Reconstructive surgery in Turkey

Reconstructive surgery repairs or rebuilds a part of the body so that it looks and works as normally as possible after disease, injury or a previous operation. Cosmetic surgery reshapes a normal feature to change its appearance. The techniques overlap almost completely: a breast reconstruction uses the same implants as breast augmentation, a body lift after weight loss is the same operation as a body lift for a patient who was never obese, and scar revision uses the same flaps and grafts that close a wound after cancer. What differs is the aim, the starting point and who pays.

That last point drives most of the searches for reconstructive surgery abroad. Insurers and public health services fund operations they classify as reconstructive and refuse the ones they classify as cosmetic, and the line is drawn differently in every country. Skin removal after massive weight loss is the usual casualty: the skin is a consequence of a medical treatment, but the operation is often declined as cosmetic. If your operation was refused at home, the refusal letter is worth bringing, because it usually states what was assessed and why.

• After cancer

  Breast reconstruction after mastectomy, closure of defects after skin cancer removal, nasal and ear reconstruction. The oncology plan comes first and the reconstruction fits around it.

• After massive weight loss

  Abdominoplasty, arm and thigh lifts, body lift and breast lift once weight has been stable for months. The commonest reconstructive reason to travel, because home funding is so often refused.

• Scars, burns and injuries

  Scar revision, contracture release, grafts and local flaps. Timing matters: a scar is revised after it has matured, not while it is still red and active.

• After a previous operation

  Revision of a rhinoplasty, breast implant or tummy tuck that went wrong, including operations done abroad. Harder than the first operation and priced accordingly.

Several of these have their own pages: breast reconstruction, plastic surgery after weight loss, revision rhinoplasty, breast implant revision and tummy tuck revision. This page covers what they share: how reconstruction is staged, what travels and what does not.

1. 1

   Records before the consultation

   Operation notes and histology from any cancer surgery, the oncologist's plan, implant cards, photographs, your weight history after bariatric surgery and any funding refusal letter. Reconstruction is planned from what was done before, not from a photograph of what is there now.
2. 2

   Consultation and plan

   A plastic and reconstructive surgeon examines you, sets out the options, the number of stages, the expected result and what the operation will not do, and screens for the things that stop it: smoking, uncontrolled diabetes, unstable weight, active cancer treatment.
3. 3

   Preparation

   Stopping smoking and nicotine weeks before, because they are the commonest cause of wound breakdown and flap loss; blood tests and anaesthetic review; blood thinners planned for the flights and the operation.
4. 4

   The operation

   From an hour for a scar revision under local anaesthetic to most of a day for a flap reconstruction under general anaesthetic, with a hospital stay that ranges from none to several nights and drains that stay in until the output falls.
5. 5

   Early recovery in Turkey

   Wound checks, drain removal and, for flaps, monitoring of the blood supply in the first days. This is the period you must stay for; leaving early to save on hotel nights is how a manageable problem becomes an emergency at home.
6. 6

   Later stages and follow-up

   Nipple reconstruction, implant exchange, fat grafting or scar refinement months later, either on a second trip or with a surgeon at home who has agreed to take you on. Scars are judged after a year, not after a fortnight.

• Anyone still smoking or using nicotine. Flap and wound complications rise sharply; surgeons who operate on smokers are telling you their threshold for the rest.
• Anyone in active cancer treatment without the oncologist's written agreement. Timing around chemotherapy and radiotherapy is the oncologist's call, not the clinic's.
• Anyone whose weight is still changing after bariatric surgery. Skin removal is done when weight has been stable for months; done early, the result loosens again.
• Uncontrolled diabetes, a high body mass index or a clotting disorder. Each multiplies the wound and clot risks of a long operation.
• Open wounds, infected implants and unclosed defects. These need treatment where they are, not a flight.
• Children with congenital conditions. Cleft, ear and hand reconstruction in children belongs in a home service that can follow growth for years.
• Anyone who cannot stay for the early recovery or arrange follow-up at home. The operation is the short part.

• The operation and the technique. A scar revision under local anaesthetic and a flap breast reconstruction with a microsurgery team are different orders of cost.
• Stages. Whether the second stage, the implant exchange or the nipple reconstruction is in the price or a second invoice.
• Hospital nights and intensive care. Flap surgery means several nights and monitoring; body contouring means at least one.
• Implants, meshes and garments. Implant brand and any mesh or dermal matrix; compression garments for months after contouring.
• Anaesthesia and length of surgery. Combined operations run for hours and are priced by the hour of theatre and anaesthetist.
• Complications and revisions. Whether a return to theatre or a later revision is covered, for how long, and whether the flight back is yours to pay.
• Follow-up. Included visits before you fly and any remote review afterwards.

The clinic listing on this page shows each clinic's current price with a note of what it includes. For paying in instalments, see payment plans.