Aussies warned about 'skin-crawling' danger of growing travel trend
Whether it's insurance complications or complications with your recovery, there's a lot to consider when thinking about going overseas for medical treatments.
Flying overseas for a nip and a tuck, dermatological or even dental care can save you thousands of dollars. However Australians are being warned to exercise caution and be aware of the risks of so-called cosmetic tourism amid a reported boom in popularity.
High costs and long wait times for elective surgeries means many Aussies aren't hesitating to look abroad for their medical needs. It's a trend that has been fuelled by an exploding industry on social media with patients sharing their experiences and businesses promoting their services to foreigners.
But what's missing from social media are the horror stories.
“We have definitely seen in our hospital, which is close to the airpot, an increase in complications from patients retuning from overseas,” Sydney plastic surgeon Dr Amira Sanki told Yahoo News.
Those complications vary from "small issues such as scar revisions" to "life-threatening" ordeals which end up costing patients – and the Australian taxpayer – much more in ongoing medical costs.
"For example we had a lady present with a grossly infected buttock fat graft that needed her to go back to theatre many times and have significant antibiotic therapy."
In another alarming case, there was a family all identified as having hepatitis when giving blood at an Australian blood bank. "They had all just come back from India with dental implants," Dr Sanki recalled.
According to Professor Mark Frydenberg, chair of the health policy and advocacy committee at the Royal Australian College of Surgeons, “there's certainly been an increasing number” of Australians heading overseas for medical and cosmetic care.
Meanwhile in March, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons noted the growing role TikTok was playing in fuelling demand, saying they are seeing "a direct relationship between procedures that are trending on TikTok and what patients are coming to the office for".
"At a personal level, I've seen an increase in marketing even on my own Instagram channels," Dr Sanki told Yahoo. "I've seen so many social media images promoting surgeons overseas."
It's something that is also helping to fuel the outbound trend of cosmetic medical tourism, as it's a practice that is off limits to surgeons in Australia.
"Here we have a conundrum. In Australia we’re not allowed to market in the same techniques... We're not allowed to pay influencers," she explained. (There are also strict rules around before and after photos, and certainly no selfies).
'I always wanted boobies'
TikTok is full of videos of primarily young women, sharing their experience and touting the cost savings of medical tourism in countries throughout Asia such as South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and India as well as Eastern Europe and Mexico.
“I was shocked by the hospitals in Malaysia,” one video exclaims, referring to them as “world-class and affordable” as the TikToker tours through a clinic in Kuala Lumpur.
Another promotes a medical tourism company in Korea which the influencer claims is “backed by the government.” In April, the nation’s Health Ministry said the country had seen a record 606,000 foreign patients travel to South Korea in 2023 for mainly dermatological treatments and plastic surgery.
One clip touts the top locations for cosmetic tourism while many compare the astronomical prices for private surgery in the United States compared to places like Turkey, a popular destination.
Those who are taking part, as one person put it, see it as “combating the indignity of inflation” and high medical costs in Western countries like the US and Australia.
One of those patients was Australian woman Jade, who travelled to Turkey for a breast augmentation recently before appearing in an Instagram clip for the company promoting her experience.
While Jade did not respond to Yahoo’s request for comment, her surgery and subsequent holiday appear to have been a completely positive experience for her. “Ever since I was a little girl I was excited to have boobies but they never came, so I decided to get some myself,” she said in a TikTok video detailing the entirety on her trip, admitting the "topic can be controversial".
There is no disclosure on the video suggesting she was compensated by the company which carried out the procedure, which was also linked to in the video's caption.
In Australia, 'you pay more for your safety'
In Australia, there can be a wide range of prices for a procedure such as a breast augmentation ranging from about $10,000 to more than $30,000, often depending on the experience and popularity of the surgeon.
While there are many success stories from people who have opted to head overseas, domestic patients are arguably paying for a higher standard of care and medical regulation.
"If you look at the breast implantation pathway, you're paying for a surgeon who has 15 years of training. You're paying for a hospital that's undergone accreditation and only employs qualified nurses and anaesthesiologists. You're paying for implants that have passed our difficult TGA rules.
"And there's also the little guy along the way. You've got to pay for the delivery man who is delivering the implants in a special truck in a special container so they're staying clean and sterile.
"You're paying more, but you're also paying for your safety."
Patients must consider insurance implications of medical tourism
Around the time that Jade was going under the knife in Turkey, travel expert Tim Bennett from consumer group Finder was warning about the potential pitfalls of cosmetic tourism.
"If anything goes wrong, just in general around the trip, you often won't be covered for travel insurance," he told SBS in late June.
"If there's a complication in the surgery, which has nothing to do with the quality of the surgeons necessarily, but your body may react in a particular way — that is not going to be covered by travel insurance … so the cost could run up."
I went to Asia for medical tourism and had work done on my face
I went to Istanbul for medical tourism – but it didn't go as expected
It's something that the Australian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons also cautions about, urging people to diligently check their travel insurance if embarking on overseas medical treatments.
The problem, according to Dr Sanki, is that Australians interested in joining the trend have to rely on internet research or a cosmetic tourism broker, which can sometimes mean taking a serious leap of faith.
Lack of after care can end in 'skin-crawling' stories
The organisation also points to the lack of very important "after care" in almost all cases of medical tourism as people return home without adequate check ups.
In one case seen by Dr Sanki, a woman had a tummy tuck in Lebanon which all went very well. At least initially. "But her belly button suddenly disappeared – it fell out of the wound, back into her tummy."
She didn't seek further medical advice and five years later presented "with a big abscess in her tummy where her belly button had been growing skin under her tummy.
"If she had received the proper after care, that would've been corrected immediately," Dr Sanki said.
"I've got so many more stories to tell you that would make your skin crawl."
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