Is it really more risky to get plastic surgery abroad?

The media often describes the dangers of plastic surgery abroad, illustrated with shocking cases from overseas cosmetic surgery clinics. It is positive that these incidents are reported to the public, but does it mean that there is a danger of prospective patients starting to assume that the more expensive clinics in the UK will automatically be safer, more reputable and more competent? If so, then the following report about the real standards in UK clinics ought to be a real eye-opener!

With great regularity, the media goes into overdrive about botched cosmetic surgery in foreign countries. While it is quite right that the shoddy workmanship of poor surgeons at mediocre clinics abroad should be highlighted, it is important to retain a sense of balance, and realise that the same things can, and do, go wrong in British clinics.

The problem is that the media that are reporting the dangers of overseas surgery are all too often dependent on advertising revenue from the domestic cosmetic clinics. God Bless the BBC, then, for publishing a report by the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death, showing just how far from ideal British clinics often are. (The BBC is, as we know, one of the few major corporations in the media that are mostly independent from private business and advertising, which is why they have been able to publish.)

One fundamental weakness was identified, that in many ways is the cause of many of the other failings. Out of all the cosmetic surgeons practicing in Britain, only a third of them are members of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. It is clear that legislation and tougher regulation is needed.
For instance, it is recommended that a cosmetic clinic performs a set minimum number of a specific given operation per year. The reasoning behind this is that without practice, it is less likely that surgeon will be able to keep their skills up, which is really just common sense. An airplane pilot is not able to retain his license to fly without a certain number of flights per year, for the same reasons.

In the instance of plastic surgery, a minimum of twenty operations per year is recommended; however, the reality is that a great proportion of British clinics perform far less than this set level, yet still feeling confident to undertake surgeries that they rarely perform. Just one-tenth of the 361 sites reviewed managed to perform this number of ear pinning surgeries, while only 20% managed to reach this number of breast reductions. One quarter of the sample of clinics performed a sufficient number of facelift operations.

The results show that a large number of cosmetic surgery procedures in this country are being performed by surgeons of insufficient experience. In fact, what is being highlighted is more of a “have a go” mentality, rather than the experience and professionalism you would expect.

This was not where the criticisms ended. Just one third of the clinics, who have not been named, bothered to carry out any kind of psychological evaluation of the patients.


And while it a two-stage consent process is in place, to allow patients to properly consider their surgery options, less than a third of clinics manage to follow this recommendation.

More than half of all the clinics were insufficiently equipped, and one in five had no emergency readmission policy in place. Monitoring of patients before and after surgery was also found to be lacking.

It should not necessarily be inferred from this report that British Cosmetic Surgery Clinics are more or less dangerous than overseas ones. More, the prospective patient should use the results of this information to understand that in any country there may be superb clinics and also ones of a lower standard. The patient must make sure that the clinic they are considering does follow industry regulations and guidelines, and particularly that the surgeon who will be operating on them has sufficient experience. What the report does illustrate is that just because the prices are higher in the UK than those for cosmetic surgery abroad does not necessarily mean that the quality of surgery can be expected to be better.