Plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery seem to be two close knitted words. In fact, cosmetic changes is one of the posible consequences of plastic surgery. Therefore there cold be an inclusion of cosmetic surgery as a part of the plastic surgery, a very popular segment indeed as 11 million coswmetc operations in the

US were performed in 2006. Taking a closer look to figures we see that cosmetic sugeries earned almost 6.5 billion USD for practitioners in 2005 and 372 million USD in revenue for equipment manufacturers (according to Medical Insight Inc., 2005). Botox procedures only generated over 2.1 billion USD in procedure fees. Yet, specialists tends to make a clear distinction.

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Miss Taboo: Cosmetic Surgey has even become a form of subersive art…

Plastic surgery as defined by the American Boar of Medical Specialties as the subspecialty dedicated to surgical repair of defects of form or function. Cosmetic surgery can be legally performed regardless of specialty by any doctor. In the UK, doctors who perform cosmetic medicine are primarily those who dropped out of specialist training to work in the private sector. In fact, there is no specialist register for cosmetic medicine in the UK.

In Australia, of the estimated 500 doctors who provide cosmetic procedures about 25 per cent are general practitioners. It leads to a highly competitive and protectionist industry where every little research is published for fear of disclosure of trade secrets. Hence, one of the main concerns over cosmetic surgery is that the qualifications of the surgeon for cosmetic procedures is quite irrelevant when compared to the situation in developed countries.

However one can wonder why the cosmetic surgery industry is constrained by little regulations. The main reason evocated by specialists is the fact that cosmetic surgery is mainly consumer driven and therefore the industry should be self regulated. An underlying problem is the political sensitivity connected to cosmetic surgery that makes it hard to debate openly. Cosmetic surgery is hindered by unnecessary taboos that can be seen through the lens of medical tourism. Furthermore, many regulatory authorities foresee fiscal and administrative limitations in regulating the industry and are reluctant to be accountable for the quality and safety of aesthetic services.

Medical tourism suffers directly from the taboo of cosmetic surgery in developped countries because there is no open debates on the downfalls of the system, the lack of specialisation, the heavy medical malpractices in countries. Assuming people are aware of the lack of reins that exists in this industry, medical tourism would be seen as an upgrade more than a cheap alternative…