Has been living in Prague fo 2 years working as an English language teacher and freelance writer. Originally from West Sussex on the south-coast of England. Is looking forward to contributing more content to Medical Travel Czech in the near future.
When trying to choose the right destination for plastic surgery, sometimes the way a company presents itself, along with the country it is situated in, can reflect whether or not the company’s goals match your expectations for undergoing the treatment.
It has been suggested that the most common factors cited by patients in choosing where to have medical procedures carried out are ‘quality of doctor, quality of clinic and price’ (1). However, the choice for patients has become much harder due to a large amount of destinations, agencies and clinics which ‘appear to offer the same thing- cosmetic surgery on the cheap’ (1).
Plastic Surgery has become one of the most popular treatments booked through medical tourism agencies, so the decision as to where to have treatment has been made more complicated by the fact that so many clinics offer good prices, with a high quality doctor in a high quality clinic. Maybe the task now for the conscientious patient, is to ask what other decision making factors should be explored. Reading through an interesting study conducted recently by the University of Leeds, I wondered if perhaps one of these parameters has, or could become a patient’s personal aesthetic values and ulterior reasons for undergoing treatment. I believe both of these could be hugely understated factors, and the way a company markets itself and even a country’s own cultural and aesthetic values could be the key to helping people decide where to go for surgery.
What we can learn from a website
According to the research team, Spanish cosmetic surgery sites for example, are marketing themselves to a specific market segment, by showing images of obvious wealth such as photos of yachts (1). These yachts, the research suggested, “could be taken as clunky signifiers of status and luxury, which serve to connect cosmetic surgery with beauty and success, specifically in the form of wealth” (2). I’d like to think now that plastic surgery treatment has outgrown archaic stereotypes of vulgar, false-looking plasticity, and become as much about health, confidence and personal wellbeing; a far reach from the days when plastic surgery was considered no more than process to sculpt oneself a Marilyn Monroe figure. Other reasons too, such as ‘relief from pain’ or ‘getting your body back into shape after childbirth’ (1), are other commonly cited reasons given for plastic surgery treatment. And I think Czech cosmetic clinics capture this new-age approach to plastic surgery better than any.
The research suggested that in comparison to Spanish sites, Czech sites are appealing to a different market by being more understated (2). To persist with this theory, this can be seen in both the design and layout of Brandeis Clinic and Perfect clinic two highly regarded clinics in the Czech Republic. Both have very soft subtle design features, hygienic almost, and use images very tactfully; not brash images of the ‘perfect’ human figure pinned across the homepage like on some websites I came across. Both sites ooze sophistication, subtlety and professionalism, three far more suitable and 21st century values than wealth, success and beauty. The values seemingly being promoted here are aimed towards the modern conscientious patient. And from my time in the Czech Republic, I can vouch for many of the values that are presented here- hygiene, subtlety, longevity and professionalism are all glittering testaments to the Czech character that I have observed.