Why Travelling Abroad for a Mummy Makeover Can be Dangerous

Medical tourism is when people travel abroad to undergo medical treatment. This is often due to costs for various medical treatments being lower in other countries or to access a medical treatment that isn’t available anywhere else.  

Whilst some overseas destinations can provide excellent healthcare services (e.g. USA), there are safety concerns associated with travelling abroad for medical treatment, and regulations and safety standards are not consistent globally.  

Before travelling abroad for any medical procedure, it is important that you understand the risks and how they may impact your surgery. 

Many women feel self-conscious about the appearance of their body following pregnancy and childbirth. This can lead to them considering cosmetic surgery to address their concerns. Mummy Makeover surgery is a combination of cosmetic procedures which tackle cosmetic concerns following pregnancy and childbirth and aim to restore a pre-pregnancy body.  

There are a few factors which influence a patient’s decision to seek Mummy Makeover surgery abroad:

• Price – due to the extent and complexity of Mummy Makeover surgery, the prices in the UK are often high. Many patients consider having surgery abroad as the prices are often significantly lower (even once travel has been factored in), making the procedure more accessible. 
• Shorter waiting times – Some patients find that they are able to access surgery sooner by travelling abroad than waiting for a surgeon in the UK.  
• Combining travel and treatment – Being able to combine surgery and recovery with a holiday is a big draw for many people.

Although these factors may seem very appealing, there are risks of having surgery abroad which are important to consider. 

One of the main destinations outside of the UK for all cosmetic surgery (including Mummy Makeover) is Turkey. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Low pricing – in comparison to other Western countries, surgery in Turkey is much more affordable due to the lack of regulation, the weak Turkish lira and the low cost of living. If you are considering a surgery such as Mummy Makeover, which can often have a high price due to the extent of the surgery, Turkey’s prices can be very appealing. 
• Good quality healthcare – although lightly regulated and with widely varying quality standards, Turkey has invested in its medical infrastructure, and there are some modern and well-equipped medical facilities offering high healthcare standards. 
• Government support – The government in Turkey has heavily promoted the awareness of medical tourism, bringing in policies to encourage people to visit Tukey for surgery. 
• English speaking medical professionals – English is widely spoken throughout Turkey’s medical field, especially in major cities and reputable medical institutions.

Although these reasons all sound very positive, it is still very important to do your research when considering surgery in Turkey and ensure your surgeon and hospital are safe and reputable. 

Although we have covered some of the risks of travelling abroad for surgery, including lower prices, it is important to consider why surgery prices are so much lower than in the UK.

There are several main reasons for this:

• Weak Turkish Lira – the British Pound, and other international currencies, almost all go further in Turkey than they do at home  
• Light touch regulation – has the impact of massively reducing overheads for providers, and lowering the barriers to entry for lower quality surgeons and clinics to enter the market and drive prices down 
• Lower cost of living – this brings down all costs, but in particular cost of staffing, including surgeons and nurses 
• Government support and subsidy – The Turkish government has actively promoted medical tourism and encouraged people to travel from abroad for cosmetic surgery, and subsidised provider marketing costs. 
• Economies of scale – The number of patients globally who had medical procedures in Turkey in 2022 is up to 1.2 million, with most of these being cosmetic. When this many surgeries are being performed, prices can be kept very low.

Bearing in mind the government are encouraging people to take on international patients, and the number of people travelling to Turkey for surgery is so high, it is very hard to guarantee safety as clinics and surgeons are benefitting financially from medical tourism. In comparison, in the UK, although prices are higher, you can be confident that your surgeon will not be operating on a dangerous number of people each day.