Annecdotally local specialists say they are seeing increasing numbers of patients coming to them to have work corrected that was performed overseas.

Canberra plastic surgeon Tony Tonks has already performed corrective operations on six women whose surgeries in Bali and Thailand were botched.

“Major deformities basically, horrendous major deformities of face and body come out of these places- it’s bad surgical technique,’’ he said.

Dr Tonks said the quality of surgery offered in Thailand and Asia was improving, but the number of men and women seeking cheaper options was also on the rise.

‘‘It was worse 15 years ago but now there are a lot more women going and the problem with it is that they think it’s going to be a holiday but it’s major surgery so they are not going to be able to go out socialising and doing the things you would normally expect on holiday.’’

Dr Tonks advises his Australian clients not to travel to the tropics for two-week post surgery.

‘‘Some of them are not actually bad surgeons but women should consider that this is major surgery and that international travel is not usually recommended and that there is increased risk of complications, particularly for bleeding, infection and clotting.

‘‘Travel can exacerbate wounds and also in a tropical environment wound infection is more common.’’

President of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons Geoff Lyons said cosmetic tourism was increasing even though it was difficult to get accurate figures on the rise.

‘‘We think think the figure is in the order of 25 to 30 per cent of all breast augmentation is going on overseas,’’ he said.

‘‘Increasing there is also more dental. The figures are soft but there is certainly an increase in the number of patients going for this cosmetic tourism and anecdotally we are seeing more people presenting at public hospitals or at private clinics with complications associated with surgery overseas.’’

He said often women spend more time choosing whitegoods than vetting a surgeon who would be performing life threatening surgery.

‘‘The dangers are the dangers of any surgery, cosmetic surgery is advertised as low risk and people think that’s no risk.’’

General anesthethesia, without surgery has a mortality rate of 1 in 100,000.

‘‘The continuity of what we would consider appropriate medical care is interrupted and curtailed and that can potentially lead to problems, infections, hematoma, wound problems, wound breakdown.’’

He said in some case surgical standards were lower and clinics that performed surgery were no appropriately accredited.

‘‘If people are considering this surgery they need to do their homework, they need to spend some time finding out who will be doing the surgery, what their qualifications are, are they appropriately trained and what’s the level of post-operative care. Is the nursing staff trained to a standard that we would consider appropriate? Is the facility accredited?’’

Breast augmentation
Australia $5990 to $10,900
Thailand $4,690 including accommodation

Rhinoplasty
Australia $5000-$15,000
Thailand $2860 to $5900 including surgery, 1 night hospital stay, 9 nights accommodation

Tummy Tuck
Australia $7900
Thailand Yummy mummy package $7540 includes breast implants + tummy tuck, five nights in hospital and nine nights accommodation.