• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

South of the border surgical excursions pose health risks

Ambulatory Safety Monitor, December 30, 2004

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Ambulatory Safety Monitor!

American plastic surgeons are finding themselves increasingly called upon to clean up the botched work of foreign doctors, due to the growing popularity of "surgical vacations"-in which patients travel to countries like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and even as far as Japan in order to get cosmetic surgery procedures done cheaply.

According to a story in the December 26 edition of the Contra Costa Times, doctors here in the U.S. have expressed concerns over the skills and credentials of foreign surgeons and the hygienic condition of their surgical facilities. Frequently, patients returning from surgical vacations-often marketed as surgery/activity packages, such as one company's Argentinian "breast implants and tango" trip-are forced to visit domestic surgeons for follow-up treatment for everything from post-surgical and bacterial infections to slippage of breast implants.

"People want to go for the deal. They want to go abroad because, 'They can get the same surgery for a reduced price,' " Rod Rohrich, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, told the Times. "Therein is the fallacy. America has the best healthcare system in the world."

While many patients return home perfectly satisfied with their surgery, which can cost half of what a similar procedure (such as facelifts, dental surgery, and even gastric banding) would run them in the U.S., the inability of patients to choose their doctor-or even gain much information about the surgeons performing their procedure-has often led to complications. Compounding those problems is the fact that many American doctors are apprehensive about providing follow-up care for a messy result they weren't responsible for in the first place.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Ambulatory Safety Monitor!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive