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The Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons is warning residents about traveling overseas for cheaper surgical options after one man died just days after undergoing multiple procedures. Leigh Aiple, who spent thousands on back-to-back procedures in Malaysia, had experienced chest pain, leg swelling and open wounds upon returning home, News.com.au reported.
“When he came home, there were gaping holes, there was stitching everywhere,” Grace Muscat, Aiple’s mother, told news.com.au.
Aiple, 31, had arranged to undergo a tummy tuck, liposuction, an upper eye lift, a chin tuck, lip filler, thigh lift and chest sculpting in Malaysia in 2014 through Gorgeous Getaways, a New Zealand-based medical travel agency. The procedures were performed at Beverly Wilshire Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur. While he had complained of complications before leaving Malaysia, he was allowed to fly home, news.com.au reported.
Aiple’s mother called for an ambulance after he complained of chest pain, but he was pronounced dead an hour later. Victoria’s coroner found that Aiple had died of pulmonary thromboembolism associated with deep vein thrombosis, and air travel had increased the risk, news.com.au reported.
“Is anything worth risking your life for? I’d say no,” Hugh Bartholomeusz, president of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, told news.com.au.
Bartholomeusz also asked Australians lured by the idea of a cheap deal to weigh the risks of recovering away from home in a foreign country, and to consider the tax strain they put on others after returning home with complications.
“Often these people can’t afford to have treatment in the private system after paying for previous surgery and are then seen in the public system on an [as-needed] basis,” he told news.com.au.