Jan. 25 (UPI) — The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCThe U. S. Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that more Americans are dying after undergoing cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic.
Between 2019 and 2020, liposuction among the procedures performed in at least 24 of the 29 deaths.
“A total of 93 U.S. citizens were reported to have died in the Dominican Republic during 2009-22 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 2009-18 to a mean of 13 during 2019-22, with a peak of 17 in 2020.”
A review of the 29 deaths during 2019 to 2020 revealed the deaths were associated with fat or venous thromboembolism, the CDC said.
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 the risks.
Infections, according to the CDC, are not unusual in surgeries in the Dominican Republic and U. S. citizens look for them there. Deaths are rarer.
Traveling to other countries for cosmetic surgery is not that unusual due to lower prices and shorter wait times.
The CDC said that when more Americans began dying after those cosmetic procedures in the Dominican Republic in 2019 and 2020, the U. S. Embassy reached out to the CDC.
In collaboration with the Dominican Republic Ministry of Health, the CDC launched an investigation.