“I’ve wanted to have a nose job since I was 13. I heard that doctors in Turkey are very good at nose jobs. Several of my friends have had similar surgeries and were very satisfied with them.”
Benita Paroja, a 28-year-old woman from the United States, said she had flown to Turkey to get cosmetic surgery on her nose, just like her friends, and paid just $5,000 (4,600 euros) and was able to return home a week later.
Ms Paroja, who works in finance and also works part-time as a model, is glad she had the surgery and says she now feels more confident and has landed more modelling jobs.
She also fondly recalls the comprehensive care she received at the clinic, and says she still keeps in contact with the medical team. “I could have had the same surgery in the US for $30,000 (€27,800), but I wouldn’t have received the attention and care I received in Turkey,” she says.
Turkey has seen a surge in medical tourism since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Turkey’s state-run International Health Service (USHAS), more than 670,000 foreigners visited Turkey to receive treatment in 2021. A year later, the number exceeded 1.25 million, an increase of 88%. In the first six months of 2023, the figures remained at a similarly high level.
Benita Paroja is very happy with her nose job. Image: privat
Turkish medical facilities generate significant revenue from this international business, totaling more than $2 billion (1.85 billion euros) in 2022. Revenues fell slightly in the first half of 2023, but experts believe this is mainly due to Turkey’s devastating earthquake in February, which claimed more than 50,000 lives.
Germans on top
According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), most foreigners who sought medical care in Turkey in 2022 were from Germany, followed by the UK and Switzerland. The most popular non-surgical procedures among foreigners in Turkey were Botox and hyaluronic acid treatments for wrinkle reduction. The top three surgical procedures were liposuction, rhinoplasty and breast augmentation.
Turkey is also becoming increasingly attractive for leg-lengthening surgery, especially among Western men who want to grow taller.
One such patient is Ash (not his real name), a 31-year-old from the US who, until recently, was unhappy with the shape of his body. After the operation, he grew 12 centimetres (4.7 inches) and is now 184cm (just over six feet).
Ash says he feels much better now, but acknowledges that “the surgery was very painful and the recovery period was incredibly long.” Still, Ash says it was worth it. He says he has more opportunities to woo people and is now more respected by others.
Suffering for Beauty
Yunus Ok, a veteran Istanbul-based orthopedic surgeon, says he has performed more than 200 leg-lengthening surgeries in the past two years alone.
“Until now, I’ve mainly performed this surgery for medical reasons after accidents, growth disorders, short stature, etc.,” Ok said, but in recent years, he said, he has seen more people coming to him for cosmetic rather than medical reasons.
He believes the number of such operations will continue to grow over the next three to five years, but warns that unlike nose or breast surgery, leg-lengthening procedures can have very serious consequences if the desired results are not achieved.
There have been increasing reports of complications from cosmetic surgery in Turkey. A year ago, Germany’s Robert Koch Institute reported that some 27 people had become poisoned after undergoing Botox stomach treatments, in which Botox is injected into the stomach lining to make people feel fuller for longer. The treatment caused serious side effects in some patients, including muscle weakness, loss of vision, difficulty breathing and sometimes paralysis.
Body modification – dangerous beauty trends
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In mid-January, a Brazilian butt lift procedure proved fatal for a British woman. British media reported that the mother of three had traveled to Istanbul for cosmetic surgery and suffered a fatal heart attack caused by fat embolism four days later. The procedure involves removing fat from the patient’s body and using it to plump up and enlarge the buttocks.
Experts urge caution
Do incidents like this show that Turkish doctors and clinics are not sufficiently professional?
Dr Susanne Pansmann, an expert at the Consumer Advice Centre in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, advises against generalising, saying “there is both good and bad to it”. [health care] The facilities are well developed in Turkey, just like in other parts of the country.”
Punsuman noted that the title “cosmetic surgeon” is not protected by law and recommended that people interested in undergoing treatment in Turkey thoroughly check the doctor’s qualifications or find out how often he or she has performed the proposed procedure before.
Pansman also said that doctors with the relevant qualifications are known as “specialists in plastic and cosmetic surgery.” However, she added that “other doctors, usually surgeons, dermatologists, or gynecologists, are also recognized to perform cosmetic surgery.”
Turkish clinics use advertising and very competitive prices to attract more customers. Image: Jens Schierenbeck/dpa Themendienst/picture alliance
It’s also important to check whether the doctor or clinic is accredited according to European standards, such as ISO standards, and whether the clinic is regularly inspected, she says. Punsman says patients should also look into the materials and laboratories used.
Ali Ihsan Okten of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) said people should be wary of uncertified clinics, and warned that the boom in health tourism was leading to increased commercialisation of the healthcare industry.
The market is highly competitive, with clinics using aggressive advertising strategies, sending text and WhatsApp messages advertising low prices and attracting customers from all over the world.
“Low cost is often an important criterion when seeking treatment in Turkey,” Pansman said. “You can save up to 70 percent.”
She said breast implants in Germany cost at least 4,500 euros ($4,800), but in Turkey they can be had for just 2,500 euros ($2,700). In Düsseldorf, Germany, a tummy tuck would cost around 12,500 euros ($13,400), but in Turkey it would cost a third of that.
This means significant savings on procedures that are particularly expensive in Turkey, but for some, these savings may make them more willing to take greater risks.
This article was translated from German
