Duggan R Patrick, Zapata-Sirvent Ramon L, Padilla Pablo L, Hamati John S, Lopez Annalisa, Phillips Linda G
Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Blvd, Galveston, TX, 77555, USA.
Department of Plastic Surgery, Houston Methodist Institute for Reconstructive Surgery, Houston, TX, USA.
Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2025 Jun;49(12):3504-3511. doi: 10.1007/s00266-024-04516-x. Epub 2024 Dec 11.
Cosmetic surgery tourism is a burgeoning field, attracting patients with the possibility of procedures at reduced costs. Patients are often unaware of the potential cost of managing complications, with the cost often passed on to the local healthcare systems. We report our experience at a single academic center which serves as a safety net hospital managing cosmetic surgery tourism patients.
Cosmetic surgery tourism patient demographics and outcomes were reviewed between March 2020 and September 2021 at our institution.
We identified twenty-four female patients, averaging 35.6 years of age. All patients underwent body contouring procedures, most commonly abdominoplasty (17/24), frequently combined with liposuction or breast augmentation. On average, patients presented 32 days after their operation. All patients utilized emergency department resources, and 20/24 patients were admitted, averaging 5.5 days per admission. Fifteen required an additional procedure, including four who returned to the operating room. Twelve patients traveled internationally for surgery, ten to Mexico and two to the Dominican Republic. Domestically, Miami, Florida, was the most popular destination (8/12).
After developing a complication, patients frequently utilized emergency department resources and often were treated by non-surgeons before arriving at our institution. Surgical tourism continues to place the onus of finding appropriate postoperative care on patients, with their surgeon some hundreds of miles away. Additionally, the unanticipated cost of complications often exceeds the cost of their index procedure.
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整形手术旅游是一个新兴领域，以可能降低手术费用吸引患者。患者往往意识不到处理并发症的潜在成本，而这些成本通常转嫁给当地医疗系统。我们报告了我们在一家作为安全网医院管理整形手术旅游患者的单一学术中心的经验。
回顾了2020年3月至2021年9月在我们机构的整形手术旅游患者的人口统计学和结局。
我们确定了24名女性患者，平均年龄35.6岁。所有患者均接受了身体塑形手术，最常见的是腹部整形术（17/24），常与抽脂或隆胸术联合进行。患者平均在术后32天前来就诊。所有患者均利用了急诊科资源，20/24的患者入院，平均每次住院5.5天。15名患者需要额外的手术，其中4名返回手术室。12名患者出国进行手术，10名前往墨西哥，2名前往多米尼加共和国。在国内，佛罗里达州迈阿密是最受欢迎的目的地（8/12）。
出现并发症后，患者经常利用急诊科资源，并且在到达我们机构之前通常由非外科医生进行治疗。手术旅游继续将寻找合适术后护理的责任推给患者，而他们的外科医生在数百英里之外。此外，并发症的意外成本往往超过其初次手术的成本。
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