Cargando…
Asistente automático con IA (DeepSeek): no escribas datos de salud ni de contacto. No damos consejo médico — la decisión es tuya y de tu médico.
A European survey answered by 250 board-certified plastic surgeons found that 89% had managed complications of procedures performed abroad in the preceding five years, mainly from abdominoplasty, breast augmentation, and liposuction. Surgeons cited cost as the most common patient motivation, and the European Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (ESPRAS) proposes a four-pillar framework as the basis of a coordinated European response.
Demand for aesthetic surgery has risen rapidly, and with it cross-border travel for surgery; according to the authors, this is increasingly burdening European health systems with imported complications. The European Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (ESPRAS) distributed an anonymous online questionnaire to its member national societies between December 2025 and February 2026. Two hundred and fifty board-certified plastic surgeons from 36 countries responded. Among the procedures these surgeons perform for international patients, the most common were breast augmentation, breast reduction/mastopexy, and abdominoplasty.
Eighty-nine percent of respondents had managed complications of procedures performed abroad in the preceding five years. Most came from abdominoplasty, breast augmentation, and liposuction, and the most frequent problems were wound dehiscence/necrosis and infection. Cost was the most often cited primary motivation for patients (49.8%). Board certification was identified by 79.2% of respondents as the single most important verification criterion, and 77.2% identified profit prioritisation over patient safety as the principal facilitator-related risk.
Surgeons describe a fragmented landscape in which a regulated core coexists with an unregulated commercial periphery. The most frequently endorsed policy priorities were mandatory international qualification standards (35.6%) and stricter facilitator regulation (23.6%). ESPRAS proposes a four-pillar framework as the basis of a coordinated European response: public surgeon registries, facility and facilitator accreditation, mandatory complication insurance, and harmonised European patient- and surgeon-facing guidelines.
If you are considering surgery outside your home country, these are the points the surveyed surgeons themselves highlight: check that the surgeon is board-certified, confirm that the clinic and the facilitator are accredited, ask whether there is insurance covering complications, and clarify who will manage a possible complication once you are back home.
This content summarizes scientific publications and professional-society guidelines; it does not replace your surgeon's or anesthesiologist's evaluation. Every item links its original source.