British Surgeons Warned Not to Perform Procedure until More Data is Collected

As many as four out of five[1] plastic surgeons in recent years have noted a wild increase in patients requiring revision after botched cosmetic surgery abroad – but NEW research unveiled at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (www.baaps.org.uk) breaks down the considerable burden to the Health Service as well as revealing some of the most common procedure culprits.

Most importantly, the BAAPS has decided that the results of one particular treatment are disturbing enough for them to dissuade ALL members from performing this specific surgery, until more data can be collated.

The Brazilian Buttock Lift (BBL) is a procedure in which fat is taken from another part of the body, then injected into the buttocks. However, surgeons warn it has the highest death rate (thought to be as high as 1 in 3,000 operations)[2] of all cosmetic surgery procedures, due to the risk of injecting fat into large veins that can travel to the heart or brain and cause severe illness and death. This risk has galvanised the BAAPS to distribute a recommendation to all members, suggesting they refrain from performing BBLs, at least until more data is available. This is going even further than the American and Australian[3] Societies, which only alert members to reporting outcomes.

One striking study presented at this international BAAPS conference analysed a single UK NHS hospital, recording a six-fold rise in cases needing urgent follow-up care from procedures done abroad, since 2013. All but one of the complications deemed ‘major’; based on cost and level of emergency care input (including intensive care); were for buttock enhancement, also known as gluteal augmentation. These patients required an average ward stay of 20 days, costing the hospital just under £32,500. Added to other procedures, the hospital shelled out over £63,000 to pick up the pieces of botched-abroad surgery, including the removal of industrial-grade, banned PIP silicone implants.

Complications from BBL ranged from severe bacterial infections including MRSA and Pseudomonas, tissue dying (necrosis), scarring, wound ruptures (dehiscence) and abscesses – among others. One patient alone, excluded from this study, had a ‘flesh eating’ infection (Necrotising Fasciitis), treatment of which cost the Service nearly £47,000. The no. 1 most cited reason for choosing to travel, unsurprisingly, was cost (85% of respondents).

Surgeons ascribe this specific phenomenon, in part, as a possible result of aggressive marketing campaigns – particularly targeting vulnerable people through social media. Celebrities unashamedly pursuing the curviest of curves on their Instagram feeds, such as Kim Kardashian and rapper Cardi B can trick the public into thinking that (just as one medical tourism website advertises) “Surgery is just like make-up!” and inadvertently leading them to danger. Hence the Society has called a moratorium on the procedure in the UK, until more research is conducted.

https://prime-journal.com/baaps-british-surgeons-warned-not-to-perform-procedure-until-more-data-is-collected/?idU=1