Maybe you’ve seen the viral videos of men returning from Turkey after hair transplant surgeries with their heads wrapped in gauze, or maybe you’ve heard of a friend heading to Latin America for liposuction on the cheap. No matter how in tune you are with plastic surgery trends, one thing is for sure – medical tourism is on the rise after COVID-19, and doctors everywhere, even in the United States, are welcoming a new global era in plastic surgery.
According to Patients across borders, Healthcare travel is believed to be growing at a rate of around 15% to 25% annually and is driven by cosmetic surgery, while International Society of Plastic Surgeons (ISAPS) reported that plastic surgery procedures increased by 11.2% overall, representing more than 14.9 million procedures performed worldwide in 2022.
Dr. Thomas P. SterryMD, a board-certified plastic surgeon on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, says he’s seen the difference in his own practice. “Medical tourism has had a very negative connotation in my profession, but we cannot have our heads in the sand. Today, people are on Instagram and TikTok and connecting to the content I create and flying here from all over,” says Sterry, who has operated on patients from Australia and England just in the last month.
Additionally, this newly minted global market appears to have spawned a phenomenon of its own: The emergence of international plastic surgery destinations, some of which have become synonymous with certain specialties. Apart from New York, Miami and Los Angeles in the United States, there are other international hubs that have become meccas in their own right, offering foreign travelers the opportunity to enjoy luxury vacations and potentially save a few (thousand) dollars all in one i go As Dr. Lyle Leipziger, MDchief of plastic surgery at North Shore University Hospital and LIJ Medical Center, says, “the number one reason patients seek cosmetic surgery abroad is price.” Here, we present three of the most popular cosmetic surgery vacation destinations.
Destination: Turkey
What is known about: rhinoplasty? hair transplant surgery
In the last week of November 2023, Google searches for “surgery in Turkey” increased sevenfold, possibly on the back of viral videos promoting the country’s hair transplant specialties. But the country is also home to the doctors who helped pioneer the so-called maintenance rhinoplasty technique in which surgeons revise and keep as much of the cartilage as possible to create a structurally sound nose that won’t break down over time, he says Dr. Andrew PeredoMD, board certified plastic surgeon in Long Island, New York.
“In Turkey, you have these very well-known doctors and the cost of everything is much less, even with hotel stays and plane tickets, because the cost of living is much less,” says Peredo, who has had two male patients. traveling to Turkey for hair transplants, which are usually done by hand versus machine (as is commonly done in the United States).
One of the biggest perks of choosing Turkey as your destination? These doctors roll out the red carpet for foreign travelers. While Turkey is perhaps best known for affordable hair transplants—prices vary depending on the type and quantity of transplants, but generally cost a third to a quarter of what they do in the United States—that doesn’t mean patients receive less quality work. In fact, Turkey is home to many world-class doctors that people fly from all over the world to see. Dr. Bulent Cihantimur is a top hair restoration surgeon who charges $3,800 for his patented stem cell-enhanced hair restoration technique (in the United States, hair transplants with top doctors can start at $20,000), and many patients find him through Instagram. where he is known as @DoctorB and has amassed more than 142,000 followers. His clinic representatives say a luxury Sprinter van will pick up patients from the airport and from their hotel to the doctor’s medical center. His team also coordinates sightseeing tours throughout Istanbul as well as restaurant reservations.
Destination: South Korea
What is known about: blepharoplasty? Maxillofacial surgery? face lift
Nowhere is plastic surgery more of a cultural obsession than in South Korea, where more of the country per capita has gone under the knife than anywhere else in the world, according to International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons” World Statistics Report. “It’s the plastic surgery capital of the world,” says Charlotte Cho, Korean beauty expert and founder of K-beauty website Soko Glam. “Walk down the block and you have 500 doctors to talk to. There is no stigma.” Cho adds that the work doctors do is, in general, very good, delicate and less expensive than in the United States. “It’s like a factory over there,” he says.
A well-known clinic is Dream Medical Group, which has branches in Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai and Los Angeles, the latter of which is run by Dr. Kenneth KimMD, plastic and reconstructive surgeon and assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who also teaches at Seoul National University. “What’s unique about plastic surgery in Korea is that things are done in a much more detailed way,” says Kim, who performs “bloodless” facelifts and double eyelid surgeries and cuts jawbones at his Los Angeles center. Angels. “Korean plastic surgeons will cut the facial bones and completely reshape the face,” says Kim.
