The Turkish cosmetic surgery clinics tempting women to risk death (2024)

Lounging beside an infinity pool, dining at Salt Bae's restaurant and being chauffeured around the resort in VIP cars mightsound like what you'd expect from a luxurious all-inclusive holiday in any popular destination.

But it is also the experience promised to Brits going abroad for cut-price boob jobs, liposuction and other risky procedures.

Following futher British deaths at the hands of botched cosmetic operations in Turkish clinics, MailOnline has analysed the tactics used by some of the biggest foreign providers to lure in customers.

Not only do the clinics and services often downplay the potentially deadly risks of the procedures, they tempt Brits with the promise of a holiday of a lifetime —promoting lavish accomodation for cut prices.

The Estethica medical group, for instance, is offering a rhinoplasty package for €8,500, which not only includes the medical procedure, but also offers perks including a 24-hour VIP private chauffeur, meals, 7 nights in a 5-star hotel, a half-day shopping tour of Instanbul and lunch at Salt Bae's restaurant.

Influencer Rachel Altenburg is one of many Britons who enjoyed a luxury holiday in Turkey although she didn't have surgery herself and was there two support her friends.

Twins Leonie andChé McSorley jetted in from Manchester to have 'Turkey teeth' and nose jobs.

The girls enjoyed a night out at Salt Bae's restaurant after their dental procedure, although it's not clear if this was part of a package, and stayed at the5 star Ramada Bodrum Resort By WYNDHAM on a special rate as patients of Comfort Zone Dent - where Leonie shared glamorous shots of her sunbathing.

Turkey is not inherently more dangerous than other surgical tourism hotspots.

But cheap flights between it and the UK — as well as the rise of the trend combining cosmetic surgery with a holiday — have made it one of the leading destinations for Brits looking to go under the knife.

None of the deals uncovered by MailOnline's probe promise free booze alone, like in typical all-inclusive holidays.

But clinics in Istanbul and other popular Turkish hubs boast they can offer such cheap prices because 'general wage costs are lower than in Europe'.

In one YouTube video viewed more than 12,000 times, influencerEdwige Malembe recorded a trip to Istanbul trip where she was treated to by Turkish health tourism agency Clinichub.

The two-night stay in the luxury hotel included dinner with the surgeons, a tour of the city and a boat trip with fellow influencers.

She was alos treated tofree lip filler and IV drips — said to help the body fight infections, but not recommended by UK doctors.

Her video log of the trip and glamorous Instagram snaps showing dinner with belly dancers brandishing fire torches and a cruise on the Bosphorus looked a lot more like an ad for a tourist board than a promotion for a cosmetic surgery clinic.

Filming as she underwent her IV drip, she told her followers: 'We are doing IV drips, maybe my lip filler again.

'I was meant to get my teeth cleaned yesterday but I changed my mind because I had food poisoning and my body just feels really sensitive.

'[The IV drip] It really works, I see a difference straight away. It adds a nice glow to the skin. It doesn't get rid of dark marks but I think for the glow on the skin it really helps.'

In another TikTok video, US influencer Bryn Elise who boasts more than 415,000 followers, showcased a three-day 'comprehensive' health check-up her boyfriend undertook at Memorial Hospital Bahçelievler in Istanbul for under $3,000.

'We were picked up in something I'd imagine Snoop Dogg drives around in and were chauffered the next morning to a hospital that felt nicer than a luxury hotel,' she said.

Reportedly booked two days in advance, in the video viewedmore than 2.2million times, she also showed her partner Cody undergoing 52 different checks including blood tests, MRI scans, an ultrasound, CT scans and even a colonoscopy.

'The doctor carefully went through each of the 52 blood tests, cancermarkers and scan results and reassured us that if they found any issues that required additional testing or even surgical intervention that they could get him in the same day or next day,' she added.

Another TikTok video seen more than 2,000 times also showed US influencer @madsterisntfunny get a boob job and her friend, a nose job.

Filming their week-long stay in the five-star hotel they were offered as part of theirnose and boob job packages, she said: 'We were in pain the entire time so all we did was watch movies, sleep, sleep more and that was about it.'

Another YouTube video which boasts 15,500 views from influencer Rachel Altenburg also showcased a luxury villa with a pool she was given as part of a friend's nose job package with Serene Cosmetic in Istanbul.

'There's actually four villas altogether so everyone's just cutting about with their bandages on,' she said.

'Staff make the food and look after everyone. They're all really friendly. They're treating me like I'm one of the patients here so I'm just having the time of my life — free food, free transport, free stay.'

UK cosmetic surgery clinics are forbidden from advertising surgery using terms such as ‘mommy makeovers’ or phrases that could exploit body insecurities.

