- An estimated 15,000 Australians travel overseas annually for cosmetic and dental procedures, spending approximately $300 million, yet a Melbourne study found that managing resulting complications cost the public health system over $247,000 in just two years.
- Dr Tass Cosmetic & Skin Clinics identifies three recurring issues in patients returning from overseas procedures: undercorrection or overcorrection due to inadequate pre-procedure assessment, infection or healing complications from lack of ongoing aftercare, and uncertainty about what products were used.
- The practice warns that the lower upfront cost of cosmetic tourism frequently fails to account for corrective treatment upon return to Australia, which typically exceeds the original procedure cost.
- Dr Tass Tasiopoulos advises patients considering overseas procedures to confirm in advance who will manage aftercare if complications arise, and to obtain full details of any products or doses used.
- Dr Tass Cosmetic & Skin Clinics offers consultations for patients considering overseas procedures as well as corrective assessments for those returning with complications, operating across three Melbourne locations.
MELBOURNE, Australia — 4 November 2026 — Dr Tass Cosmetic & Skin Clinics, a Melbourne cosmetic medicine practice with more than 20 years of clinical experience and over 80,000 procedures performed, says the clinical presentations it sees most frequently from patients who have had procedures overseas share common features: inadequate pre-procedure assessment, no accessible aftercare when complications arise, and a return to Australia with a problem that is more complex and more costly to address than the original procedure would have been at home.
An estimated 15,000 Australians travel overseas each year for cosmetic and dental procedures, spending an estimated $300 million annually on cosmetic surgery tourism, according to the Sun, Sea, Sand, Silicone international study cited by the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons. A two-year study of cosmetic tourism complications managed by the public health system at Western Health in Melbourne found that treating patients returning with post-operative complications from overseas procedures cost the Australian public health network $247,169 over a 24-month period, a figure that does not include private corrective procedures or costs borne by patients directly.
The pattern Dr Tass Cosmetic & Skin Clinics observes in patients presenting after overseas procedures covers three categories. The first is undercorrection or overcorrection where the treating practitioner did not have an adequate pre-procedure assessment on which to base volume decisions, particularly in injectables. The second is infection or healing complications where aftercare was limited to the immediate post-operative period in the treating country and no clinical oversight was available once the patient returned to Australia. The third is product uncertainty: patients who cannot identify what was injected, at what dose, or with what product, which makes clinical management significantly more difficult.
"The cost comparison that drives medical tourism does not account for the corrective treatment if something goes wrong. A filler result that needs dissolving and redoing, an infection that needs treatment, a surgical outcome that needs revision: these are not edge cases. They are patterns that present regularly in Australian clinics after overseas procedures, and the cost of managing them in Australia typically exceeds what the patient paid for the original procedure. Before travelling, a patient should be able to answer: who will manage my aftercare if I have a complication, and what is injected or implanted in terms of product and dose," said Dr Tass Tasiopoulos, MBBS, BSc Hons, FCPCA, founder of Dr Tass Cosmetic & Skin Clinics.
Dr Tass Cosmetic & Skin Clinics provides clinical cosmetic consultations as the first step in any treatment engagement, including assessments for patients considering overseas procedures and corrective consultations for patients returning with complications. The practice operates across Crown Spa Melbourne, Port Melbourne, and Ripponlea.
About us:
About Dr Tass Cosmetic & Skin Clinics
Dr Tass Cosmetic & Skin Clinics is a Melbourne-based cosmetic medicine practice founded by Dr Tass Tasiopoulos (MBBS, BSc Hons, FCPCA), a registered medical practitioner with more than 17 years of clinical experience since 2009 and over 60,000 procedures performed. The practice operates across three Melbourne locations: Crown Spa Melbourne, Port Melbourne, and Ripponlea, and holds AGPAL accreditation.
Contact details:
Media Enquiries
Dr Tass Cosmetic & Skin Clinics
Stephanie Tasiopoulos
03 9908 3737
