It's costing the NHS around £15,000 per patient, but is social media to blame, as 40% of Brits feel pressured by social media to change their looks.
We spoke to Kagan Seymenoglu from cosmetic surgery company Lengevita on The Kent Morning Show earlier.
We spoke to Kagan Seymenoglu from cosmetic surgery company Lengevita on The Kent Morning Show earlier.
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00:0015 million people are traveling abroad for medical procedures each year. And this market is projected to grow to 100 billion
00:09dollars in five to seven years. So that represents a 25 percent annual growth. And in the UK alone half a million people travel
00:18to another country for medical treatment. So despite this growth the industry remains unregulated leading to alarming rise of
00:28complications and corrective surgeries. In the past three years alone the corrective procedures has doubled costing the NHS an
00:38estimated of 15000 pounds per patient to treat these complications. And research shows 78 percent of patients worry about
00:49their safety when they are seeking treatment abroad. So that is why we are calling for regulation in the medical tourism
00:56industry. The question why do we even need to or want to change the way we look. Can we blame social media for the increase in
01:03cosmetic procedures. And then then going wrong.
01:10Unfortunately yes because at the moment there is no government oversight on social media. Anyone whether they are a verified
01:20practitioner or not can advertise on social media or search engines and promote these cosmetic treatments. So that is why we are
01:28calling for this regulation. If for example there is a government backed online registry which would list all the verified
01:37professionals offering these procedures at least social media can restrict the advertising to these individuals verified
01:45individuals. We know that all cosmetic procedures come with some form of risk or another. How would this registry sort of allow people to
01:54know what those risks risks are when they're going to decide to have something done.
02:03It's the registry could could have informed consent educational videos or content to educate patients about the risks associated
02:13contraindications because not everyone is suitable for treatments. There needs to be some medical history checked maybe some psychological
02:22checks as well. Jeep their GP should be involved in the decision making process. So it's all about patient safety really. And they need to be
02:30educated about the treatments that they are seeking. You think implementing something like this in a very saturated market as it is already
02:37you're going to have backlash from people who have been able to get cosmetic surgery really easily at low prices some of which have been
02:45fine and been safe. A lot of which have had issues with it as well. But all those people within the industry as well. You're going to
02:53struggle especially navigating how that works overseas as well.
02:57This wouldn't limit access to these types of treatments. I mean look airlines are regulated hotels travel agencies are regulated hospitals
03:08clinics are regulated medical tourism which is effectively a combination of these industries and services. They are not. So in the last three
03:18years alone 20 324 patients went to NHS for treating these complications.
03:28And I mean of course the argument still stands. If this was to be put into place here and then you know if the industry became safer as a
03:36result how do we then deter people from heading abroad heading abroad and still getting those cheaper surgeries because it's the price.
03:44It's a huge part of the problem. I don't think the regulation is about deterring people from going away and staying in the in their home
03:54countries. I mean medical tourism is going to have an undeniable growth with respect to the numbers that I gave given previously. So it's
04:03good. It's going to stay there as long as the price is going to stay. Medical tourism is going to have a demand.
04:12Thank you very much for your time today.