Don’t trust to luck for nip and tuck

Sep 17 2008 by Emma Pinch, Liverpool Daily Post

Emma Pinch looks at why a leading plastic surgeon urges patients to stop and think

SPENDING a couple of grand on "improving" yourself surgically barely merits the raise of an eyebrow these days – and not just because Botox has made any movement impossible.

With stars like Jordan giving us weekly updates on which bodily part is going to be hoisted, inflated or sucked in, in a whole host of magazines, we only need to scan the back pages of the same publications to learn how easily we can do it, too.

And thousands of us are ringing up, booking appointments and checking in.

In 2007, in the UK, some 32,453 cosmetic procedures were carried out by surgeons belonging to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, up more than 12% on the year before.

The top operation was breast augmentation – up 6% at 6,497.

This steep incline has inspired BAAPS to launch a campaign aimed at encouraging women to stop and think before booking in.

At their annual conference in Chester tomorrow, Thurs surgeons will unveil a "health warning" which will sit next to the dozens of persuasive ads for surgery at the back of magazines.

Consultant plastic surgeon Douglas McGeorge, the president of BAAPS, runs a private practice in Chester, having started the Plastic Surgery Department at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 1993.

“We decided to have a presence at the back of the magazine as well as in editorial,” he explains. “That’s why people get surgery – they are seduced by glossy ads. If you go and buy cigarettes, they have a health warning.

“The message BAAPS have put out is: ‘Stop and think. Why do I want it done?’

Of particular concern to surgeons are the people, mainly women, who flock abroad to combine cheap surgery with a holiday.

“People are sucked in because it looks like a bargain,” says Mr McGeorge. “One woman went to Thailand for a breast augmentation for £650. It would cost me £650 just for the implants. They should be thinking, what am I having put in? Our medicine is expensive because it is high standard.

“Often, they spend more time wondering about the hotel facilities than the hospital’s facilities. It’s important you know where you are going, who is going to be doing the surgery, and what the aftercare is.”

Mr McGeorge says that private practice surgeons like him, and the NHS, are often left picking up the pieces after cosmetic surgery holidays go wrong.

He himself recently repaired a tummy tuck, free of charge.