Medical Tourism in Medical Aesthetics -
What could - not would - go wrong?
Over the weekend a young American woman, Esther, shared bravely about her recent experience in Korea where she’d gone on holiday since March 1st.
The drug she spoke of recently launched in Australia and I’d attended the launch but was waiting to hear of reports of its use by colleagues before considering integrating it into my own practice.
Towards the end of her 2 week holiday, she decided to go ahead with an aesthetic treatment by a doctor she said she trusted. She clarified the name of the drug, a skin booster and stated that she felt confident it wasn’t high risk and that she had “done my research”.
Nonetheless almost instantly at the time of injection of this drug around her left eye, she lost vision. Despite telling the injecting doctor this (only doctors can inject in most parts of the world; Australia, New Zealand, the USA and UK are some of the countries in which non doctors can and do inject including dentists), she reported her concerns were minimised, she was advised to cool off an hour and then eventually sent home.
There followed a harrowing few days of attempting to get emergency help through the hospitals, which were unsuccessful due to a variety of issues – understaffing, language difficulties and an unfamiliar medical system such that when she eventually got help, she was told she’d permanently lost vision in her left eye and the golden window of 2 hours had been long missed.
This young woman spoke of her devastation, the financial strain of the weeks since seeking medical advice and ultimately needing to see lawyers to determine a settlement.
It’s devastating no doubt, and this is the side of medical tourism that no one talks about but which we should be talking about a lot more.
Some key take home messages.
- Just because a new drug has “no reported (catastrophic) side effects” yet… doesn’t mean it won’t. The single biggest risk factor for a drug is the person prescribing it and using it.
- I see videos of people travelling to Korea regularly and comparing prices there as opposed to back home because it’s “so much cheaper”. This is a logical fallacy in many ways, because most of us would not dream of travelling without travel insurance for example, but gambling with our faces is seen to be lower risk.
- I have medical peers I don’t personally know & have never met DM me asking for advice on what treatments they should have while on holiday overseas. Equally, social media groups abound of health professionals asking what aesthetic treatments are in vogue for their trips to Korea especially.
To me this is not only wild but also frightening.
This casual attitude suggests that we have all been sucked into this idea that medical aesthetics, which is procedural medicine, should be fun, cheap and easy with no side effects.
It’s a trap.
As with all drugs there’s always a possibility of something dire occurring. Why?
- These procedures are done blind ie based on feel & so are heavily reliant on the person doing them – their (years of) experience as well as their safety protocols if any.
- Travelling to a foreign country where you don’t speak the language nor know the system means that you cannot effectively determine the true experience of the person injecting you, only what they choose to show you on their social media pages.
- If something does go wrong, and you communicate this, is there a guarantee they’ll understand? When we are panicked, we may communicate less than effectively. Equally, they may see the panic as overreacting, or be panicked themselves and minimise your concerns, especially if there is no plan in place for emergencies.
- ALL drugs and devices have risks without exception. We prescribe these for you based on the belief that the benefits outweigh the risks in safe and qualified hands, but when you don’t know how to assess for safety, you are left to choose based on price and social media hype.
I’m saddened this woman choose to go overseas for injectables but many people do. This behaviour is normalised because it’s cheaper in Korea including among doctors here in Australia who often crowdsource what they should do while overseas. The assumption usually is, “it won’t happen to me” and “it’s me time” while on holiday.
I’m equally horrified the doctor in Korea didn’t stop and begin emergency protocol when Esther complained & that there was no followup offered for her. This is basic emergency care.
There’s a flood of inexperienced, barely qualified doctors, nurses and dentists entering aesthetics because our healthcare system is soul destroying and aesthetics, with minimal to no regulations, is seen as an easy and fun way to make money.
It is then, sad and unfortunate that in hindsight Esther went to Korea to have cheaper work only to end up spending a significant amount of time, energy and money to try and get answers and to end up jeopardising her livelihood as a designer and ceramic artist in the process.
I know the glitz and glam of medical aesthetics and cheap treatments can be tempting.
I always think if something goes wrong I want to be somewhere I can reach *my* doctor that I have a longterm trusted relationship with; they understand the issue; we speak the same language and I can navigate the medical system if the worst does happen.
As my 19 yo dtr says to her friends, “It’s your face and you only get one. So pay the extra to get it done safely.”
Get it right first time, barring unexpected problems.
Regret at choosing cheap isn’t worth it when something goes wrong.