A Dublin hospital has recorded an increase in patients presenting with complications after travelling overseas for cosmetic surgery like breast implants and tummy tucks.

St James’s Hospital said there was an increase in people travelling abroad for cosmetic surgery, while elective surgery was paused in Irish hospitals during the pandemic.

A snapshot study of patients presenting over a four-month period found that eight women were admitted with complications including wound breakdown and infection.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, study lead Dr Marlese Dempsey said people who travel for surgery often do not get the same level of care as they would at home.

“The vast majority had their procedure done in either Turkey or Lithuania,” she said.

“Seven out of eight of them were presenting with either wound breakdown, infection after surgery or a combination of both.

“Of the patients we saw, unfortunately, five of them required admission to hospital and four of them required further surgery. In most instances they needed a general anaesthetic and formal washout of the wounds that had become infected.

“Two patients had infected implants that had to be removed.”

Care

She said the problem with travelling overseas for surgery is that you have less time for planning and decisions-making before travelling – as well as less access to after-care on your return.

“It would be pretty standard in Ireland to have a least two consultations before any major plastic surgery,” she said. “This will give you a chance to tell the surgeon what you are looking for and what your expectations for the plastic surgery are.

“It also gives the surgeon a chance to examine you and let you know whether those expectations are realistic.

“That decision can be made together, usually over the course of two consultations with a period of time in between - what we refer to as a cooling down period - so you can think about that surgery, what the implications are and whether you want to go ahead.”

After-care

Dr Dempsey said complications often happen quite a while after surgery, when a patient is already back home in Ireland.

“If you are going abroad, it is normally not practical to have that degree of consultation in advance, certainly not in a face-to-face manager,” she said. “It sometimes just happens with a nurse on the phone and often you arrive and meet the surgeon the day of the procedure.

“Likewise, with the care after the surgery, these complications don’t always happen within the first day or couple of days. More frequently, they happen quite a while after.”

She said patients considering cosmetic surgery should “protect themselves and carefully consider all their options”.

“While there may be an initial saving travelling overseas, you really want to think about the hidden costs involved if you run into complications down the line and just that difficulty accessing follow-up care with your treating surgeon if you have travelled overseas,” she said.

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