A "wave of cosmetic tourism" during the pandemic has led to an increase in patients presenting to Irish hospitals with complications.
That's according to research by St James' Hospital in Dublin.
It is appealing to people to consider the "hidden costs" that can arise if something goes wrong after a cheap procedure overseas.
Consultant Plastic Surgeon at St James', Marlese Dempsey, describes some of the cases they've dealt with it in the past 4 months.
"Of the patients that we saw unfortunately five of them required admission to hospital."
"Four of them required further surgery."
"In most instances they needed a general anaesthetic and a formal wash out of their wounds that had become infected."
"Two patients had infected implants that had to be removed."
Complications
Marlese says while there may be an 'initial' cost saved by going abroad, any complications could overcome that entirely:
"You'd really want to think of the hidden costs that are involved if you run into complications down the line."
"There's also that difficulty in accessing follow up care from your surgeon if you've travelled overseas to have that done."
"So certainly don't rush into any decisions."