Kim’s eyelid procedures, also performed by Dream Group surgeons in South Korea, use complex suturing techniques that promise more natural, dynamic results and may also make the eyes wider, larger or longer to fit standards of beauty that are highly sought after in the East. The same is true for jaw reshaping, which may involve shaving bone to reduce size and moving facial muscles or cheek fat to create an oval-shaped face.
Dream Medical Group representatives say they can coordinate airport pickups and accommodations and special rates at five-star hotels such as the Andaz Seoul Gangnam. They also have a dental and cosmetic arm for everything from Botox to stem cell injections, and offer overnight stays at the clinic for surgical patients. Other post-op benefits? Laser and hyperbaric oxygen treatments and hair washing services.
Destination: Colombia
What it’s known for: Brazilian butt lifts, tummy tucks, breast augmentation
In South America, the draw tends to be body contour. Dr. Lina Triana, MD, a plastic surgeon in Cali, Colombia, and current president of ISAPS, sees patients from all over Colombia and outside her country. A 2019 review posted on Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery found that approximately 90% of medical tourists to Colombia are from North America.
Triana, who helped pioneer vaginal reconstructive surgery, believes it is the aesthetic of “Latin contours” (ie, the ratio of smaller waists to more generous backs and hips) that made her country one of the first who embraced Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs) and other procedures that create an hourglass shape. In 2022, there were more than 55,000 buttock augmentations in Colombia, representing almost 12% of all cosmetic procedures performed in the country that year. according to ISAPS.
Here, a dollar goes a long way. Triana says she often recommends her patients stay at the Hotel Karlo in Cali, where, for $110 per night (there are even less expensive packages), travelers get airport pickups, clinic transportation, day care nurses, laundry service and three meals a day. In Bogotá, Dr. Ernesto Barbosa, a plastic surgeon who specializes in tummy tucks, breast augmentations and BBL, sends drivers to the airport to pick up patients, provides nursing care for at least three days after surgery and offers ventilatory and hyperbaric therapy post-op.
The risks
However, while great surgeons can be found outside the United States, there are many cautionary tales. Leipziger says he once had to correct a breast augmentation and lift done abroad that was so bad, the implant was poking through the patient’s skin. Other potential problems? Skin necrosis (dying skin) and infections that can land you in the hospital, which Dr. Julio Gallo, MD, a board-certified facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Miami, says he has seen surgery patients internationally. “It’s critical for patients to do the right research before having treatments done abroad,” says Gallo.
But even the best surgeons can face post-operative problems, and if a patient is far from their doctor, these problems can be difficult to resolve over WhatsApp. It’s a good idea to ask your doctor how he plans to treat them before you book that round trip. Dr. Jason Diamond, MDa board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills who sees patients from around the world and used to have a practice in Dubai says he refers patients to colleagues in their home country when minor complications arise.
Indeed, one of the positives of the increasingly globalized and interconnected plastic surgery market is that many of the world’s best doctors are in contact with each other to exchange knowledge and advance the industry as a whole. Diamond says he knows surgeons “just about anywhere,” many of whom refer patients to him for his specialty procedures and vice versa. As Dream Group’s Kim says, “I try to bring together the best of Asia and the best of America. Historically, when trade occurred between East and West, there was cooperation and progress.”
In other words, the world may be getting smaller, but it’s also making plastic surgery more accessible (and luxurious).
Studies cited:
Rhee, SC, An, S.-J., & Hwang, R. (2017). Contemporary Koreans’ perceptions of facial beauty. Plastic Surgery Archive44(05), 390–399.
Experts:
Dr. Jason Diamond, MDboard certified plastic surgeon in beverly hills
Dr. Julio Gallo, MD, a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Miami
Dr. Kenneth KimMD, plastic and reconstructive surgeon and assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Lyle Leipziger, MDchief of plastic surgery at North Shore University Hospital and LIJ Medical Center
Dr. Andrew PeredoMD, board certified plastic surgeon in Dix Hills, Long Island.
Dr. Thomas P. SterryMD, Board Certified Plastic Surgeon on Manhattan’s Upper East Side
Dr. Lina Triana, MD, a plastic surgeon in Cali, Colombia and its current president International Society of Plastic Surgeons
