Sun, sea, sand and silicone: Aesthetic surgery tourism in the UK and Australia

Holliday, Ruth (2017). Sun, sea, sand and silicone: Aesthetic surgery tourism in the UK and Australia. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: Economic and Social Research Council. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-851120

Data description (abstract)

This project will look at Britons and Australians who travel to countries like Thailand, Spain and the Czech Republic for cosmetic surgery.
Cosmetic surgery tourism is a new and developing industry that incorporates novel forms of labour and organisational structures which straddle national boundaries. For instance, it is possible for a cosmetic surgery travel agent to arrange a car to collect a consumer from their doorstep in the UK or Australia, deliver them to a hospital in Spain or Thailand, and allocate a nurse / guide / interpreter to be constantly at their side during surgery, recovery and tourist 'experiences', before returning them to their doorstep.
Monitoring the movements of bodies in search of cosmetic surgery will most likely predict health tourisms in the future. As public healthcare systems are increasingly squeezed patients are more likely to become consumers in search of cut price body enhancements made possible by favourable currency exchange rates and lower labour costs outside the richest countries in the world.
This research aims to broaden our understanding of the surgical tourist experience, the organisations involved, and the implications for globalised healthcare organised around consumption.
This study is the first multi-site, empirical and systematic analysis of cosmetic surgery tourism.

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