Thousands of Irish people traveling to Turkey for cosmetic surgery have been warned not to have stomach injections.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control has issued an alert over an increase in poisonings over the past few weeks.
The ECDC urges people not to travel to Turkey to receive stomach injections Credit: Getty – Contributor The treatment is used by many to combat obesity Credit: Getty Images – Getty
The gastric botulinum toxin class of treatments has been linked to dozens of botulism cases linked to private clinics in Istanbul and Izmir.
Botulism is caused by a toxin that attacks the body’s nerves and can cause life-threatening symptoms.
In the past three weeks, 67 cases of poisoning linked to intragastric injections have been confirmed across Europe.
Symptoms can range from mild to severe, and some people may require medical help.
As of today, there are no known cases reported in Ireland.
Dr. Carl Neff, an endocrinologist and obesity physician at St. Vincent Healthcare Group, said the procedure is not a proven treatment for obesity.
He said that although this is a new intervention, he is warning people against the procedure, which could be deadly.
Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland, he said: “There are various ways to treat obesity, and this one attempts to paralyze the stomach.
“The stomach is a muscular sac, and when it’s working properly and you eat, it normally contracts to squeeze out the food, stir it, and force it into your intestines.
“What happens is your stomach doesn’t contract, so you feel full faster when you’re eating.
“That’s the theory, but as I said, it’s not a proven treatment, it’s not something we would recommend, it’s not something we offer in Ireland or in the public sector.”
Dr Neff added that obesity treatments get a lot of attention because of misleading advertising.
He added: “And certainly people need to be very careful when considering these interventions.
“When something is too good to be true, I always tell people, it probably is.
“And if you go to a clinic to get one of these treatments and you’re told all the good and nothing bad, they haven’t told you everything. .”
He added that the ECDC had found a spike in botulism cases, which he said could be food poisoning.
He urged people not to undergo the treatment as it can paralyze muscles and respiratory muscles.
Read more about Irish Sun
In severe cases, you may need to be put on a ventilator to help you breathe.
He said this could be fatal and the treatment was dangerous because it could affect the nerves and cause paralysis of the muscles in the limbs, face and throat.
