ArticleAesthetic plastic surgery2025
Mending a World of Problems: 12-Year Review of Medical Tourism Inbound Complications in a Tertiary Centre.
Article in Aesthetic plastic surgery, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMedical tourism is a rapidly expanding multi-billion-dollar industry. Reduced costs, all-inclusive vacation packages that include cosmetic surgery, globalization, and affordable flight expenses have encouraged patients to seek aesthetic procedures in different countries. Cosmetic medical tourism is associated with high complication rates, such as severe infections, wound dehiscence, pain or discomfort, aesthetic dissatisfaction, and even death. PATIENTS AND
methodsA twelve-year survey of medical records was conducted using ADAMS healthcare database software. Data regarding patient demographics, the country of the original procedure, the operation type, complications, and subsequent treatment were recorded.
resultsFifty-six patients have been admitted to the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. The youngest patient was 18, and the oldest was 65, with an average age of 37.46. The majority were females (n = 51, 91.07%). The most common procedure was liposuction (n = 40), followed by abdominoplasty (38). Only eleven patients had a single procedure while travelling; on average, they had 2.34 procedures in a single trip. Patients presented with an average POD of 30.9. The most common complaint was dehiscence at the surgical site. Eleven patients required re-operation. The average hospitalization length in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department was 4.4 days.
conclusionsMedical tourism has a positive impact on patients and caregivers alike. However, the combination of multiple procedures in a short time, relatively short follow-up, different microbial environments, and more led to substantial complications, which had a devastating effect on many patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE III: 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 .
Indexed as
Identifiers
39870928What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.