Cosmetic surgery abroad: what you should know before you book

Search “cosmetic surgery abroad” and you’ll find two kinds of page: agencies telling you how cheap it is, and UK surgeons telling you how dangerous it is. Both have an interest. So do I, but I did it myself, and I’ll tell you both: what speaks for it and what speaks against.

Why so many women go abroad

The obvious reason is price. The less obvious: abroad there are clinics that do almost nothing but aesthetic procedures, with surgeons who perform the same operation very often. ISAPS figures show a surgeon in Turkey does far more procedures a year on average than a colleague in the UK.

That cuts both ways. Routine can be good. Routine can also mean you’re one of many that day. You won’t tell which from the price, you’ll tell from how much time the surgeon gives you beforehand.

What BAAPS and the government say, and why they’re right

BAAPS has audited the complications it treats, the FCDO records deaths in its travel advice, and the Department of Health runs a campaign with TikTok influencers against medical tourism. The advice boils down to five points, each of which I tested on my own body:

• Communication. If you can’t communicate with the surgeon without difficulty, leave it. An interpreter is good but doesn’t replace you understanding the consent conversation.
• Qualification. A consultant plastic surgeon with FRCS(Plast) on the GMC specialist register is the UK standard; abroad, look for specialist registration in plastic surgery and ISAPS or national society membership. “Cosmetic surgeon” or “aesthetic doctor” is not a protected title anywhere.
• Experience with the procedure. An outstanding rhinoplasty surgeon isn’t automatically right for a mummy makeover.
• Before and aftercare. The first conversation should be well before surgery day. Aftercare must be settled before you fly, not when you’re sitting at home with a fever.
• Cheap offers. If the price is strikingly low, someone is saving: on facilities, staff, materials or insurance.

The government adds one more: speak to a UK doctor first, and avoid package holidays that include surgery. I agree with both.

Recognising a reputable offer

From my experience, and from the conversations with women I’ve since advised for or against:

1. Before you book, you have the surgeon’s own assessment, not only that of an agency or a patient coordinator. And you know when and in which language he will speak to you.
2. You get an honest answer to: “Who is this procedure not suitable for?”
3. The quote says what isn’t included. Whoever hides that plans to charge later.
4. Nobody pushes you to a date. No “only one slot left in October”.
5. Combined procedures aren’t sold as a discount but weighed medically. Several operations under one anaesthetic raise the risk of clots and wound problems.
6. The length of stay follows the procedure, not the cheapest return flight.
7. You can say no without the tone changing.
8. Preserve evidence: screenshots of every chat agreement, a short written note after every consultation. Not from mistrust, from sense.

The flight home is part of the operation

The point almost every agency site leaves out. After major surgery the body is more prone to clots. Hours of sitting encourage a DVT, which in the worst case becomes a pulmonary embolism. That is why the surgeon clears the flight home, not the travel plan. ITV News has reported on a woman who nearly died on the flight back from Turkey.

In practice: you usually stay one week. A nurse comes every day to check on you, and you fly only once the surgeon clears it. On the plane: compression stockings, aisle seat, get up regularly.

Aftercare at home: who does what

The biggest practical problem after surgery abroad isn’t the operation. It’s week three, when the clinic is 2,000 miles away and one part of the wound looks wrong.

• Stitches, simple checks: usually your GP practice nurse, with the clinic’s discharge letter. Confirm beforehand, some practices refuse.
• Complications: consultant plastic surgeons at home will see you, privately, and are understandably cautious about an operation they didn’t do. A first contact before you travel helps enormously.
• Reaching the clinic: ask beforehand who answers at night and weekends, and in which language. If you book through me, that is me: I am your contact, at night and at weekends too.
• Documents: operation report, implant card, medication list. Without them nobody at home can help you properly.

How I organise that for women from the UK and Ireland is on the country pages.

The NHS, follow-up costs, insurance

Briefly: the NHS and HSE treat emergencies. If you arrive at A&E with sepsis or a clot, you’ll be treated, and you should go. What they won’t do is fund a revision, a scar correction or an implant replacement after an elective procedure abroad. The Royal College of Surgeons has said it shouldn’t be the NHS’s job to mop up private providers’ mistakes overseas. Standard travel insurance almost never covers elective surgery. A complications insurance policy can cover part of the gap; it must be taken out beforehand, doesn’t apply everywhere, and excludes a lot. Read the small print, or ask me, I’ve read it.

If something goes wrong: the legal reality

Enforcing a claim against a clinic abroad is possible but hard: foreign jurisdiction, foreign language, burden of proof on you, expert reports, lawyers in two legal systems. The realistic answer is that it rarely pays. If the clinic marketed to you in the UK, UK consumer law may apply, a question for a solicitor. Either way, choosing well beforehand matters far more than any remedy afterwards.

Turkey, Poland, the Czech Republic

Poland and the Czech Republic are closer, aftercare is easier to organise, and for some procedures the surgeons are equally good. Turkey has the highest specialisation and the widest choice of specialists for body procedures like the mummy makeover or tummy tuck, and the longer flight. I guide to Turkey because that’s where I was operated on and where I know the surgeon. That’s an honest reason, not an objective one.

When I’d advise against it

• If you’re doing it mainly because it’s cheaper abroad than at home.
• If you can’t afford a week away and then two to four weeks of rest, in time or money.
• If you smoke and won’t stop for several weeks before and after.
• If your body is still changing: after breastfeeding, with pregnancy planned, during weight loss.
• If nobody in your life knows. Not because it’s their business, because in week two you’ll need someone.
• If you want a particular picture from Instagram rather than a change in yourself.

Common questions

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This text doesn’t replace a surgeon’s consent conversation. It’s based on my own experience, the public guidance of BAAPS, the FCDO and the Department of Health, and conversations with women who took this route or decided against it. Ivy Beside deliberately gives no prices and names no surgeons.