US advises travelers against traveling to Dominican Republic for cosmetic procedures due to increase in deaths

(CNN Spanish) — Gabriel Hurst, a spokesperson for the United States Embassy in Santo Domingo, recommended that US citizens check with their primary health care professionals in the United States before verifying the credentials of the establishment where cosmetic procedures will be performed and taking care. In other countries.

The recommendations follow a report released this Thursday by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which showed an increase in deaths reported after cosmetic surgery in the Caribbean country.

According to the report, “the number of deaths among US citizens increased from an average of 4.1 per year between 2009 and 2018 to an average of 13 between 2019 and 2022, with a record high of 17 in 2020.” In total, the registry indicates that between 2009 and 2022, 93 US citizens have died after undergoing cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic.

Twenty-nine of the deaths reported between 2019 and 2020 had causes related to venous or fat thromboembolism, and “a large proportion of patients had risk factors for embolism,” either because of their obesity or performance of multiple simultaneous procedures, according to the CDC.

According to the CDC, “These risk factors can be reduced or prevented with improved surgical protocols and postoperative medical care, including venous thromboembolism prophylactic measures.”

So-called medical tourism is “increasingly common among United States residents because of lower costs and shorter wait times for procedures,” the report said, adding that the Dominican Republic is a popular destination because of its proximity to the United States.

The Dominican Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery responded to the CDC report, defending the procedures carried out, and stating that the rate of complications associated with them remains within a manageable margin.

He added that in 2022 the Dominican Republic received 50,000 patients, of which 40,000 were absent Dominican foreigners, mostly from the United States, Spain and Italy.

According to the entity, the most requested surgeries are liposuction, abdominoplasty and breast surgery.