LEADING plastic surgeons have warned people their health could be at risk if they use high street or foreign cosmetic surgery firms.

Consultants from Glasgow’s Canniesburn Plastic Surgery Unit at the Royal Infirmary said the number of cases of botched operations has risen drastically over the past five years. They said there were several examples of patients undergoing the wrong surgery or needing corrective procedures after operations went wrong.

The surgeons claimed private companies were sometimes more driven by financial gain than appropriate treatment and patients could be in trouble if the firms went into administration. They also cautioned against travelling abroad for surgery, saying it could have serious health implications because of a lack of after-care.

Consultant plastic surgeon Stephen Morley, who works at the Canniesburn unit, has fixed botched operations and although no official figures are available, he says cases are on the rise in Scotland.

He said: “Over the past five years there must have been an increase of over 20% in this sort of case. The most common thing is people have had the wrong operation, they’ve had the wrong advice. Someone might see someone who comes in with a problem, and they might not have the experience to know that it’s not that procedure they need.

“For example, I saw a patient who had signs of ageing in his face, and probably should have been recommended a facelift, but instead they’d had some liposuction, and that had given them a poor result.

“If you go abroad and someone’s doing a procedure in a hotel room, which does happen, then yes, people have died.

“Some people think having a cosmetic procedure is like going to the supermarket – it doesn’t matter where you go, it’s the same thing. It’s not like that.”

Consultant plastic surgeon Eva Weiler Mithoff added: “Women take greater care choosing their hairdresser but they often don’t give that care when choosing a breast reconstruction surgeon.”

The pair were speaking at the launch of a new company set up by 10 of Glasgow’s leading plastic surgeons to offer an alternative to high street cosmetic surgery firms, which they say will cut out the middle man.

Called Confidence Cosmetic, it will see them carry out private procedures at Glasgow’s Nuffield Hospital.

One of Scotland’s most famous plastic surgeons, David Soutar, 63, famous for reconstructing the face of The Boy David, who was found with a severe disfigurement in the Amazon jungle, is on the team. He retired from the NHS three years ago and now does medical legal work. He said he has seen many people who have suffered problems after surgery at high street firms.

He said: “It’s not always that they are badly done, it’s that they are badly looked after. A lady today had looked up a cosmetic surgery place on the internet – it was 150 miles away, and she had a tummy tuck and was sent home 24 hours later with two drains coming out of her.”

More than 100,000 cosmetic operations are carried out each year in the UK but according to a British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons survey, almost 40% of 208 members surveyed have seen patients about complications following surgery abroad.

Denise Hendry, wife of former Scotland football team captain Colin Hendry, died after a seven-year battle against complications following liposuction. The surgeon, Dr Gustav Aniansson, took himself off the British medical register in 2003 before any action could be taken against him, but he continues to operate in his native Sweden.