Cosmetic Tourism: a Costly Filler Within the National Health Service Budget or a Missed Financial Opportunity? A Local Cost Analysis and Examination of the Literature.

Abstract

Cosmetic tourism is a global commodity, but patients seeking treatment for complications of international cosmetic tourism appear to be on the rise. We calculate the financial burden to a single NHS trust and summarise the literature, reviewing the implications of cosmetic tourism and summarising available guidance to assist surgeons in this ethically challenging, but expanding, field. Hospital episodes for patients with complications from cosmetic tourism between January 2016 and March 2017 were retrieved using the patient management system. The coding department provided the episode costs. A literature search was conducted using Medline, EMBASE and HBE identifying 273 English abstracts. The abstracts were reviewed for relevance followed by assessment of the 48 selected full articles by all authors and 17 papers contained relevant, new information. Eleven patients underwent management for complications of cosmetic surgery, most commonly infection, with a sum of 29 inpatient episodes and total cost of £259,732. Our study illustrates the management of complications of cosmetic surgery carries a high cost. This is not an experience limited to just this trust in the UK. Internationally, healthcare systems are evolving to raise the safety profile for cosmetic tourists, some going the extra mile to accommodate healthcare tourists, reaping the financial reward. Following the examination of the literature, we query whether NHS trusts should heighten their presence as providers of private services on the international market, eliminating numerous medical-ethic concerns associated with substandard cosmetic tourism. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.