The Herald on Sunday (New Zealand)
17th July 2005

KIWI WOMEN are getting nipped and tucked on Extreme Makeover-style plastic-surgery holidays - and they're taking their husbands along for the ride.

Gorgeous Getaways, an Australia-based company, has booked more than 40 New Zealand couples on the trips to Thailand and Indonesia, with husbands often going under the knife at the last minute.

Director Louise Cogan said she was surprised at how popular the concept, which is only 18 months old, was with New Zealanders.

"We do have a lot of New Zealanders and the proportion of our clients is so high considering the relative population,'' Ms Cogan told the Herald on Sunday.

Horror stories of cut-price surgeons doing more harm than good were half the reason Ms Cogan formed the company. In Australia - where thousands have travelled for makeovers - doctors are seeing the fallout of bad surgery.

They are warning people to make sure they know what they are getting after seeing people return with leaky implants, staples left in after facelifts and hair loss after forehead lifts.

Ms Cogan said people liked the complete anonymity of surgery performed in a foreign country.

Most New Zealand clients are either women in their 20s who want breast-enhancement surgery or women between 35 and 50 who go for multiple Extreme Makeover surgical procedures.

The women stay for 14-21 days in five-star accommodation and Ms Cogan said the package holiday price - including surgery - is 50-60 per cent of what they would pay for just the surgery at home.

A full facelift and breast enlargement package on a Gorgeous Getaway, including 14 nights' accommodation, daily breakfast, hospital and hotel transfers and after care, costs $11,877. For the surgery alone in New Zealand, clients can expect to pay upwards of $25,000.

Ms Cogan said husbands who come along as support for their wives ended up on the operating table themselves. "We have a lot of men who see the results of their partner's surgery and have something themselves - usually liposuction. They look fantastic when they get home and everyone just thinks they have had a relaxing holiday."

President of the New Zealand Foundation for Cosmetic Surgery Dr Martin Rees said clients should do their homework before under-going any plastic surgery - here or abroad.

"It looks great on the website and seems like fantastic value for money but people should talk to people who have been to the surgeon the company uses. You would want to see results of their work."

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