Skin care and beauty products have gained prominence in recent years; now the demand for plastic surgeons and cosmetic surgery is rising in Africa.

Currently Africa has about 600 plastic surgeons with Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Libya leading. Kenya and Uganda have seven plastic surgeons each, Sudan has four, and Tanzania and Rwanda have none.

According to the Kenya Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons chairman Dr Bernard Githae, the high demand for plastic surgeons locally has forced them to establish a curriculum for training institutions in the country.

“Kenya has been sending students who aspire to be plastic surgeons to South Africa but in the next two years we will be opening a training institution for plastic surgeons,” says Githae.

There are less that 50 plastic surgery institutions in Africa and they are mostly in South Africa, Egypt and Libya.

Recently, a Pan-African congress of plastic and reconstructive surgery was held in Nairobi to discuss new techniques and highlights on plastic surgery.

According to Prof Ahmed Adel nor El-Din, chairman of Pan African International Confederation for Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, the demand in Africa used to be mainly for reconstructive surgery, but now there is an even higher demand for cosmetic surgery.

“This has seen the number of plastic surgeons in Africa increase,” says Ahmed, adding that they are hoping to double the number of plastic surgeons in the next 10 years.

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[Source: The East African]