Medical tourism refers to the process of patients travelling outside of their native country to undergo elective surgical procedures and is a rapidly expanding healthcare phenomenon [[1], [2], [3]]. When this is undertaken for procedures deemed aesthetic, it is often referred to as “cosmetic tourism”.

The availability of aesthetic procedures, through the publicly funded National Health Service (NHS), have been heavily rationed and are now only available on an exceptional basis [4]. UK patients seeking such procedures now need to do so through Private Healthcare Providers (PHPs). Whilst a multitude of established PHPs offering cosmetic surgical procedures exist within the UK, a growing number of patients are opting to travel abroad to undergo cosmetic surgery. With an increase in overseas providers offering “all-inclusive surgical packages”, often covering flights and accommodation, patients may combine a holiday pre or post-procedure, making going abroad for their surgery more attractive [1,2].

Clinicians and PHPs undertaking cosmetic surgery within the UK have a firm duty of care for the post-operative management and follow-up of patients. This includes the post-operative management of intermediate complications which may occur following discharge, such as delayed wound healing or infection. When patients have similar procedures undertaken abroad, they may not have the same degree of post-operative follow up or access to the clinicians and facilities carrying out their initial procedure, as they have often returned to the UK. As a result, patients experiencing complications after cosmetic surgery abroad, often present to NHS services to seek treatment for their cosmetic complications [5]. Furthermore, perhaps due to less rigorous patient selection criteria and assessment, the severity of these complications may be greater than those usually occurring within the UK. This has potentially significant financial implications for NHS care provisioning and will be exacerbated as the trend for cosmetic surgery tourism grows.

The aim of this study was to assess the number of patients presenting to the Canniesburn Plastic Surgery Unit, with cosmetic surgery tourism complications, and the associated costs to NHS Scotland over a five-year period.