emediawire.com 26/09/2007
Prospective patients can actually view cosmetic surgeries in their entirety online. This website also includes voice-over narration and even post-operative photographs, according to Dr. Edward Domanskis, the innovative plastic surgeon who has introduced this free service.

Viewable surgeries at www.seesurgery.com include liposuction, breast enlargement, blepharoplasty, rhinoplasty, and abdominoplasty(tummy tuck), which are the five most common cosmetic procedures that patients have done.

“I have patients who really wanted to see how these surgeries were performed, and how they looked after them,” said Dr. Domanskis, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery(Plastic)WOC at the University of California(Irvine).

“This free service makes it now possible,” continued Dr. Domanskis, Orange County Physician of Excellence in Plastic Surgery for the past several years. Not only are the surgeries edited and professionally narrated, but also, the patients are shown immediately after and then, during their recovery, and up to two and one half years after their procedures.

Michelle Miller at first was skittish about watching the tummy tuck surgery that she was considering, but found it extremely enlightening. “It helped me prepare for my surgery and showed me how I would look after it.” “I was much reassured by what I saw and it proved invaluable to me!”

There are presently ten surgeries ranging from breast enlargement to facelift available for viewing on www.seesurgery.com. Another twenty have been taped and will be periodically added to the site.

Brits spending £161m a year on medical tourism
Last year over 50,000 Britons traveled abroad for low cost medical treatment, with trips for cosmetic surgery and dentistry among the most popular. A rapidly growing number of UK residents are now combining a few weeks in the sun with surgery for popular procedures such as breast augmentation, liposuction, tummy-tucks and teeth whitening.

Huge savings can be made by going abroad for treatment and this growing trend for medical tourism is set to soar with many people choosing to travel to exotic places as far a field as Malaysia and India with locations like Spain, Cyprus and Belgium among the most popular among British medical tourists.

An independent survey commissioned for TreatmentAbroad shows that savings of up to 80 per cent can be made on some cosmetic surgery and dental work with a tummy-tuck costing about £4,450 in Britain, whereas in Belgium it is only about £2,400.

The internet is the obvious first place medical tourists look to for advice on traveling abroad for treatment but with such a large number of countries offering competitively priced surgery and with so much choice it can be hard to make the right decision.
To make it easier for those wishing to travel abroad for surgery there are now many companies offering packages, which include travel, surgery and accommodation. Keith Pollard of treatmentabroad.net explains that:

“Many clinics and medical tourism companies are now offering an all-in package embracing all procedure, travel and accommodation costs that may offer additional savings. Patients who have become ‘medical tourists’ have been extremely positive about their experience and the quality of care they have received.�
Debi Robinson, one such patient from Middlesborough, used treatmentabroad.net to find a clinic in Eastern Europe. She paid £2,500 to have loose skin removed from her arms and stomach area which, even with the cost of accommodation and flights, meant that she paid less than if she’d undergone the same procedure in the UK.

“The difference in price was huge,” she revealed. “I would have to have saved up for ages to get it done in Britain.

Daily Mail – 7th September 2007 – By CHRIS BROOKE

A high street chemist has launched a drop-in Botox treatment service, sparking concerns about patient safety.

From Monday customers at some Superdrug stores will be able to undergo a range of ‘nonsurgical cosmetic treatments’.

A variety of anti-wrinkle and line treatments and ‘lip plumping’ procedures, from £55 to almost £500, will be available following a brief discussion with a nurse.

Office workers would even be able to have a treatment during the lunch break.

The cosmetic clinics are believed to be the first opened by a reputable national pharmacy chain, but experts believe regulation is needed to safeguard patient care.

Superdrug insists it is making popular anti-ageing treatments ‘more accessible in terms of price’, and the cosmetic procedures are already widely available in beauty salons.

‘Everybody who comes in has to have a proper consultation and have their medical history taken by a nurse.

‘We wouldn’t do it if we weren’t doing it responsibly,’ said a spokesman.

The first two cosmetic treatment clinics are to open in stores at Brighton and Milton Keynes.

They will be run by a partner firm, Transform, the UK’s largest provider of cosmetic surgery.

Customers will be taken to ‘dedicated treatment rooms’ and will be seen by a qualified nurse.

Although Botox is a prescription only drug, the Superdrug spokesman said the nurses were ‘authorised to prescribe under a Patient Group Directive signed off by a doctor’.

Last month Superdrug became the first national pharmacy chain to offer ‘teeth whitening’ and other ‘drop-in dental services’ at several High Street stores.

There have also been concerns about the safety of many teeth whitening treatments.

The new stores in Brighton and Milton Keynes are also offering other ‘health-focused’ treatments and services including a mole clinic, allergy screening, healthy heart check and weight management programme.

16/10/2007 QCK.COM
Thousands of British consumers will turn to borrowing money in their efforts to finance cosmetic surgery, according to recent research.

Figures compiled by Abbey Loans show that more than 918,000 people around the UK intend to borrow money in order to go under the knife in the pursuit of physical enhancement.

Collectively, these beauty-conscious Britons are set to spend close to £1.4 billion on plastic surgery, with breast augmentation and tummy tucks proving the most popular procedures, Abbey Loans reports.

Paul Morrish, head of Abbey Loans, said: “Whether striving for visible perfection or as part of a medical treatment, plastic surgery is getting more and more popular amongst Britons.

“We are seeing an increase in requests to borrow for plastic surgery [and] we’d be more than happy to speak to anyone who is seriously considering cosmetic procedures.”

Abbey has been part of the Santander Group since 2004 and is aiming to become the “best bank in the UK”, according to its own website.