Plastic surgery can be expensive and risky. If you want the most skilled surgeons, you have to shell out even more money. So how do those searching for a little nip/tuck reduce the cost but not the risk? They travel to South Africa, where the exchange rate is as good as many of the country’s surgeons.
Here are 10 things you should know about safari surgery nip-tuck tourism in South Africa.
“Cosmetic surgery tourism”; did you ever think you’d hear the term? More and more travel agencies catering to South African tourists offer cosmetic surgery in their travel packages. Airfare, hotel, and a new nose: what a deal.
South Africa has seen a 780-percent increase in plastic surgery procedures, according to CnbcAfrica.com.
The majority of those partaking in cosmetic surgery tourism come from the U.K., the U.S. and Japan. ConsultancyAfrica.com says they are uninsured, underinsured, or wanted to have a procedure done without being wait-listed.
Source: ConsultancyAfrica.com
Once the patient is ready, the agency offers real safari activities and makes all bookings. In other words, a lion might see the your new facelift before your friends back at home do.
Surgeon and Safari offers a personal assistant in all its packages. The assistant accompanies the patient along every step of the process from the airport pickup to every consultation, the surgery itself and the recovery.
A top Cape Town plastic surgeon, Dr. Paul Skoll, recommends patients of most procedures stay at least 10 days in town for recovery after surgery. Patients who get full tummy tucks, breast reductions and facelifts should stay three weeks.
According to SouthAfrica.net, people travel from all over the world to South Africa to make use of the country’s top cardiologists, gynaecologists, orthodontists and more.
Plastic surgery in South Africa has seen a significant increase in black middle-class men and women opting for cosmetic procedures, CnbcAfrica.com reports. One South African plastic surgeon, Willem Erasmus, says this is a big change that’s only happened in the last decade. Prior to that, it was mostly white, middle-aged men and women opting for plastic surgery in the region.
According to South African plastic surgeon Willem Erasmus, black women prefer buttock augmentations, nip-tuck procedures, breast reductions and lip reductions, CNBCAfrica reports. White women prefer liposuction or nose jobs.
In 2015, a breast augmentation in South African cost around $3,600 USD, a facelift cost $5,000 and liposuction cost around $4,500, according to JetSetTimes.com.
Surgeon and Safari, a cosmetic surgery tourism agency, arranges for all consultations, provides cost estimate, helps prepare patients for their operations, and puts recovering patients up in 4-star accommodations complete with nursing staff.
North Africa, especially Tunisia and Egypt, was a hub for cosmetic surgery tourism. Political unrest sent visiting patients to South Africa.
This AFKInsider article was originally published on Nov. 2, 2015.