Complications from plastic surgery has become a 'burden' on the NHS-as medical staff are forced to fix the results of disaster cosmetic operations performed by unqualified practitioners abroad.

Botched Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs) are being carried out in people's living rooms, in Airbnbs and in hotel rooms and leading to catastrophic health issues, MPs have heard.

In a hearing at the House of Commons hosted by the Women and Equalities committee, a collection of experts including nurses, campaigners and doctors shared evidence of the dangers of cosmetic tourism and how it could cripple the NHS.  

Ashton Collins, director of Save Face, a register of accredited practitioners for cosmetic surgery, told the committee on Wednesday there was a 'crisis waiting to happen' because of 'grey areas' in regulation.  

Leading nurses also warned that cosmetic operations abroad are being sold as 'holiday packages', and have called for companies providing them to cover the NHS costs should they need to intervene as a result of negative side effects.

Meanwhile, Professor Vivien Lees, consultant plastic surgeon and vice president at the Royal College of Surgeons, said the current regulations surrounding such procedures are 'insufficient'. 

'We regularly see people both from this country and overseas who've got acute problems that cannot be sorted out by the people who did the treatments.

'I've seen infected buttock implants coming out, abscesses, bleeding problems in the middle of the night from clinics, actually medical clinics here, that don't have the ability to treat their own complications. 

'So that lands up with the NHS and it's turning into a significant burden of work, particularly for the plastic surgeons, also for the breast surgeons.'

She added the number of problems resulting from these procedures will only ramp up as the global cosmetic surgery three fold over the next decade.

It follows a growing trend of people travelling overseas for weight-loss surgery, dental care and cosmetic procedures, with Turkey being a hotspot known for slashed prices.

'These are surgical procedures that should not be being carried out on the high street they are being carried out in people's living rooms, in Airbnbs, in hotel rooms, by people who are using products that they're buying unlicensed from places like China and Korea,' said Ms Collins.

'They are decanting them from huge vats into individual syringes and inject thousands of millilitres into people's breasts and buttocks.

'And then when things go wrong, they are misdiagnosing these problems and telling them there's nothing to worry about, and luckily, all of these women have taken themselves off to hospital, because if they hadn't, there would have been countless deaths in the UK because of this, and it shouldn't be allowed to happen.'

She added social media has also become rampant with 'unscrupulous' practitioners who use the platform to promote the invasive operations. 

Ms Collins has called for legislation to ensure that BBLs are only performed by qualified surgeons, which would be named Alice's Law—after a young woman who died after a Brazilian butt lift.

A BBL uses liposuction to remove fat from one part of the body like abdomen, hips or thighs and then inject it into the bottom to make it bigger, more rounded and lifted. 

But the surgery is so risky that the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons has advised its members not to perform it. 

It's known as a 'blind' procedure, and surgeons can inadvertently injure the large vessels in the muscle or even inject fat directly into those vessels if the tube goes too deep.

The injected fat can travel and cause a blockage in a blood vessel in the lungs, known medically as a pulmonary embolism, which can be fatal.

Alice Webb, 33, was a mother of five was the first person to die from a BBL procedure in the UK. She lost her life in September 2025 just hours after having the surgery, which is believed to have been performed in Gloucestershire. 

BBL surgery has the highest death rate of all cosmetic procedures across the globe. Twenty-five fatalities were confirmed in the United States over the last five years, according to the National Library of Medicine. 

The number of people needing hospital treatment in the UK after getting cosmetic surgery abroad increased by 94 per cent in three years, say the BBPS.

While the study also found 50 per cent of patients regretted their decision to have the operation overseas.

Since 2019, 28 Britons have died after undergoing cosmetic surgery in Turkey, with six fatalities in the country due to medical tourism in 2023 alone, figures from the Foreign Office revealed.

She was treated at a UK clinic run by a glamorous beautician and a TV star dubbed the 'Lip King'. It is run by beautician Jemma Pawlyszyn and Jordan James Parke.

Mr Parke, who describes himself on social media as 'The Plastic Surgery Advocate', is not a qualified surgeon and provides treatment from the clinic.