The travel industry has figured out a way to cash in on people visiting the country to have surgical reconstruction
Khadija Magardie and Paul Harris
Enterprising tour operators are cashing in on an increasing numbers of foreigners flocking to South Africa for plastic surgery by offering a holiday with a difference “scalpel safaris”.
Perin Lewis, a 61-year-old conference organiser from London, does not mince words when asked about her recent visit to South Africa whence she returned with a little more than a suntan. “I just wanted to suspend the effects of gravity for a while,” she says.
Like many other foreign women flying into South African for cosmetic surgery, Lewis was wowed into coming after hearing of the experiences of others in this case, her daughter, a model who, according to her mum, has had “several” operations in South Africa.
A face- and eye-lift later, Lewis was thoroughly impressed by her experience and has recommended to dozens of her like-minded friends that they head south for an operation, and some game viewing on the side.
South Africa’s plastic surgeons have an internationally renowned reputation for their standards and professionalism and clients from abroad are knocking their doors down to get “a slice of the action”.
With increasing numbers of foreigners mostly women, but including a few men travelling to South Africa to take full advantage of some of the cheapest but highly professional procedures available for candidates for the surgeon’s knife, the travel industry has cottoned on to the idea of offering all-in-one packages where clients can experience the exoticism of the African bush while they are recovering from surgery.
That prospective foreign clientele can reconcile the image of the surgeon’s scalpel with a Land Rover speeding over the plains of the Pilanesberg is thanks to the chutzpah of the Johanneburg-based Surgeons and Safari. The company, whose mission statement is “privacy in paradise”, offers surgery and recuperation packages tailor-made for foreign clients.
Surgeons and Safari works in partnership with plastic surgeons, all accredited by the Association of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons of South Africa, to offer clients a comprehensive package that includes arranging consultations, pre- and post-surgical appointments, airport meet-and-greet and special rates in luxury hotels as the clients recover.
South African regulations prohibit doctors from advertising their services, known as touting. But loopholes mean a third party, like a travel agent, can arrange the “consultation” between the surgeon and the prospective client, who may then book the surgery personally.
A client can zip in for a nip-and-tuck on Monday, sip champagne while recuperating in the opulent boudoirs of the Mount Nelson or the Westcliff hotel on Tuesday, don some khakis for an exciting bush jaunt on Wednesday and be on the plane back home by Thursday.
As for the stitches nobody need know.
“The demand is just exploding,” says Dr Saul Braun, who runs a clinic in Rosebank, Johannesburg, and who operated on Lewis. Braun believes he has operated on more than 130 British women in the past year.
They constitute the bulk of foreign women coming into the country for operations. The rest is made up of patients from elsewhere in Europe or the United States. About 70% of the women are after facelifts or breast operations.
One of the main reasons foreigners choose South Africa as a favourable destination for cosmetic surgery is the cost. Surgery in South Africa compared to, for example, Britain is cheap.
In Britain, a facelift could cost around 9 000. In South Africa, it would be around 3 000, including flights, and a two-week stay in a top hotel. The prices for the surgery itself are also understandably alluring for a foreign patient.
The Internet is awash with South African plastic surgeons advertising their wares, either on personal webpages or in general listings.
One Cape Town-based site, featuring the smiling doc resplendent in his green scrubs, says it offers clients highly professional, personalised treatment, whether they opt for surgery to correct a cleft palate, or a boob job.
The surgery descriptions are complemented with several “before and after” pictures, featuring, among others, previously ample buttocks streamlined after the surgery.
Surgeons advertising their services are quick to point out, however, that a consultation is essential in order to make a proper diagnosis. Many clients make an initial “reconnaissance” trip to the country for consultation and shortly afterwards for the surgery.
Clients like Lewis say there is an added advantage of combining a holiday in South Africa with cosmetic surgery secrecy.
In Britain, for instance, many patients are reluctant to admit they have had an operation and want to disguise their youthful new appearance as the product of “a rejuvenating holiday in the sun”.