One death, 14 failed cosmetic surgeries

THE DEATH  of a woman in an aesthetic clinic on  Via Brasil following vitamin treatment on September 29 has raised a red flag for Panama health authorities.

The president of the Panamanian Association of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, Jorge Cowes, said that cases are being reported of procedures performed by unqualified professionals or people travelling abroad to undergo surgery in low cost, package deals reports La Prensa.

Cowes said that since July this year there has been an increase in patients who come to public health facilities in search of attention for complications of aesthetic surgeries practised abroad.

Data from the association indicate that during the first seven months of the year 14 patients arrived with health complications due to poor procedures, while for the whole of 2016 there were six cases.

Among the surgeries practised abroad that usually present complications are breast augmentation, liposuction and abdominoplasty.

Poorly performed plastic and aesthetic surgeries are a public health problem without frontiers.

Packages to travel to other countries to carry out procedures promoted on social networks include airfare and hospital costs, among other benefits, but do not include alternative care in cases where surgeries present complications.

Therefore, patients with some complication go to Panama’s    public system in search of care, putting additional strains on an already overloaded system.

because they sometimes do not have the money to attend private facilities or find that hospitals back away from taking responsibility for such interventions.

Hospital Santo Tomás (HST) aesthetic surgeon José Pinzón said that between two and three patients a month attend the hospital’s outpatient center for complications of cosmetic surgeries.

Pinzón said that among the surgeries practised abroad that regularly have complications include breast augmentation, gluteal implant and liposuction.