Going Under the Knife Abroad – Putting a Price on Beauty

The economic recession has affected hundreds of thousands or businesses and millions of residents across the world. It’s effects are even being felt in the plastic surgery market where an ever growing crowd of would-be beauties are considering traveling abroad on cosmetic surgery “package holidays” to save money and boost their confidence in this time of economic slowdown.

It’s not difficult to see why either. Combining a holiday to Europe or Asia with the chance to get bigger breasts, a flatter tummy or a younger face seems like a deal, especially when the difference in price can run into the hundreds, but many UK surgeons and governing health organisations are concerned that you don’t get what you don’t pay for.

UK cosmetic surgeons are regulated by BAAPS, or the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, and 5 years ago they published their concerns about the trends they saw emerging, even back then. BAAPS were becoming increasingly aware of people being drawn in by adverts for cheap surgical procedures abroad; a lot of which were posted in Women’s magazines to target an insecure market of would-be customers.

Cosmetic surgery has been around long enough now to be considered relatively safe, although of course there will never be a zero risk of complication, but BAAPS are keen to make sure those considering plastic surgery are aware of the aftercare if any, and understand that these surgeons are not BAAPS accredited.

There are also safety concerns in having a surgical procedure done in a country where the newest technology may not be present. Britons spent 650 million pounds last year on cosmetic surgery and that figure does not appear to be decreasing this year, even with the recession.

With an impressive 650,000,000 pounds spent on plastic surgery last year by Britons, the promise of looking good and feeling great has the potential to outweigh sensible research on cosmetic surgery, and the pressures of the economic recessions only add to this understandable desire to save on the price.

When times are tough people often reach outside of themselves to feel better about what’s going on inside. Cosmetic surgery can beautify and produce feelings of well-being and self-confidence, but the money saved by doing it in a potentially unsafe environment in a foreign country is not worth the risk. In addition to possible complications, one follow-up appointment will wipe out the amount that was saved in the first place.

In times of financial scarcity, it’s understandable that people look to making themselves feel better inside, and looking good on the outside is one way of achieving this. As long as people have all the information available to them to weigh up the risks then it’s down to personal choice considering all the factors involved.

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!