Some young Australians striving for perfection are putting their life on the line
THEY are young and beautiful, striving for perfection but Australians are risking their lives in an unregulated cosmetic surgery industry both home and abroad.
EXCLUSIVE
Australian women are putting their lives and appearance at risk as they undergo cosmetic surgery unaware doctors don’t require specialist training and facilities have to meet lower standards than hospitals.
Cosmetic surgery in Australia is now a billion dollar industry as people seek to improve their looks with breast augmentation, tummy tucks, face lifts and even buttock enhancements.
In the past 15,000 Australian women a year were travelling to Thailand for surgery but that market has plunged by 20 per cent as cut price boob jobs here combined with a falling Australian dollar make some cosmetic makeovers cheaper at home.
Specialists are warning that across the industry a general lack of training and regulation and poor understanding of the dangers is putting Australian patients at risk even when they have surgery at home.
“At least 15 per cent of my breast surgery practice is correcting problems from overseas,” says censor in chief of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS) Dr John Flynn.
At least three Australian women have died in the last eight years after their cosmetic surgery here and overseas went wrong, others have had cardiac arrests, infections, flesh eating bacteria anaphylaxis and even tuberculosis.
The nation’s medical regulator, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, is moving to impose new mandatory 7 day cooling off periods on cosmetic surgery for adults and 3 months for those under 18.
It also wants to toughen rules about where cosmetic surgery can be performed.
The Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery applied to have the area recognised as a specialty in 2008 but seven years and a court case later no progress has been made as powerful groups like the Royal Australian College of Surgeons and The Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons resist the move.
“Any doctor in Australia can put up a shingle to say they are a cosmetic surgeon without any specialist training,” warns Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery’s chief Dr John Flynn.
Professor Merrilyn Walton a patient safety expert at the University of Sydney says people don’t realise students straight out of medical school can call themselves cosmetic surgeons.
She’s most concerned about the fact much of the surgery now takes place outside both public and private hospitals in doctors rooms using twilight or deep sedation rather than general anaesthetic.
“No doubt people think these clinics are regulated but there is no law or provision to enable someone to enter these rooms unless there has been an infection or a complaint reported,” she says.
The Sydney based business The Cosmetic Institute, which has received a high safety rating by auditors, has rocked the industry by offering cut price breast enlargements for just $5,990, almost as cheap as the $5,000 it costs to fly to Thailand for surgery and a holiday.
Its now performing 5,000 procedures a year. Three of the Cosmetic Institute’s doctors have had formal plastic surgery training and only one, is a qualified plastic surgeon.
Cosmeditour which organises medical tourism to Thailand is also offering boob jobs on the Gold Coast for $5,880 with a plastic surgeon in an accredited hospital.
The Cosmetic Institute’s managing director David Segal says his clinics are accredited under ISO9001 international standards and “Our adverse medical complication rate is 0.0006% out of 12,000 plus patients”.
Pene Dobell-Browne an auditor of 18 years standing says she’s audited The Cosmetic Institute against the ISO standards and would give it a nine out of ten.
“If I had family members wanting surgery I’d send them there for surgery,” she said.
However, she says she’s seen other facilities where there is a danger of infection control with poor sterility, others with cracks in the operating bed that “I consider a threat”.
Cosmeditour director Greg Lemon who runs the largest business organising cosmetic tourism to Thailand says the decline in the Australian dollar has pushed up the price of cosmetic surgery in Thailand by 20 per cent.
Peter Davison Manager International Services at Phuket International Hospital confirms there has been a 20 per cent fall in the number of Breast Augmentation procedures this year.
However, he says his hospital has seen an increase in the number of more complex procedures, such as face lifts, body contouring and breast lifts/reductions which remain 50 per cent cheaper in Thailand than in Australia.
Even health fund NIB which launched a cosmetic surgery tourism business last year says sales are slower than expected.
“While inquiries have been strong, sales are slower than expected mainly due to the long consideration period consumers go through when looking to undertake such procedures,” NIB chief executive Mark Fitzgibbon said.
“We are currently recalibrating the business which will include establishing operations in Thailand,” he told News Corp.
The average age of women undergoing cosmetic surgery is early to mid 20s, although some girls are as young as 18.
THE RISKS
At least three Australian women have died in the last eight years after their cosmetic surgery went wrong, others have had cardiac arrests, infections, flesh eating bacteria anaphylaxis and even tuberculosis.
In 2007, 26 year old Lauren James died from sepsis and other complications three days after liposuction surgery.
In South Australia, in 2008, 28 year old Lauren Edgar died as a result of multi-organ failure due to and infection five days after liposuction surgery.
In March this year 29 year old Gold Coast woman Evita Sarmonikas died on an operating table in Mexico while undergoing buttocks implant surgery.
In January Amy Rickhuss experienced a heart problem while having a breast augmentation at one of The Cosmetic Institute’s Sydney clinics and had to be rushed to hospital.
Courtney O’Keefe told a TV network she contracted a flesh eating bacteria after a breast implant in Thailand went wrong.
“In our society we trivialise this stuff. We duck over to Bangkok for a holiday and while we’re there we have our boobs done, people don’t get the idea that this is potentially serious stuff,” says Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery chief censor Dr John Flynn.
He says 15 per cent of his breast surgery practice is repairing wound infection, scarring and poor aesthetics from cosmetic jobs performed overseas.
One of his patients also contracted tuberculosis during overseas surgery.
“Somebody at the operation had TB and breathed on her, or the instruments were contaminated,” he said.
A Health Queensland Complaints Commission review of 115 cosmetic surgery complaints between 2006 and 2011 found many 77% complainants suffered pain, infection, scarring. Some had nerve damage, gross deformity and severe psychological distress as a result of cosmetic surgery.
Medical indemnity insurers told the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency doctors who provide cosmetic medical and surgical procedures have a higher number of claims than other medical practitioners.
Medical indemnity insurer MDA classifies cosmetic surgery as one of the highest risk categories, with only obstetrics and neurosurgery deemed a higher risk.
COMPARE THE PRICE
Thailand
Breast augmentation - $5,000
Mummy makeover - $14,000-$15,000
Rhinoplasty (nose job) - $6,000
Australia
Breast augmentation - $5,880
Mummy makeover - $35,000
Rhinoplasty (nose job) - $15,000 - $20,000
TOP SIX PROCEDURES
1. Breast augmentation
2. Breast lift with implants
3. Tummy tuck
4. Breast revision (going larger or unhappy with Australian surgery)
5. Mummy makeovers (includes breast lift, breast implants, tummy tick, liposuction and face lift.
6. Rhinoplasty