Medical tourism is a very hotโ€”and controversialโ€”topic, and one country has emerged as a popular destination for plastic surgery: Turkey. But is undergoing plastic surgery in Turkey safe? Vice investigates.

Turkey has become a hotspot forย medical tourismย in recent years, attracting nearlyย 600,000 peopleย for health services in the first half of 2022, according to the website of USHAลž, a Turkish state owned healthcare company. Theย International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeryย ranks Turkey among the top 10 countries performing the most popular aesthetic surgeries, including breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, tummy tuck procedures, liposuction and rhinoplasty. Turkey also ranks fifth for the total number of aesthetic procedures carried out in 2020, at just short of 950,000.ย 

Earlier this year, the British governmentย updatedย its travelย advice to say they were aware of 20 British nationals who had died following medical visits to Turkey since January 2019. The medical tourism industry is not internationally regulated, so there is little comparative data available on the rates of post-procedure complications in different countries.

Read the full article on Vice.