Operators also face the prospect of fines and even imprisonment should they try to rush people through deciding to have procedures through ‘limited time’ discounts.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) watchdog recently issued a wave of warnings against Turkish clinics inappropriately promoting life-changing surgery to Britons.

TikTok influencer and rapper Millie B was rapped by the ASA in January over videos she made of her getting cosmetic surgery abroad, in partnership with Erdem Clinic in Istanbul.

The regulator claimed the ads, which featured a testimonial from Millie herself about getting a breast augmentation, 'trivialised the decision to undergo cosmetic surgery' and 'were directed at those aged under 18'.

ASA has also vowed to take further action on the overseas surgery sector, recently issuing an industry-wide notice that adverts attempting to lure Britons to go under the knife abroad need to follow UK advertising standards or be taken down.

Campaigners have also previously raised the alarm about foreign surgeons using a 'crazy loophole'to tour Britain and recommend women get major surgery abroad — despite themselves not being allowed to carry out ops in the UK.

It comes as a British mother-of-two died during £5,400 'mummy MOT' in Istanbul — a package deal involving a Brazilian butt lift, a tummy tuck and a boob job.

Kaydell Brown, 38, from Sheffield,had hoped the five-hour surgery would get her life 'back on track' after she put on weight due to injuring her ankle, according to her sister Leanne.

However, ten hours after being taken into theatre, Leanne was told the operation had killed her. Portions of her organs are now also allegedly missing.

Her heartbroken sister Leanne, 40, who was due to have the same surgery, has slammed the Turkish clinic, branding it a 'pop-up butcher shop that needs shutting down'.

The clinic has said the body was handed over 'untouched', however suggested it was 'highly possible' the Government coroner's office may have removed some organ parts 'in the process of determining the cause of death'.

But Leanne has claimed that after medics informed her of her sister's death she was handed an envelope of cash and was booked on the next flight home.

'It's like, ''Sorry she's dead, here's your plane ticket'',' she told ITV.

The UK governmenthas said its officials were in contact with the Turkish authorities.

After a British pathologist looked at Kaydell'sbody tissue, an inquest has now been opened, which has been adjourned until early 2025.

A British woman has today also told of the debilitating pain and shocking injuries she suffered after she travelled to Turkey to undergo a tummy tuck, breast augmentation and uplift in a bid to get rid of excess skin following weight loss.

Sara Platt, fromLlanharan in South Wales, spent a year researching her options before opting to pay £14,000 at a clinic in Antalya last year.

But nine days after her surgery and still feeling ill, she asked her husband to help remove her bandages in the hotel bathroom.

She told ITV: 'As he was undoing it, all this brown liquid started seeping out of my body. I screamed. I felt like I was falling apart. It was like, oh my god, my insides are gonna come out.

'It's not a health holiday. They told me I'd be sitting by the pool within three days. I was rotting in a hotel room.'

The Turkish surgeon performed a second procedure, she said, but she was not taken into an operating theatre. Instead, she claimed it looked like a beauty clinic.

Only local anaesthetic was also used during the surgery which meant she was awake as the doctor tended to her stomach wound.

'He was handed a burning tool. And he started burning me. And that, that will, for the rest of my life, haunt me every day, every night. That ruined my life,' she said.

'I could hear the sizzling in my skin. I felt like I was on fire.'

Since returning to the UK she has had nine surgeries to save her life and rebuild her body. She is currently preparing to undergo a tenth corrective surgery.

Her right breast could not be rescued and she has significant scarring, including a skin graft on her stomach that attached to the muscle beneath.

At least 28 Brits have died as a result of medical tourism trips to Turkey since January 2019, according to the Government's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seven of those deaths have occurred since 2023.

Surgery safety campaigners warning Brits against going for cosmetic ops overseas have described being asked to pay in cash as a 'massive red flag' of apotential poor provider.

An audit by The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) last year also found 324 Brits have needed medical treatment or corrective surgery after having cosmetic surgery overseas, with Turkey accounting for the lion's share.

This figure has surged 94 per cent in three years, the organisation claimed, as increasing numbers of Brits seek to look more like their celebrity idols.

BAAPS estimates the average cost to the health service of treating a Brit botched overseas is about £15,000, putting the total bill since 2018 at about £4.8million.

This bill represents the cost of resources like medication and dressings, as well as the time surgeons and other NHS staff must spend on such cases.

While the £15,000 figure is an average, surgeons have previously told this website more serious cases can cost upwards of £100,000 to the taxpayer.

Earlier this year the British Medical Association said more Britons are dying or requiring emergency care in the UK after jetting abroad for cut-price obesity surgery.

The crisis is fuelling delays for routine care, such as hip and knee replacements, because these health tourists are increasingly occupying NHS beds, the union’s annual meeting heard.