Foreign surgeons are touring Britain recommending women get boob jobs and bum lifts abroad — despite them not being allowed to carry out ops in the UK, MailOnline can reveal.
Medics from Turkey — which campaigners brand the ‘capital of butchery’ — are now holding ‘roadshows’ to encourage self-conscious Brits to get tummy tucks and other procedures there.
Despite advising Britons on medical procedures, they don’t have to be registered in Britain.
Campaigners claim foreign surgeons are exploiting this ‘crazy’ loophole and treating the UK as a ‘honey pot’, with patients wrongly assuming that they are under the same protections as when they visit their family GP.
Victims of botched operations and NHS cosmetic surgeons left to pick up the pieces and MPs are now demanding the Government acts immediately given the catalogue of extra risks attached to cut-price surgery.
They want any doctor who holds these kind of consultations or patient roadshows in the UK be forced to get registered or face penalties, regardless of where they live.
This would mean internationally registered surgeons are held to the same standards as British doctors and the public would be better protected from unethical or unsafe operators, they argue.
For decades, Britons have been warned against seeking cheaper surgery in places like Turkey, Eastern Europe, or South East Asia.
Cosmetic procedures in Turkey often go at bargain basement prices compared to their British counterparts.
Turkey and UK prices have been sourced from multiple websites (model is a stock image)
Dawn Knight, who has campaigned against poor practises in cosmetic surgery, said the ‘crazy’ loophole allows overseas medics to treat the UK as a honeypot
Some victims of botched surgeries abroad have bravely told their stories to the MailOnline and paid tribute to the NHS staff that have treated them
Dozens have required corrective surgery upon return to the UK, costing the taxpayer millions and taking up precious NHS resources.
And at least 20 Brits have died in Turkey alone following surgery, including mother-of-three Leah Cambridge who had a botched Brazilian Bum Lift in 2018.
Some surgeons in the country will perform procedures deemed too dangerous or unethical in Britain. Others will skimp on aftercare, according to campaigners, which can leave patients vulnerable to dangerous complications.
Yet despite all the warnings, the industry has continued to boom, with hundreds of medical tourism agencies now promising boob jobs and liposuctions thousands of pounds cheaper than UK providers.
Turkey is not inherently more dangerous than other surgical tourism hotspots.
But cheap flights between it and the UK — as well as the rise of the trend combining cosmetic plastic surgery Essay Topics with a holiday — have made it one of the leading destinations for Britons looking to go under the knife.
In 2016 alone, almost 12,000 Britons flew to out to Turkey for medical care, making it one of the most popular destinations.
This includes procedures promising to help them lose weight, or give them a BBL.
Some UK-based medical tourism agencies have flown in surgeons to meet women concerned about their appearance and get them to agree to have procedures done in cities like Istanbul.
Here, MailOnline details some of the most striking differences in some cosmetic procedures in UK and Turkey
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS health" data-version="2" id="mol-0af149e0-6760-11ed-8170-4f985c45d9ee" website of foreign doctors exploiting 'crazy' loophole in the UK
