There are two main threats to medical safety and satisfactory results in the field of Plastic Surgery and Aesthetic Medicine:
- Low cost treatments
- Professional intrusion
Tourism and low cost clinics in Plastic Surgery, a health risk
Some low cost Plastic Surgery clinics launch from time to time promotions of up to 50% less in surgeries as important as a rhinoplasty or a breast augmentation. In the case of low cost tourism, there are packs of offers for breast augmentation with prostheses in countries such as Tunisia, which include a stay in a 5-star hotel and airplane for a price that, in Spain, would not even be enough to cover the cost of implants and hospitalization.
However, the worst and greatest impact in the field of esthetics is the “unfair” competition from some South American countries, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon or Turkey, although also from Spain, with leisure-health packages advertised at very low prices.
It is important to be aware of the risks involved in this type of esthetic tourism, which are not related to a patient going to another country for surgery because he/she will receive better quality care, because it gives him/her more confidence or because of greater safety. What is criticized is not quality esthetic tourism but low-cost health tourism.
These packs of travel-leisure + low-cost aesthetics pose a high risk to patient safety. In fact, there are suspicions of clinics in Central and South America where there is a market for second-hand prostheses: they remove them, wash them, sterilize them and sell them again.
Professional intrusion: 9,000 aesthetic and plastic surgeons in Spain do not have the specialty.
Professional intrusiveness is also an aspect that influences low prices. It is estimated that in Spain there are around 9,000 doctors who perform aesthetic and plastic interventions without having the specialty. In fact, one in four aesthetic centers advertised on Instagram is not approved to perform cosmetic surgery operations. Liposuction is the aesthetic operation most affected by labor intrusion in our country.
All of the above becomes patients with sequels after a bad surgery who have to resort to second or third interventions with properly qualified specialists, with the aim of trying to fix the complications arising from the first low cost interventions, carried out by non-accredited professionals.
The Spanish Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (SECPRE) has long advised against undergoing low-cost treatments. They are procedures that do not meet the quality standards, especially in relation to the materials used, so they can put the patient’s health at risk.
Although it is more common for Aesthetic Medicine centers to make punctual offers, for example, in treatments of some specific equipment, so that patients can try new services, it is necessary to be careful with very succulent promotions where, in reality, they will deceive the patient. In many cases, these offers do not cover the price of the laboratory or the products they advertise.
This will generate patients not satisfied with the results, a negative image to Aesthetic Medicine. An example of bad results is botulinum toxin (better known as Botox). In reality, it is an effective and irreplaceable substance, so specialists recommend patients not to gamble with other possible products that may not be Botox. In the same way, it is necessary to demand that whoever performs the treatment is an authorized aesthetic doctor, in addition to checking that they use appropriate and authorized products, in the agreed quantities.
At FEMM they take care of quality and safety.
At Clínica FEMM in Madrid they spare no means to achieve the best results for their patients. Careful service, products and treatments of the highest quality and a team of specialized professionals are the calling card of the Madrid clinic.
- Medical team. FEMM is made up of a team of more than 25 highly qualified and experienced professionals. All plastic surgeons are members of SECPRE, duly certified. In addition, the patient has at his disposal aesthetic doctors, dermatologist, aesthetic gynecologist and phlebologist.
- Hospital facilities. At FEMM, operations are carried out, among others, at the Ruber International Hospital, one of the best hospitals in Spain. But, in addition, every good hospital should have resuscitation rooms, ICU and blood bank, as well as comfortable rooms adapted to the patient’s needs, in addition to the postoperative stay.
- Pre-operative time. Clínica FEMM has a very careful protocol for treatments and surgeries. For this reason, they establish a minimum preoperative stay, which allows them to prepare the patient, not only medically, but also by reassuring them and resolving any doubts that may arise.
- Time for the postoperative period. Minimum postoperative stay times are also respected to prevent the patient from running risks, for example, that the wound may open on a return trip by plane because it has not healed, or that the patient may suffer dizziness on the trip home, etc.
- Anesthesia control. All cosmetic surgery must be performed under strict control of the anesthesia applied, therefore, Clínica FEMM keeps an anesthesiologist in the operating room for each patient. If an anesthesiologist is attending two or more operating rooms simultaneously, it should be considered a risk practice.
- Resuscitation room stay. If the operation is performed under general anesthesia, the patient should spend some time in the Surgical Resuscitation Room (ICU) for safety, before going up to the room with family members.
- The surgeon must be present. Quality and medical safety imply that the surgeon operating on the patient should attend him personally, both in diagnostic and postoperative consultations. A recognized plastic surgeon cannot and should not delegate the operating room to assistants, unless there is prior communication and express consent of the patient to be operated.
- Most advanced equipment and materials. Clínica FEMM uses the most advanced equipment and materials, as well as approved implants of the highest quality. When it comes to health and quality of life, you should not skimp on resources.
Seasonal offers: turning cosmetic surgery into a consumer product
SECPRE warns of these cheaper offers that proliferate in times like summer, when interest in body image increases. These are suspiciously cheap cosmetic surgery procedures that treat surgical procedures as mere consumer products, when, in fact, they are health services where patient safety should be the priority, together with excellence in the quality of the results.
It is clear that safety and quality can be put at risk if the sum of human and technical resource costs in an aesthetic intervention is higher than the price.