Lipotourism

Every so often we see a patient who has traveled to another country for the purpose of having a cosmetic procedure preformed. They are usually quite proud of getting a bargain compared to US prices, and at times are willing to overlook what would be considered by most people to be unacceptable results. Apparently the number of people going this route is increasing.

Several years ago we saw a woman who had a facelift and body liposuction performed in Central America. She had a very large scar running transversely across her neck. It looked as though someone had tried to cut her throat. The skin above the scar, extending to her jaw, was tight, while the skin below the scar was loose. I asked her how this occurred and she said that during the procedure the surgeon had been unable to get her neck skin tight enough, so he had made the incision across her neck and cut out the loose skin. She was quite happy with the outcome and especially with the bargain price.
In a recent article in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases the Centers for Disease Control reported a series of 20 patients who had undergone cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic, and had developed skin infections with an unusual organism, Mycobacterium abscessus, an organism related to the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. All the patients had abdominoplasty, and some also had liposuction and/or breast reduction or augmentation.
The symptoms began 2 to 18 weeks after the surgery, and presented as skin abscesses. This was after the patients were back in the US. All the patients required prolonged courses of antibiotics and those who received breast implants had to have them removed.
It's important to remember that standards across the world are not necessarily the same as those in the US, and that it's important to choose a cosmetic surgeon who has both the knowledge and the ability to take care of a problem should it develop.

Gerald N. Bock MD
California Skin & Laser Center
Stockton & Lodi, CA