Turkey is now vying to become one of the top five countries in plastic surgery tourism, according to Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon Orhan Murat Özdemir, who said nearly 350,000 people visit Turkey annually to receive treatment.

“Nose remodeling surgery in Europe totals 15,000 euros, while the price drops to 2,500 or 3,000 euros in Turkey,” he said.

“The United States has the largest share, taking $5.5 billion from health tourism from all over the world. It is followed by Europe which takes 3.5 billion euros,” he added. “The volume of the health sector, which has recently begun to develop in Turkey, totals $20 million. However, Turkey only ranks fourth in Europe in terms of the number of facilities and the standards of quality.”

Some mistakes, such as all-inclusive holidays at low costs that have been made in the holiday tourism sector, are not found in the health tourism sector, according to Özdemir, who said that “health tourism shows an increasing trend toward high-quality accommodation and staff standards, globally recognized Food and Drug Association-certified devices and Turkish doctors’ successes.”

“Turkey has become the shining star in health tourism after the United States and Brazil, with its successes becoming more apparent within the last 10 years,” Özdemir said, adding that “foreign patients and Turkish people living in foreign countries mostly prefer Turkey, especially for plastic surgery, eye and weight-loss procedures.”

“Foreign patients come from many countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Kuwait, Libya, Egypt, Syria and Turkmenistan, undergo their procedures and recuperations in Turkey, and then return to their home countries.”

The quality of treatment and surgery costs, especially in the specialist areas such as eye, dental and plastic surgery that are not covered by insurance companies, give Turkey a calculable advantage in the sector over other European countries, Özdemir said, adding that dental aesthetics in particular bring an advantage in excess of 50 percent compared to Europe and the United States.

Longer accommodation

Foreign patients mainly undergo procedures such as nose remodeling and breast augmentation, Özdemir said, adding that some patient groups visit Turkey for plastic surgery and then stay for eight to 10 days for their holidays.

The plastic surgery tourism sector thus injects both foreign currency and prestige into the country, as there is an increasing interest in the sector in Turkey, he said.

Nonetheless, fluctuations in Turkish foreign policy has affected Turkey’s tourism sector in general, and plastic surgery tourism is no different, Özdemir said, adding that following the diplomatic tension between Israel and Turkey, patients coming from Israel to receive plastic surgery have declined.

However, the removal of visa requirements between Syria and Turkey has led to increased demand in the region, Özdemir said, adding that Turkey will host a larger share of health tourists coming from the Middle East in the next few years as patients from the region are likely to shift their present preference for Europe to Turkey.