We meet the British tourists travelling to Istanbul for everything from ‘Turkey teeth’ to breast uplifts as part of holiday packages, despite the well-known risks
Brits have told why they flock to Turkey for cosmetic procedures for everything from boob jobs to new teeth.
The Mirror spoke to a group of eight friends from Bournemouth who had all travelled to Istanbul after saving up to get new “Turkey teeth”.
Lidz Jolly, 52, said: “I only had two molars left for chewing and they didn’t meet properly. I’ve had them out and I’ll be coming back in three or four months to have it finished, depending on when I’ve saved the money.”
We met holidaymakers after the initial removal of teeth while they awaited the second part of the operation to fix new veneers or full artificial teeth on to the ‘pegs’.
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Paul Moss, 53, had come over five veneers and implants for £4,500. He said: “I had the implants put in last night but I wouldn’t be able to afford to have this kind of thing done in England.”
Jody Hall, 45, arrived having paid £4,500 to finish off a full mouth of implants. He had travelled out to Turkey 18 months ago before having to save up to have the surgery completed. He told the Mirror: “I had my teeth taken out in a different part of Turkey and I was supposed to come back sooner but I just didn’t have the money.”
Shazza Gibbons, 47, said: “I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and get them done. It’s terrible trying to get an NHS dentist at home.”
Patients have reported being unable to find an NHS dentist willing to treat them after they get home after having extensive dental surgery in Turkey. Dentists can be unwilling to take on new patients which require complex aftercare because NHS funding means they sometimes make a financial loss treating them.
Brits still travel to Turkey in their thousands for cut-price cosmetic surgery despite the known risks.
A 2022 study identified that the most common complication after cosmetic surgery was wounds coming apart and infection. Most patients presenting to the NHS with complications from cosmetic surgery had been treated abroad, with 72% in Turkey.
Laura Flemming, 29, from Dundee, told the Mirror she had just undergone a breast uplift and implant as part of an Istanbul holiday package costing £3,600. She said: “I’d lost weight and my boobs had gone smaller so I wanted to have them uplifted.
“It’s obviously a thought that you worry it won’t go well. You’re doing something to your body so that’s quite scary. But when you want it so much it’s a risk that you take.”
The Mirror is campaigning to Ban the Cosmetic Cowboys after a number of Brits contracted sepsis and some died from complications.
We reported in 2024 that mother-of-five Alice Webb, 33, from Bristol, had become the first person to die after having a liquid Brazilian butt lift (BBL) in a UK clinic. And Sasha Dean, 54, told last year how she came close to death during a botched BBL at her home. Her feet turned black, she developed sepsis and was placed in a coma, given just a 5% chance of survival.
Kaydell Brown, 38, died on an operating table in Istanbul in 2024 after travelling there for a tummy tuck, liposuction and a BBL.
Cosmetic surgery clinics in Istanbul partner with major hotel chains to offer tourism packages. At numerous hotels we witnessed patients bandaged after undergoing nose jobs and hair transplants being ushered from clinic-branded minibuses back to their hotel to recover. At one hotel we saw a woman in a headscarf and sunglasses being helped to walk very slowly through the lobby in obvious pain, back to her room.
Laura told us she had been subjected to pressure sales tactics online from other Turkish clinics while researching her operation. She said: “If you enquire they keep calling you. They would say things like ‘if you book today it’s at this discounted price’.”
Her friend Kaitlin Jackson, 31, from Preston, said she was saving up for a tummy tuck operation. She said: “When I was younger I always wanted my boobs done but it wasn’t achievable, it was something celebrities did. It was something you would do if you won the lottery but now in Turkey it is more affordable. And you’re not judged as much for it these days.”
Laura added: “Young people these days think ‘life’s too short – get it fixed’. People want to be body positive and enjoy their bodies.”



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