South Africa, Brazil, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Thailand are all common destinations for those looking to undergo plastic surgery but cannot afford the U.S. prices. And now, South Korea is becoming a popular medical tourism destination as well.
According to USA Today, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) reports the country is expecting more than 150,000 medical tourists in 2012. That's an increase from the 120,000 in 2011 and the 82,000 in 2010. A large majority of these foreigners are seeking plastic surgeries including breast augmentation surgery, liposuction and facelifts.
Business is so good that the KTO is estimating as many as 300,000 medical tourists will visit South Korea in 2015, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Americans make up about a third of medical tourists visiting the country. However, residents of other countries including Russia, Mongolia, Hong Kong and Vietnam are also common medical tourists.
The city of Seoul is among one of the hot spots for tourists seeking plastic surgeries. USA Today reports that the city is known as the "Beauty Belt" because it is home to more than 200 state-of-the-art plastic surgery clinics.
The newspaper reports that the plastic surgery prices at one well-known South Korean hospital are approximately one-third less expensive than in the United States.
Individuals looking for information on various hospitals and clinics in a given country can easily find it, thanks to the internet. Before long, many will book a trip to an exotic destination and look forward to the savings they'll enjoy to transform their physical appearance.
However, while the affordability of procedures performed abroad is the main reason many choose to become medical tourists, experts say individuals need to take some things into consideration before traveling outside of the U.S. for surgery.
"It really is scary to me that someone would get on an airplane and fly to a foreign country where there's no resort to help if there's a problem," an American plastic surgeon told Dateline NBC regarding plastic surgery tourism.
While there are no statistics available about problems arising from plastic surgeries performed outside of the U.S., complications such as serious infections and even death are not unheard of, according to The Huffington Post.
No matter where you decide to have a plastic surgery procedure, experts advise researching your physician's credentials and asking a lot of questions before going under the knife.
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