WOMEN who opted for cut-price cosmetic surgery abroad are inundating a North-East hospital with pleas for help after their operations went disastrously wrong.

Plastic surgeons at The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, have carried out emergency surgery on an increasing number of patients who had flown overseas in a bid to improve their looks on the cheap.

In many cases, women patients have been suffering from life-threatening infections.

Other patients who have suffered problems with surgery have had to be turned away because the NHS is not funded to carry out cosmetic, non-urgent surgery.

Martin Coady, clinical director of plastic and reconstructive surgery at James Cook hospital, urged anyone considering going abroad for "cheap" cosmetic surgery to think carefully before doing so.

He said: "We advise prospective patients to beware of glossy advertising and to talk to their GP before they consider cosmetic surgery.

"Your chances of complaining about a surgeon in a foreign country are minimal, you may have to spend thousands of pounds to correct the problem, and you could end up becoming very unwell into the bargain.

"Carol", 43, from Middlesbrough, had to have emergency surgery to drain an infected stomach wound and remove a large blood clot following a tummy-tuck operation in the Czech Republic.

The operation in Prague cost £2,000 and seemed to go well. But a few weeks later, the mother-of-two developed complications and was admitted to James Cook hospital for seven nights.

She said: "It was really frightening. I was going back to have a bust reduction but now I've cancelled it."

No record is kept of the number of British women going to countries such as Thailand, Egypt and India, as well as eastern Europe, for cut-price surgery, but the sector is said to be expanding.

Mr Coady said: "Cases are being referred to plastic surgeons here where patients have found it difficult or impossible to seek help from their original surgeon or clinic. These may be thousands of miles away, inaccessible or reluctant to help.

"In many cases, patients are not happy with the standard of work carried out. But, more seriously, they have become unwell on returning home and then have to seek urgent help locally."

He added: "Some patients have required emergency operations to deal with potentially life-threatening infections.

"We have dealt with cases where the standards of decision-making and surgery fall below those generally considered acceptable by properly accredited plastic surgeons in the UK."

"Rachel", a 26-year-old from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, decided to have surgery to increase her bust size in 2002.

She opted for the more expensive option of having implants at a reputable UK cosmetic surgery centre, in Manchester.

For £3,500 her bust was increased from 34AA to 34B - three cup sizes.

She said: "I wouldn't fancy going abroad to have this done because you hear such horror stories. If I had seen it for a cheaper price, I would have been a bit dubious. You get what you pay for."

Cosmetic plastic surgeon Dr Ash Dutta, medical director of the private Aesthetic Beauty Centre, in Newcastle, said he saw about one patient a month who had had medical problems after surgery abroad.

He advised North-East patients to stick to UK doctors.

The Department of Health provides a booklet for UK patients called Considering Cosmetic Surgery?

It is available from www.dh.gov.uk/cosmeticsurgery.