Dozens of Israelis have reported suffering medical complications after flocking to Turkey to undergo cheap cosmetic procedures such as plastic surgery and lap bands.
Israeli surgeons claim that the complications stem from a failure to carry out preliminary tests and a lack of subsequent evaluation.
It appears that the motivation for all Israelis to travel to Turkey for the procedure is the low cost and short wait times.
“I traveled with a few girls in September to get gastric band surgery,” said Maya Abu Aziz, 47. “In Israel, the surgery takes time and you have to meet certain conditions. In Turkey we paid 20,000 NIS, but here you end up paying 60,000 NIS for a private operation.”
“A few hours after the operation, I was discharged without any tests or instructions on what to do next,” she said.
Upon returning to Israel, Abu Aziz began suffering from fever and shivers, and when he went to the hospital, it was discovered he had fluid in his stomach, a very dangerous complication.
“I was on the brink of death,” she recalled. “I had surgery and was under anesthesia for about seven weeks. I had serious complications. The moral of this story is, don’t do surgery. I’m still in pain.”
The doctors who treated her claimed that she had not undergone the necessary preliminary tests before the operation, putting her life at risk. It appears that cases like Abu Aziz’s have been on the rise among doctors in recent years, of Israelis returning home with serious complications after undergoing surgery in Turkey.
“These are very serious complications when it comes to any cosmetic surgery, whether it’s the abdomen, eyes or eyelids,” says Dr Jacob Fran, head of plastic surgery at The Wolfson Hospital. “We also see serious infections with bacteria that are resistant to most types of antibiotics.”
