A CDC report Thursday said Dominican Republic cosmetic surgery is killing more American women. Deaths between 2019-2020 have increased significantly. Liposuction was used for all 24 documented U.S. women victims during that period, according to the CDC. File Photo by James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that Dominican Republic cosmetic surgery is killing more American women.
Deaths of U.S. citizens getting cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic between 2019-2022 have increased significantly. Advertisement
“A total of 93 cosmetic surgery-related deaths of U.S. citizens in the Dominican Republic occurred during 2009-2022; all but one occurred in women,” the CDC said in a report published Thursday.
Between 2019-2020 29 deaths occurred. Based on medical records available for 24 of the deaths, liposuction was done in all of them. All those victims were women.
The CDC said obesity and having multiple procedures done in one operation are major risk factors.
“A total of 93 U.S. citizens were reported to have died in the Dominican Republic during 2009-2022 soon after receiving cosmetic surgery,” the CDC said. “The number of deaths after cosmetic surgery among U.S. citizens in the Dominican Republic increased from a mean of 4.1 per year during 2009-2018 to a mean of 13.0 during 2019-2022 with a peak in of 17 in 2020.”
The CDC said a large proportion of people who died had personal (92%) or procedural (100%) risk factors for perioperative embolism. And among deaths caused “by fat emboli, all patients had undergone liposuction and gluteal fat transfer.” Advertisement
A review of the 29 deaths during 2019-2020 revealed that the deaths were associated with fat or venous thromboembolism, the CDC said.
The CDC added that a high proportion of patients who died had risk factors for embolism. Those include obesity and having multiple procedures formed in the same operation.
“These risk factors might have been mitigated or prevented with improved surgical protocols and postoperative medical care, including prophylactic measures against venous thromboembolism,” the CDC said.
The health agency advised Americans seeking plastic surgery outside the United States to consult with their health providers about risks involved in those procedures that could result in adverse outcomes.
Infections, the CDC said, are common in Dominican Republic surgeries that U.S residents are increasingly seeking there. Deaths are more rare.
Traveling to countries, including the Dominican Republic, for cosmetic surgery is increasingly common due to the lower costs and shorter wait times for those procedures in other countries.
The CDC said when more Americans began dying after those cosmetic procedures in the Dominican Republic in 2019 and 2020, the U.S. Embassy contacted CDC.
In collaboration with the Dominican Republic Ministry of Health, the CDC then launched an investigation.
The CDC has warned about Dominican Republic plastic surgery risks for years. In 2016 at least 18 American women from the East coast were infected during the surgeries with mycobacteria, a disfiguring and difficult bacteria to treat. Advertisement
