Would you go abroad for surgery?

[Corporatemum]

I have researched this clinic for months in Poland amazing reviews no deaths and brilliant infection rate very very low. I’ve had a consultation with the doctor who made me feel so at ease.

However I have a fear of dying and leaving my kids behind. I would still have the same fear here in the UK. But at least I know they won’t have to fly my body back.

I would be having a tummy tuck and breast up lift and would stay out there for a 7-10 days then fly home. I appreciate that when I come home there is pretty much no aftercare so if anything goes wrong I would have to rely on the NHS or fly back to Poland if I was well enough.

The price.

My surgery was 2500 abroad. 11k here.

After 3/4 years I saved 2.5k. If I had to save to 11k I wouldn't have been able to do it.

Yes I would and I have.

There's no way I'd voluntarily have surgery in the UK to be honest. Standards are almost third world, as those of us who have had surgery abroad can testify to.

Thanks I’ve joined! I’ve considered noords but I’m hoping to book with fi clinica if I can sum up the courage.

Well how about childless people having their taxes pay for education?

Or non-smokers having to fund the NHS for smoking related health issues.

No way......your kids don't care what your tummy and boobs look like, they just want their mum there to love them!

Cosmetic surgery means risking dying and leaving your kids behind. I couldn't do that even in this country.

Well that's really not what the OP asked is it.

It really pisses me off, every thread on this subject is filled with judgy types. Nobody cares!

No I wouldn't I'd be too much of a scaredy cat.
My sister had though - tummy tuck, lipo, boobs and eyebags in Belgium. (Not all at the same time)

Tbh I think she's suffering from body dysmorphia but that's a whole other thread.

No. I know someone who had the same operations in Turkey, despite all the amazing reviews she was extremely unwell on returning to the UK, too unwell to fly home really, and has never properly recovered.
I think she’s happy with how she looks now but it definitely wasn’t worth it for the stress on her body.

No way would I be doing that. What’s wrong with your body the way it is?

No. I work in the NHS and it's incredible how many botched operations or complications have to be fixed after people have been abroad for surgery.

I only know my Aunty who had messed up Turkey teeth, she looks like she’s got no teeth at all when she closes her mouth!!!!

I couldn’t have elective surgery abroad, you can often get payment plans in the UK, interest free?

I do. I go abroad twice a year to get lipoedema fat taken off me. Literally can't get the surgery in the UK at my size. However my choice is get the surgery to roll back the progress of this unrelenting disease or to end up in a wheelchair. That's a different decision . I spend months trying to get as fit as possible so my risks of complications are lower. Abroad is not necessarily bad.

I know a nurse who says so many people having surgery abroad end up on her ward after botched operations
For me personally I just wouldn't consider it

You won't get any aftercare on the NHS, other than emergency care, so you'll have to factor in whatever follow-up appointments you need in the private sector. As a GP I see a lot of things go wrong for this sort of thing abroad and have to say I'd inwardly judge someone with young kids who depended on her who was taking that risk for cosmetic reasons.

of course all the amazing reviews are true, none of them are made up, and you've independently verified their low infection rates? No, I didn't think so.

If my life depended on it? Yes.

For a tummy tuck and a boob job...? Hell no!

Women I have met.

1. Gastric sleeve, serious infection, no help from Polish surgeon ( operated in Morocco) serious life threatening infection, saved by French (home base) care

1. Boob lift again in Morocco, butchered. & infection. Has just had to have a reconstruction (in France again) alot better but will never be symmetric & potentially pain free.

Both women had asked around, & "done the research"

yes 'done the research' = looked at the clinic's website.

No and definitely not for cosmetic surgery.
Besides If something goes wrong the already under resourced NHS would have to pick up the pieces.

No. Not in a million years for a cosmetic procedure.
The only reason I'd go abroad for surgery would be if I had some rare and serious condition which could only be treated by some pioneering hospital overseas.

No. Alone abroad for up to 2 weeks, alone on the flight home. I know I wouldn’t.

I had mine in the UK. Went home the next day; struggled to walk at all for the first week, the first three/four days were incredibly painful/ exhausting/debilitating. I slept sitting up on the couch.

At about ten days my wound got infected; it was scary and ugly and painful and messy. I went back to the clinic every three days for about a month getting dressings changed and cultures taken. The staff called me on the other days to check I wasn't developing sepsis or to give me advice they'd found from other doctors as the standards treatments were taking so long to work.

I didn't need NHS help and thank god - by the time I'd been seen and got the level of intervention required it would have been an ambulance job I think.

That's why I said no, I wouldn't go abroad. The aftercare is as important as any other part of the process and you might need very dedicated people on hand.

It's not an incidental operation; my scar goes right round my back. It's a lot. Don't take it lightly.

Yes of course. People think wrongly that the UK has the best treatments... years of propaganda have worked .

Of course some operations go horribly wrong abroad just as they do in the uk. Do your research well

I have done. I spent roughly 3 years properly researching a number of surgeons and the one that I wanted just happened to be abroad. It wasn't a cost issue (and didn't cost that much less than having it here with everything considered), it was very much a surgeon led decision.

I'll want to have some plastics next year and I'm looking at a surgeon near home for that. Again, not for any cost reasons but I especially like her work and her stats are solid.

I had a breast reduction in Spain, very happy, but I live in Spain. Aftercare excellent.

I would not go to Poland for cosmetic surgery.