HUNGARY: Country is one of world leaders in number of plastic surgeries per capita

Record ID: 572969

  • Title: HUNGARY: Country is one of world leaders in number of plastic surgeries per capita
  • Date: 12th March 2012
  • Summary: WOMAN LOOKING AT HER OPERATED BREASTS IN MIRROR
  • Embargoed: 27th March 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary, Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Health
  • Reuters ID: LVAB3LU8K5CTJIXSG3BL37T2A5TM
  • Story Text: Plastic surgery in Hungary used to be a western luxury under communism. But after the regime change private clinics opened up and by now Hungary is a leading country in plastic surgery.
    According to the Alliance of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeries calculations there are two plastic surgeons for every 100 people, a very high quota.
    While ten years ago treatments were often expensive and complicated in recent years new methods have appeared with simple procedures and lower costs so more people can afford it, plastic surgeons say.
    Hungarian surgeons have a good reputation. They are also well practiced because of the high number of operations.
    Plastic surgeon Tamas Rozsos has been a practising surgeon for 23 years now, 15 of which in plastic surgery. He started his private clinic nine years ago, today he has about 1,000 patients a year.
    "There is no doubt that in Hungary the number of plastic surgeons per head is one of the highest in the world," Rozsos told Reuters, after having measured a woman in her early forties for a neck lift in his clinic. "This has many reasons. One is that during the old [communist] regime people had much less chance to do it, and in the past twenty years the possibilities have opened up for women here and many wish to do it. The other reason is the role of the media because the reality shows and other shows often show characters who have undergone plastic surgery and through it have become successful."
    Many people come to the clinics because they have real aesthetic problems, or because they have some sort of psychological problems, Rozsos said. But also because people are unhappy with the way they look, or think that if they can keep their beauty they will keep their husbands or their jobs more easily.
    Rozsos is convinced that plastic surgery can help people to improve their spirits and self-esteem.
    "It can also be of help to women over 40 who are having a hard time finding jobs in Hungary these days," he said.
    Plastic surgery has become so popular in recent years that beauty contests of women who had plastic surgery were organized in 2009 and 2010.
    "I think there is something special about women in eastern Europe in general," said business woman Szilvia Kiss. "I believe that beauty is very important for them, the society puts a lot of emphasis on beauty and appearance not only in people who work in the movie business and such industries where it's important but also in the business world. It's very important to look good, make a good impression and this way to become more successful beauty is associated with success."
    Hungarian surgeons are not just busy with Hungarian patients but with a growing number of foreign ones too.
    Since the global economic crisis plastic surgery fans look for alternatives where they can save money and still get good care. Hungary has seen the increased number of foreign patients especially from the UK, due to the cost differences. In Europe, plastic surgery treatments cost 30 percent less than in the US. In Eastern Europe the costs are even 20-30 percent lower than in Western Europe while doctors use the same materials, same implants and same equipment.
    One such patient is Ann Hartvigsson, a Swedish horse trainer who lives in the UK. She came to Budapest to get liposuction and an eyelid lift done. Hartvigsson said she is saving a lot of money by coming to Hungary.
    "Loads, loads [of money]," she told Reuters. "I mean we are talking about, what I'm having done there, say, for example, is going to cost me 5,000 pounds, and in the UK it would cost be probably between 15,000 to 20,000 for the same kind of procedure. You can't compare it, and I mean, why not then?"
    Her trip and treatments were organised by one of the agents specialising in bringing foreign patients to Hungary - Meditours. They organise dentistry and plastic surgery for 15-20 patients coming from the UK, Canada and US per a month. The head of Meditours, Randy Simor said that in recent years the plastic surgery tourism to Hungary has been on the rise.
    "There's the word of mouth," he told Reuters. "So somebody will go home and say "Hey, guess what, I just had a treatment over there, and I feel great and I look great and everything was great". And of course your friends will wanna do that too, so there's an aspect of just word of mouth. But I think just the general culture now that we live in is about looking better and feeling better for as long as you can."
    Plastic surgery used to be a luxury under communism but not anymore. And at the end the enhanced body does not tell where it was scrubbed and stuffed and pampered.
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