Although Korea and Brazil are the countries with the most cosmetic surgery interventions in the world, Spain is also one of the countries with the most operations of this type and the first in the European Union with 40,000 interventions per year.
Spaniards spend 800 million euros on cosmetic surgery and according to the Spanish Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (SECPRE) the figure is increasing at a rate of between 8 and 10% per year. Although in most cases everything goes well, it is also true that the number of negligences and problems for patients increases equally year after year.
We offer you the necessary information to learn more about cosmetic surgery and what damages can be claimed.
What medical treatments are considered cosmetic surgery?
Cosmetic surgery refers to a series of medical treatments aimed at improving the patient’s physical appearance. Therefore, they are not necessary interventions to improve the state of health. Rather, it seeks an aesthetic improvement or beautification of the person.
Therefore, we are talking about treatments called “satisfactory” and not “curative”. That is to say, what is intended is precisely that the patient is satisfied with his or her physical appearance. Thus achieving an aesthetic improvement of a certain area of your body.
Most common types of cosmetic surgery
In so-called female surgery, the most common treatments are the following:
- Breast augmentation and reduction.
- Mastopexy, or breast lift.
- Tuberous breast, correction of malformations in the breasts.
- Reconstruction after breast cancer.
There are also interventions aimed at male patients such as gynecomastia. In other words, the reduction of excessively large mammary glands in men and penile elongation (lengthening of the penis).
Abdominoplasty is a treatment required by both men and women. It consists of the removal of excess skin and abdominal fat and the correction of muscular flaccidity.
As for the so-called facial surgery there are also some very common treatments such as the following:
- Blepharoplasty, eyelid reconstruction.
- Rhinoplasty, nose reconstruction.
- Otoplasty, reconstruction of ears.
- Double chin surgery.
What obligations do doctors have in these cases?
In the case of a “satisfactory” intervention, the jurisprudence understands that there is an obligation to achieve results. But it must be borne in mind that if the patient is informed of the possibility of not achieving it, there is no such obligation.
In these cases, the “obligation to provide information” is particularly important. Since the patient must undergo this type of “voluntary” treatment knowing for sure the risks involved.
What do doctors have to inform me about?
It is essential for the doctor to explain to the patient, sufficiently in advance, the risks involved in performing the cosmetic surgery. This information must be verbal, days before the intervention. It must also be in writing. It must be borne in mind that it must not only refer to the general risks of the intervention, but also to the specific risks it has for the patient in particular.
On the other hand, it will be presumed that the result is guaranteed, when the patient is not specifically informed in writing to the contrary. In other words, there is a possibility that the intervention will not have the desired result.
Only by knowing all this information, the patient is free to undergo a treatment that is not necessary, which only seeks aesthetic improvement. And that can cause, like all medical treatments, serious complications.
What damage can be claimed?
The following negligence can be claimed in cosmetic surgery treatments:
- Aesthetic Damage. When the result is not the desired one, and the aesthetic aspect has not been improved, but may even have worsened.
- Functional anatomical damage. For example, in a case of rhinoplasty, when the size of the turbinates is excessively increased in such a way that it prevents good breathing.
- Psychological damage. When unsatisfactory results add the patient to a depressive syndrome that requires psychological treatment.
- Moral damage. When the aesthetic damage affects the patient’s self-esteem, hindering their social and work relations.
- Future reconstructive surgery, with the cost that this entails.
Therefore, before undergoing a cosmetic surgery treatment inform yourself well of the risks, ask your doctor if the result is guaranteed, and if you are not happy with the result, contact us to see if it can be claimed.
