown in.

There is no suggestion that any of the clinics exhibiting at the London expo have been involved in malpractice, but while the business of surgical tourism appears to be booming, one aspect of the industry seem to be missing entirely: regulation of promotional events such as this one.

According to data from the Foreign Office, six Britonsa died in Turkey in 2023 after medical procedures, while data from the British Association of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) has revealed the number of people needing hospital treatment in the UK after getting cosmetic surgery abroad increased by 94% in three years, with 324 patients requiring surgery once they returned home in the four years to 2022.

Marc Pacifico, the president of BAAPS, said the lack of oversight of events such as the Health Tourism Expo was concerning. “I think it is truly remarkable that an exhibition like this seems to fall between the cracks of all the UK regulatory bodies that are responsible for healthcare and the safety of patients,” he said. “I would have thought it would be common sense for there to be some sort of oversight.”

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 18 July 2024