Such interest of people in these operations causes medical sector to regard this area as a profitable area and make investments of billions of dollars every year. Many effective researches are conducted with such investment every year, the optimum training is provided to plastic surgeons and aestheticians working in the sector, and technologies are developed that allow to perform much more efficient, long-lasting operations with less pain. This sector extends to different arms in many areas and is expected to grow gradually as human continues to exist.

While the United States and Europe used to dominate the world market in plastic surgery and aesthetic operations both with their advanced technology and knowledgeable surgeons, several developing countries including Turkey have recognized the attractiveness of market especially over the last two decades, and they have made major improvements in this area. Today, these countries closely monitor the developments in plastic surgery and aesthetic operations in the United States and Europe in particular, and are very successful at doing a good job with the same quality. On top of it, such countries are able to offer very advantageous price options because their currency has a lower value than US Dollar. As such, many people in different countries choose to undergo operations in the developing countries that offer the same high quality but a cheaper price.

For example, while an aesthetic operation that is performed in the US costs approximately 50-60 thousand dollar, the cost for the same operation in Turkey can be reduced to one fifth of that cost. Especially, the service provided by well-known doctors with higher rate of success at plastic surgery and aesthetic operations in the recognized healthcare institutions is no different from that in the US, and even can be better than that in the US in some of the cases.

The individuals that wish to undergo a plastic surgery or aesthetic operation can have an opportunity to have a vacation in a new country as well as to undergo their desired operation. This is what makes such services more attractive to receive in those countries.

On the other hand, as in Turkey, many healthcare institutions specialized in these areas have recently tended to open branches in different regions such as Eastern Europe, Asia and Middle East, going beyond the borders of their country. This is because although there is a very high demand for plastic surgery and aesthetic operations in those regions, they lack knowledge and investment to meet such demand. However, the vision that is introduced by the globalization of the world paves the way for this.

The branches to be located at different countries will allow providing services more readily in different markets. For instance, while a European citizen will be able to receive service from a Turkish healthcare institution that has a branch in the Eastern Europe that is easier to access, relying on the assurance and standards provided by the European Union, a person in the Middle East will be able to easily receive the desired service from a local Turkish healthcare institution without bothering for obtaining a visa to Turkey and arranging a place to stay.

From the perspective of Turkey, many surgeons and aestheticians that are known and popular for their success receive some part of their education in the United States or Europe. These people participate in leading congresses conducted across the world each year and have an opportunity to follow the latest information and technologies as well as share their knowledge, take place in the international sector, write articles for major journals and publications, and contribute to global areas of plastic surgery and aesthetic operations. In this sense, it is good to say that Turkish doctors have a highly respectable place in the medical areas in the United States and Europe.

Today, many people in the different foreign countries come to Turkey for plastic surgery and aesthetic operations. The overseas strategical partnerships allow foreign people to hear about competitive advantage of Turkey in this area through word of mouth communication in addition to limited advertisement activities. Choosing Turkey by foreign people for these operations make substantial contributions to both Turkish economy and Turkish medical sector (and employees in the sector), making medical tourism more attractive for our country. Our desire is that this sector becomes more powerful and globally more challenging with government incentives and aids.

The air transportation is now cheaper across the world as compared to old times, it is more common to travel between countries, and it is easier to access information via internet; they all encourage many people in different location of the world to travel to the countries of which Turkey leads among them for medical purposes. When these people complete their operation and return to their country, they tell their friend about the successful outcomes of operation they have undergone, quality health care they have received (from healthcare professionals to quality of hospital and technological devices) and the safe and enjoyable times spent in the country, so they publicize the healthcare industry in such countries in the most effective way and contribute travel of more people to such countries every year for plastic surgery and aesthetic operations.

According to data of International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), the aesthetic operations showed growth by almost 200 percent in Turkey between 2011 and 2016. The number of aesthetic operations was 266146 in 2011, and increased to 789564 last year. This figures show that the first ten countries in aesthetic market in the world. Turkey’s position in this ranking is in the eighth place as coming before Germany and France.

AESTHETICS TOURISM IS GROWING
Not only Turkish people have these operations in Turkey. The foreign people also prefer Turkey more for aesthetic operations. According to data of Association of Private Hospitals and Healthcare Institutions, although Turkey’s income from tourism was reduced by 30 percent in 2016, the increase in income from medical tourism was 5 percent.

The medical tourism is divided into three groups: thermal spring, aesthetics-cosmetics and medical tourism. The highest increase among these items was in the aesthetics-cosmetics in 2016. In fact, Turkey is included in the top 10 countries in the world that perform the highest number of aesthetic operations. The number of patients that came to Turkey for medical tourism in 2010 was 110 thousand, today it is over 600 thousand.

The figures above show that the major demand of tourists that come for plastic surgery is filling and toxin applications that are not a surgical procedure. The most demanded surgical procedures include breast augmentation, liposuction, hair transplant and facial lifting.

The higher number of aesthetic operations performed in Turkey has taken success of Turkish doctors out of borders of Turkey. The number of plastic surgeons in Turkey has also significantly increased over the last five years. The number of plastic surgeons was 509 in 2011, and reached to 1200 in 2016.

HIGH QUALITY AND PRICE ADVANTAGE

An important reason for increase in the number of foreign patients is the price advantage. The diagnosis, treatment and surgical interventions are performed with the same techniques and technological devices as used by the developed countries. Despite this, other countries require quite higher prices as compared to Turkey.

The aesthetic tourism is growing every year when Turkey’s price advantage is combined with the quality of service provided and patient satisfaction. As a result, thousands of patients come to Turkey to receive treatment every year from many countries including Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Finland, Iraq, Bulgaria, Algeria, TRNC, Kuwait, Libya, Egypt, Russia, Turkmenistan, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, and Syria.