Cosmetic surgery isn’t trivial, it’s dangerous.
Imagine you are thinking about getting a boob job. A Google search takes you to a sleek website like The Cosmetic Institute which advertises a long list of procedures ranging from breast augmentation and liposuction to ‘vaginal rejuvenation’. You might flick through their galleries, or even their Facebook page, to get a feel for the sorts of results they achieve.
Maybe you will be tempted to click on the finance option to explore whether you could get a procedure without spending a cent upfront.
Assuming you like everything you see, would you click on the tab to see their “surgeons”? And, if you did, when you scrolled through the list of names and bios would you check out their qualifications?
If they were listed as a “cosmetic surgeon”, you’d expect them to be a trained surgeon, wouldn’t you? You’d surely be very surprised if the ‘cosmetic surgeon’ actually had no surgical qualifications at all?
How about if you found out the procedure would take place in a facility not subject to the same standards as hospitals and day-procedure centres?
How would you feel knowing you would be sedated without your airways being protected as is required with a general anaesthetic? Would you be surprised to discover that the safety of ‘light sedation’ as listed on the website, is considered a dangerous anomaly by the peak body for plastic surgeons?
These are little known facts about cosmetic surgery in 2015 that the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) say pose an unacceptable risk to patient safety.
Top Comments
The Cosmetic Institute now performs all surgeries at Concord Private Hospital, with the option of general or twilight sedation. The surgeons have all been trained by a fully qualified plastic surgeon. With the amount of surgeries they have done they are bound to have some complications. Dr Victor Lee is also from Perth and worked at RPH with the breast cancer association, people just need to do their research and come out with their own decision. I personally cannot fault anything from The Cosmetic Institute or Concord Private Hospital, I had a wonderful experience and my surgeon made me feel extremely calm and important. The media constantly hates on companies..
Doctors without a FRACS have always performed simple surgical procedures such as appendicectomies, tonsillectomies etc. in areas of need. This is now rare in this country although I believe they may still be able to if they can demonstrate an "adequate" level of training. This is a big issue in my area of training anaesthesia. I routinely see general practitioners anaesthetise patients for major cosmetic/plastic surgery (and other major elective surgery such as joint replacements). They do not inform patients that they are not specialist anaesthetists.
If these patients were not looked after by a specialist anaesthetist the outcome may have been much worse. The cosmetic institute specifically states that the anaesthetist was a specialist and I think this was definitely intentional. Doctors practicing outside their scope of practice is common in this country. Fortunately serious adverse outcomes are rare.