SynthesisAesthetic plastic surgery2023
Complications of Aesthetic Surgical Tourism Treated in the USA: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Aesthetic plastic surgery, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Litigation and Complications Arising from Aesthetic Body Surgery: A Systematic Review.Aesthetic plastic surgery · 2026Pooled it
- Integrating natural non-pharmaceutical therapies into medical tourism: a dynamic health portrait-driven model for proactive older adult health and public health services.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Aesthetic surgery complications in private practice settings: Insights to optimize patient access and outcomes.JPRAS open · 2026Article
- The Impact of Overseas Cosmetic Tourism on the Australian Public Hospital System.ANZ journal of surgery · 2026Article
- Ethical considerations regarding medical tourism in Iran: a qualitative study.Journal of medical ethics and history of medicine · 2026Article
- Epidemiological and Economic Factors in Facelift Surgery in the USA: A Retrospective Multi-center Analysis.Aesthetic plastic surgery · 2026Article
- Cosmetic Tourism: A Cost-utility Analysis of Abdominoplasty Performed in the United States and Abroad.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2025Article
- Ethics in Global Plastic Surgery Missions.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2024Article
- Using Microeconomic Spending Traits to Inform Trends in Utilization of Cosmetic Procedures by Race and Ethnicity.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2024Article
- Silicone Embolism Syndrome Causing Altered Mental Status and Respiratory Failure After an Unlicensed Gluteal Silicone Injection: A Case Report.Clinical practice and cases in emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Deaths of U.S. Citizens Undergoing Cosmetic Surgery - Dominican Republic, 2009-2022.MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report · 2024Article
- Unintended Souvenirs: Case Report of a Retained Foreign Body During Cosmetic Surgery Tourism.Aesthetic surgery journal. Open forum · 2024Article
- Plastic Surgery Tourism: Complications, Costs, and Unnecessary Spending?Aesthetic surgery journal. Open forum · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMedical tourism has grown increasingly popular in the past few decades. Cosmetic surgery centers have developed in vacation locales, offering procedures at lower prices. However, surgeons and patients alike are often unprepared for management of complications after patients return to the USA. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of US cosmetic surgery tourism patients and the complications faced by US healthcare providers.
methodsA systematic review was performed using the Web of Science, Cochrane, Embase, Scopus, and PubMed databases up to February 2022; included articles were full-text, English language, and reported complications of patients receiving postoperative care in the USA after cosmetic surgery abroad. Two independent reviewers performed screening for article eligibility with a 3rd for conflict resolution. Patient demographics, procedure characteristics, and outcomes were extracted and aggregated.
resultsTwenty studies were included, describing 214 patients. Most patients were female (98.1%, n = 210), middle-aged, and Hispanic. The most common destination country was the Dominican Republic (82.7%, n = 177) and the most common surgical procedure was abdominoplasty (35.7%, n = 114). Complications were mainly infectious (50.9%, n = 112) and required prolonged treatment periods often greater than two months, with high rates of hospitalization (36.8%) and surgical management (51.8%).
conclusionsCosmetic surgery tourism is a growing industry with adverse implications for the US healthcare system and patients themselves. This review aims to serve as a reference to prepare plastic surgeons for the scope of complications associated with cosmetic tourism and improve counseling to better prepare patients for the financial and health risks. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE III: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.