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Not all procedures considered to change your physical appearance are without risk, as the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reminds us. Some surgeries expose you to more complications than others. Here are the top 10.
Changing your appearance comes at a cost, and it’s not just financial. During certain cosmetic procedures, the risk of suffering more or less serious complications must be taken into account before going under the knife. Thus, a new study has taken stock and determined the types of complications, recovery times and mortality rates from medical studies and clinical data, according to cosmetic surgeries. And the riskiest is probably not the one you think.
The most risky? Changing eye color
With a 92% risk of complications, eye color change surgery, called keratopigmentation, tops the list of riskiest surgeries. It involves laser removal of pigment, including cosmetic iris implants, and re-pigmentation of the iris (digging a tunnel into the cornea to place the new pigment). Cost of surgery? $12,000 (about 11,000 euros) and a recovery time of 1 to 8 weeks.
But changing your eyes from hazel to green puts you at significant risk: Experts warn of complications that include vision loss, blindness, glaucoma and uveitis, or eye inflammation. In the United States, where this study comes from, the procedure is not approved by the American health authorities (the Food and Drug Administration).
Other procedures at the top of the list
In second and third place, we find popular procedures concerning the middle of the body. Thus, the thigh lift occupies the second place on the list, with a 78% risk of complications such as blood clots, infection and altered skin sensation, all the same.
The celebrity-popular Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL), which aims to enhance the buttocks, comes in third with a 38% risk of complications (more than 1 in 3 procedures). Problems that can arise include fat cells entering the bloodstream (and traveling to the lungs or brain), infection, nerve damage, swelling, and scarring. Testimonials regularly appear on TikTok in particular, from disappointed customers.
Top 10 Procedures You Should Know the Risks of
In the end, 10 of them experienced a significant rate of complications.
- Eye color change surgery (cosmetic iris implants, laser depigmentation, keratopigmentation): complication rate of 92.3%;
- Thigh lift: 78% complication rate;
- Brazilian butt lift: 38% complication rate;
- Bodylift: 42% complication rate;
- Injectable fillers: 65% complication rate;
- Breast reduction: 38% complication rate;
- Buttock implants: 22% complication rate;
- Breast augmentation: 14% complication rate;
- Arm lift (brachioplasty): complication rate of 21%;
- Breast lift (mastopexy): 10% complication rate.
Information to know as cosmetic surgery tends to become commonplace. As a reminder, in the United States, procedures have seen a further 5% increase over the last year.
Slideshow: Stars: the worst cosmetic surgery failures!