Cosmetic tourism is still an essential source of "fresh dollars" through the coming of several Arab tourists to Lebanon to perform cosmetic surgeries due to the good reputation enjoyed by this sector.
This article was originally published in, translated from the Lebanese newspaper Addiyar.
We have all seen Arab television and cinematic works in which a person goes to Lebanon to return with a much younger appearance, whether in terms of plastic surgery, liposuction, sculpting, hair transplantation, skin tightening, wrinkle treatment, and so on.
Arab cinema always emphasizes that Lebanon is a center of beauty, whether concerning medical tourism or the appearance of its citizens and how they always appear in a state of beauty and radiance.
Indeed, Lebanon is not only known for beauty and plastic surgeries, but it also competes with Western countries in its quality. It is considered a starting point for cosmetic surgeries in the Arab world and their spread.
It is true that Lebanon has been suffering from multiple economic crises for more than three years, but the demand for plastic surgeries has not stopped.
Instead, it is still there and attracts many Lebanese expatriates and Arab tourists, and it is almost the only sector that is witnessing a boom in light of the current deterioration.
Many statistics previously revealed that the number of plastic surgeries performed annually in Lebanon ranges between 19,000 and 20,000. Based on these numbers, Lebanon ranked second in the world, after Brazil, in terms of the number of plastic surgeries.
The fame of the Lebanese plastic surgeons, which reached the East and the West, encouraged women in the Gulf, Jordan, and Syria to choose Lebanese clinics and hospitals to perform plastic surgeries.
Lebanon is characterized by rhinoplasty, laser nose surgery, dental implants, hair transplants, liposuction, and tummy tuck.
Lebanese stars and actresses have recently become famous, whether in the fields of singing, acting, or arts in general, for their distinctive appearance. Many of them indicate that they have undergone plastic surgery.
This is what made girls generally take them as their role models and want to achieve a beauty that competes with the beauty of stars, which increased the rate of plastic surgery in Lebanon.
Plastic surgery has developed in Lebanon, and private medical centers have invested heavily in private cosmetic centers that compete globally.
Doctors in Lebanon also enjoy the "oriental" sense of beauty, which helps the Arab patient to reach the desired result specifically.
According to research conducted by the World Bank, the field of medical tourism weighs $40 billion worldwide, including $10 billion for the Middle East and Lebanon, which, based on Addiyar, is a regional platform for medical care, and plastic surgery accounts for more than 70 percent of medical tourism in it.