Overseas Surgery

With the state of medical care in the United States constantly being questioned, it's no wonder that so many Americans are looking for alternatives to going to the doctor. One of the practices gaining popularity these days is to visit doctors overseas and have surgeries performed while on vacation. The idea being that you are visiting accredited doctors with top facilities while enjoying recovery time in an exotic location where the value of the dollar means you can live life comfortably and enjoy. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. A typical scenario that has been popular in the past has been to take a trip down to South America where plastic surgery is popular and relatively inexpensive when compared to the United States. Patients come down, have the surgery and then spend the next two weeks recovering on the beaches of Brazil. Sounds fabulous doesn't it? Well, it's often a bit too good to be true.

Reports have surfaced where unlicensed doctors have performed surgeries and the results have been nothing short of catastrophic. Doctors who aren't even close to being plastic surgeons have performed surgeries or given injections of substances claiming them to be botox when it is actually something else. The results have led to some deaths but the majority have resulted in the need for extra surgeries at greater cost and more pain. There were several cases shown in the news over the past few years where patients headed down to Brazil or some other such country and had the surgery done and several days later, began to experience pain and swelling and it turned out that the surgical site was infected and the patient was now in danger of dying from blood poisoning.

In other cases, the doctors performing the surgery used substances that were supposedly substances like botox and such when in fact it was nothing more than a diluted mixture that was mixed to increase the volume. The results were that many patients began to suffer from massive swelling and rejection by the body. Suddenly it doesn't appear as if this is a viable alternative after all. This is not to say that there are no good doctors anywhere outside of the United States. On the contrary, there are many fine and gifted doctors all over the world. The problem comes when people attempt to skimp a little when it comes to something seen as an extravagance.

There are rare instances where plastic surgery is considered a necessity. One can almost think of it like a car. You can buy a practical car or you can buy an exotic. Both will serve the same purpose but one costs a lot more. If it's a necessity the majority of people will go with the practical but others who want it, they will spend more to get the exotic. Same with cosmetic surgery. If you're going for something of an extravagance it's probably best not to skimp and try to save a few bucks. Sure the trip down to Brazil may be worth it but do you really know who you're putting your life in the hands of?

But why only Brazil? Asia is also experiencing this boom and India is one country where many are turning to for surgical procedures. A number of companies have begun arranging medical vacation packages where a patient can come, have a surgery done and then enjoy a vacation in a new and foreign country. Many expatriates already make occasional trips for the purpose of having some work done but many non-Indians are doing it as well. The risk lies in the fact that here too there are no guarantees of who is going to be performing the surgery. Two recent cases come to mind where the patient was misled to believe that a certified doctor was to perform the procedure when in fact someone else did it. In the first case a doctor had his son perform the surgery in the hope of setting a world's record for the youngest surgeon. A second was by a well-reputed doctor who allowed his daughter-in-law to perform a surgery when she's never even had any medical training.

I don't know about you but I'd prefer not to have my life be used as a test bed for an unlicensed doctor or someone seeking a world record. Here also one can argue that there are cases where doctors are doing nothing but experimentation on patients but I don't believe that it is so blatant. When you go overseas to have a procedure done you are essentially walking into the unknown. It may seem like a bargain to have a vacation and an expensive surgery for less than the cost of both separately, but is your life really worth saving a few thousand dollars?