SERIOUS cosmetic operations such as breast enhancements and facelifts are being trivialised by clinics that are using discounts and promotions to draw in vulnerable patients, leading surgeons said yesterday.

Mainstream healthcare providers, including BUPA and the Transform Medical Group, were criticised for treating cosmetic surgery as a commercial enterprise, disguising the seriousness of the procedures they offered.

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) described Transform’s use of loyalty cards, gift vouchers for surgery and a raffle for non-surgical procedures as an unacceptable “commoditisation” of medicine. The association also condemned BUPA’s use of sales reps, who work on commission, to target young women for surgery.

BAAPS said that its members’ specialism was being dangerously exploited by some surgeons and clinics more concerned with commercial ends than medical ethics. It also criticised magazines such as Top Santé and Zoo for offering extreme makeovers as competition prizes, and increasingly sensational coverage of cosmetic surgery on television.

Speaking at the BAAPS annual conference yesterday, Adam Searle, the association’s president, said that any doctor shown to be putting commerce before ethics must be reported to the General Medical Council. He said that the standards set by BAAPS members did not apply to “at least 200 surgeons” operating in Britain.

“The trivialisation of medical procedures is appalling,” Mr Searle, a consultant surgeon at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, said. “It seems to have come down to the level of loyalty cards, money-off vouchers, competition prizes and even a raffle prize of a procedure of your choice. This belittling of the seriousness of undertaking a medical procedure degrades not only our specialty but also the medical profession.”

Mr Searle added that many patients, who were often psychologically vulnerable, had suffered from being lured into having surgery without being properly informed. “The true tragedy is that within this epidemic of tasteless activity there are going to be patients who experience significant complications and lifelong damage from pursuing ill-planned and ill-thought-out operations.”

The alert comes after a government pledge to introduce tougher regulation of cosmetic surgery. The industry has boomed in recent years, fuelled by television shows such as Extreme Makeover and Plastic Surgery Live.

Earlier this year BAAPS revealed that cosmetic procedures in Britain rose by more than half in 2004, with association members carrying out 16,367 procedures compared with 10,738 in 2003. British women spend £225 million a year on surgery, double the amount spent five years ago.

On its website, Transform offers several money-off deals. One offers £250 off the surgical procedure of a patient’s choice.

A spokeswoman for Transform, which was involved in Extreme Makeover, a programme described by BAAPS as “pornographic”, said that it had more than 150,000 satisfied patients and followed the strictest clinical standards. “We are proud of the reputation we have built up over our 30 years,” she said.

“Any patient goes through our strict clinical protocols and consultation process. No patient ever has inappropriate or ill-considered treatments.”

Rebecca Hoskins, of BUPA, said that the company strongly believed it had one of the safest cosmetic surgery networks in the country. She said: “We deny that we would ever attach sales incentives to any medical procedure. We believe people should have as much information as possible before undertaking treatment.”

The Healthcare Commission, the inspectorate that monitors healthcare providers, publishes its own guide to cosmetic treatments this morning with impartial advice on how to find a reputable doctor.

Lauren Libbert, editor of Top Santé, denied its extreme makeover competition was irresponsible. A spokesman for Emap also denied it had behaved irresponsibly with a promotion in Zoo for men to win breast enlargements for their girlfriends.

SLICE OF LIFE

BAAPS reported a steep increase in the number of men paying for surgery, up by 60 per cent from 822 in 2003 to 1,348 in 2004

Since 1997 more than £7 million has been paid in compensation to patients

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