CDC warns cosmetic travel can cause severe infections, death

The promise of lower-cost cosmetic surgery abroad has carried a far steeper price for some U.S. residents, including severe bacterial infections and death. The CDC warned Tuesday that complications from travel for procedures such as liposuction and breast augmentation have repeatedly landed patients back in U.S. hospitals, where follow-up care can be costly and difficult to coordinate.

In a study published in CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, researchers reviewed 2,162 CDC consultations covering January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2024. Thirty-four of those consultations involved patients who traveled for medical care, and 21 reports covered about 145 patients with adverse outcomes. Infections were the most common problem: 20 consultations reported postsurgical infections, including 12 suspected or confirmed nontuberculous mycobacteria infections. Four consultations involved patient deaths. The CDC said one domestic and one international infection-prevention assessment found serious deficiencies in environmental cleaning, personal protective equipment use, hand hygiene and surgical equipment reprocessing.

The agency said the problem is not limited to overseas clinics. Its investigators tracked cases tied to both domestic and international care, underscoring that patients who cross state lines for cheaper or faster procedures can still create public-health headaches when complications emerge after they return home. Kiara McNamara, the CDC nurse epidemiologist who led the study, said more people are seeking procedures outside the United States and that real risks are involved. The CDC said the findings should push hospitals, clinicians and public-health officials to improve surveillance, strengthen communication and educate patients before they travel so complications can be caught earlier.

CDC guidance says medical tourism is a worldwide, multibillion-dollar market, and that millions of U.S. residents travel internationally for medical care each year. The most common destinations include Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and parts of South America. The procedures most often sought abroad include abdominoplasty, breast augmentation, buttock augmentation, liposuction and rhinoplasty. The agency also warned that clinics advertised on social media or sold as low-cost packages may still carry substantial infectious and surgical risks.

The CDC has flagged these dangers before. A 2017 investigation found 52 patients from nine states with surgical-site infections after cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic, and 38 met the confirmed case definition. A later review found 93 U.S. citizens died after cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic from 2009 through 2022, with the average annual death count rising sharply in the later years and peaking at 17 in 2020. Many of those deaths were linked to fat emboli or venous thromboembolism, especially in patients with obesity or those who underwent multiple procedures in one operation.