Recently, there has been an increase in people seeking to find cheaper plastic surgery procedure prices by visiting other countries. This is called plastic surgery tourism and while it might be successful sometimes, it is proving to be a dangerous new trend.

Plastic surgery procedures can get costly which is why people look for cheaper alternatives in places such as Costa Rica, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, and more. These places do offer plastic surgeries for a fraction of price sometimes saving a person 90 percent.

Other reasons why people look into plastic surgery tourism is as follows:

• They want plastic surgery procedures that are not offered in America
• The idea that medical care in other areas is a higher quality than America
• They can use the time away as a cover for their plastic surgery procedure
• They hear about a skilled plastic surgeon in another country

If you are considering plastic surgery tourism, the most important thing you should do is to research the surgeon and area you are considering. If you cannot find a lot of information on the surgeon or the place where you are looking at, you might want to reconsider another place.

Plastic surgery tourism can be more expensive than just having the procedure done in America. If the surgery goes wrong, you can end up paying double the price to have it fixed. There is also a potential that you can become very sick if the doctor does not use sanitary tools. Other reasons plastic surgery tourism is not a great idea are as follows:

• Issues with communicating: if you are not fluent in the language that the surgeon and his helpers speak, you can have a really difficult time understanding what he/ she is saying and vice versa. This can lead to surgery complications, incorrect procedures being done, and more.
• Low quality medication, medical tools, etc.: receiving a medical procedure in another country can be very complicated because you also do not know their regulations for medication, medical tools, rules for sanitation, etc.
• Difficulty in finding out qualifications: In the U.S, you can easily determine the qualifications of any surgeon by checking their board certifications and disciplinary records. However, finding out a surgeon’s qualifications overseas can be more difficult because there are not many international organizations that provide verification.

In the long run, while plastic surgery tourism seems like a great idea that will save you money, it can end up costing you a lot of money, promote health problems, and potentially leave you with negative long term consequences.

To schedule a plastic surgery with Dr. Hanna, one of the leading board certified plastic surgeons in NC, please give our professional staff a call at either 919-233-1933 or 984-221-0403!