Cosmetic Surgery Under Pressure

• Wednesday July 12, 2006 in: Global Plastic Surgery Tag(s):

  Technorati Tags: global plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery

  The decision to undergo cosmetic surgery should always be a carefully weighed one.

  And for more satisfactory results, it would help if patients would go through a procedure with full faith in their cosmetic surgeon and without any doubts or pressure from anyone or anything else.

  Which is why this piece of news from the United Kingdom is a bit disconcerting.

  Plastic surgery patients are being pressured into going through with operations because they have to pay hefty non-refundable deposits, a leading doctor warned today.

  Plastic surgeon Mark Henley slammed the growing number of surgical practices tying people into going under-the- knife for operations from nose jobs to breast enlargements because of the 'no-turning-back' deals.

  He says all cosmetic surgery patients should be able to pull out right up until the moment they are wheeled into theatre - without being financially penalised.

  According to the Life Style Extra report, even some well-known medical groups are into charging canceling patients an exorbitant amount. Worse, they charge the patients 95% of the cost of the full surgery if the cancellation is made within 48 hours.

  Though it is understandable that preparations leading to surgery indeed have costs, it is unfair for a doubting patient to be pushed into cosmetic surgery just because of the financial considerations. Simply put, this practice is practically forcing a patient to push through with, say, a breast augmentation procedure even though she's having second thoughts about getting implants.

  The British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons should do something about this.