The final report for the ESRC-funded 'Sun,
Sea, Sand and Silicone Aesthetic Surgery Tourism' project, led by Prof Ruth Holliday (University of Leeds, UK), is now
available online. Check out: https://www.academia.edu/7768861/Sun_Sea_Sand_and_Silicone_Mapping_Cosmetic_Surgery_Tourism_-_Final_Report
Executive
Summary:
This multi-site, mixed methods project charted the experiences of British,
Chinese and Australian patients travelling abroad for cosmetic surgery.
Cosmetic surgery tourism is a fast developing industry that incorporates novel
forms of labour and organisational structures
that cross national boundaries, as well as drawing together pre-existing medical and tourism infrastructure.
While medical tourism has often been characterised as wealthy patients from the global south travelling to the
global north for high quality medical
treatment unavailable at home, cosmetic surgery patients often travel from global north to global south, but these
patients are on modest incomes. Despite this they can sometimes access upmarket
private hospitals beyond their reach back home,
made possible by favourable currency rates, cheap flights and lower labour
costs outside the richest countries in the world.UK and Australian patients travelled for surgeries that were popular back home – such as breast augmentation and uplift,
‘tummy tuck’,rhinoplasty and
liposuction. Others travel regionally, for example within Europe, often also
motivated by cost savings.
There are important exceptions to this pattern:
Chinese patients travelling to South Korea access more expensive but high quality
cosmetic surgery unavailable back home. Here patients from abroad often seek
particular types of surgery prevalent amongst South Koreans, for example eye or
jawbone surgery, or high tech surgery, such as breast augmentation using the
patient’s own fat and stem cells. Patients therefore travel from global north
to global south, across regional borders, and many are also ex-patriates. UK
patients in Spain were most usually already living in Southern Spain
or Gibraltar.
Monitoring the movements of cosmetic surgery tourists is important
in predicting health tourism in the future. As public healthcare systems are
increasingly squeezed, patients become consumers in search of cut price
procedures, taking on the risks of the choices they make. This research aimed
to broaden understandings of surgical tourist experiences, the organisations
involved, and the implications for globalized healthcare organised around
consumption and markets.
