The plastic surgeons in Australia are certainly going great lengths to highlight the dangers of traveling overseas for cosmetic surgery. The Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons commissioned a survey of its membership in April 2007, following concerns that local plastic surgeons have to pick up the pieces when things go wrong for Australians having cosmetic surgery in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia. According to this survey, of the 68 plastic surgeons who responded to the survey, 40 reported seeing patients with complications or poor results, and 15 reported treating more than one botched case. 19 believed that they were seeing more problems now than three years ago.

While this survey particularly focuses on the surgeries done overseas, it is vehemently silent on the state of affairs in Australia. The fact of the matter is that the industry in Australia is highly unregulated, and there are now growing concerns that some surgeons lack both qualifications and surgical experience. The legalisation of medical advertising in 1994 in Australia has led to an influx of non-surgeons advertising themselves as 'cosmetic surgeons'. Some of them use smoke and mirrors to hide their lack of specialist training, substituting bogus qualifications instead.

In 2005 alone, 24 cosmetic-surgery complaints were heard by Queensland Health Rights Commissioner, up from 22 in 2004, and 13 in 2003. Negligence claims against plastic surgeons jumped more than 70 per cent between 1995 and 2004. The Health Care Complaints Commission received 87 complaints about plastic and cosmetic surgery in the three years to June 2006.

Claims against cosmetic surgeons have ballooned by 72%, according to the 2005 figures from four insurers released by the Medical Indemnity Industry Association of Australia (MIIAA). The 72% increase, which occurred between two three-year periods, from 1995-1998 to 2001-2004, is viewed as an estimate. The MIIAA used three-year periods to reduce the effects of a one-off spike in claims caused by tort law reforms, but the spike has still skewed the data.

The 1999 New South Wales Ministerial Committee of Inquiry into Cosmetic Surgery, the only investigation into the industry thus far, found little reporting and monitoring of complications arising from cosmetic surgery, limited consumer safeguards and no independent, reliable information available to consumers about the skills of cosmetic surgery providers. More than eight years after the NSW Cosmetic Surgery Inquiry, there are still no basic education or training standards at state level. Legislation does not prevent a doctor from setting up shop after a weekend course in the Bahamas on liposuction. This lack of regulation has allowed any registered medical doctor in NSW to describe himself or herself as a cosmetic surgeon, even with no formal surgical training beyond a basic medical degree.

In these circumstances, how fair is it to lay the blame solely on the overseas cosmetic surgery? The fact remains that cosmetic surgery is a medical procedure and like any other procedure, any patient considering cosmetic surgery should think it through carefully first, consult GP, and meet with a specialist plastic surgeon to discuss their needs and treatment plan.