In short
- Tell your doctor or dentist before you go, and see them again when you are back.
- Bring complete records home in a language your doctor reads, with the implant card for any implant.
- Book the check-ups your treatment needs before you travel: some last months, weight-loss surgery lasts for life.
- A prescription written abroad may not be dispensed at home: ask before you leave.
The treatment abroad lasts days; the aftercare happens at home, often for months. This guide sets out what official sources say you should arrange, so that the people who see you at home know what was done. It is not medical advice: if you have symptoms after treatment, contact a doctor or emergency services straight away.
1. Tell your doctor or dentist, before and after
Discuss your plans with a GP before making final decisions (NHS). The CDC (the United States public health agency) advises talking to your usual doctor well in advance, and agreeing a plan for complications with both them and the clinic abroad (CDC). For dental work, your own dentist needs to know your plans in case of later problems (GDC).
When you are back, book an appointment and hand over your records. In the UK, the doctors' professional body says a patient moving from private to NHS care should receive routine follow-up from their practice, whether the private care was in the UK or not; specialist follow-up means a referral to the right service (BMA).
2. The records to bring home
The CDC advises asking for copies of your overseas medical records in English, and the American College of Surgeons it quotes advises getting a complete set before you return home; give them to whoever sees you afterwards (CDC). Ask for them in a language your doctor at home reads, and check that they include:
- what was done, by whom, where and when (the operation or treatment notes), and the materials and implants used;
- the medicines you were given and the ones you take home, the follow-up advised and who to contact at the clinic.
Before you book explains how to ask for them in the contract.
3. Implant cards and the UK registry
In the European Union, makers of implants must supply an implant card with the device, naming the device, its serial and lot numbers, its model and the maker, and the health institution must give it to you with your identity on it. Sutures, dental fillings, braces and crowns, screws and plates are among the exceptions (EU Regulation 2017/745, article 18; European Commission). Ask for the card before you leave.
After breast implant surgery you should be given a credit-card-sized card with the implant type, size and maker (MHRA). The UK regulator, the MHRA, publishes a Breast Implant Record to note the maker, model, serial and lot numbers of each implant (MHRA).
The UK's Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry (BCIR) lets people be traced if an implant is recalled or a safety concern arises. It covers NHS and private providers in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland (NHS England), so your own card and record matter all the more after surgery abroad.
4. Check-ups: what each treatment needs
| Treatment | What official sources describe | Arrange at home |
|---|---|---|
| Weight-loss surgery | Follow-up for life: usually in a weight-loss surgery clinic for at least the first 2 years, which may then become a yearly GP check-up; it can include blood tests for vitamin and mineral levels (NHS) | Who will see you for the first 2 years, and who will prescribe and test your supplements |
| Dental implants | The recall interval depends on the health of your gums and implants; X-rays when the final tooth is fitted and again at one year serve as a baseline (SDCEP) | A dentist at home who will check the implants, with your X-rays and implant details |
| Laser eye surgery | A check within 24 to 48 hours, then at regular intervals for at least the first six months (FDA) | An optician or eye doctor at home for the later checks |
| Breast implants | Within the first year, problems you think come from the surgery go to the surgeon or clinic that did it; later changes in size, shape or feel go to your GP for a referral to a breast unit (MHRA) | How you will reach the clinic abroad during that first year |
SDCEP is the Scottish dental guidance programme; the FDA is the United States medicines and devices regulator. The recovery planner puts these check-ups on your calendar.
5. Medicines and prescriptions from abroad
A prescription from one EU country is valid in the others, but the rules of the country where it is dispensed apply, and the medicine may not exist there or may have another name. Ask for a paper copy, with the common name of the medicine rather than the brand (Your Europe).
- UK: a pharmacist can dispense a prescription from an EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, as a private prescription, but not for a controlled drug, and may refuse. Prescriptions from other countries should not be dispensed (GOV.UK).
- Ireland: a pharmacist can dispense from a prescription written in another EEA (European Economic Area) country if the medicine is authorised in Ireland and is not a controlled drug (PSI).
- Your GP: a GP may continue a medicine a private doctor started if they agree with it; if not, they can say a specialist should prescribe it (BMA).
Bringing medicine home: in the UK, medicine containing a controlled drug goes in your hand luggage, can be taken away at the border if you cannot prove it was prescribed for you, and is limited to 3 months' supply (GOV.UK).
6. What the health system at home does, and does not do
At home you can be treated for a complication; the system rarely pays to correct a result you are unhappy with. The NHS is not liable for negligence or failure of treatment abroad (NHS), and laser eye surgery is not usually offered on the NHS (NHS). Your dentist at home is responsible only for their own care (GDC). What each of the 19 home countries covers is in If something goes wrong.
7. When to get help at once
Do not wait if you suspect a complication, during the trip or after you are home, and tell the doctors about the care you had abroad (CDC). In the UK:
- Call 999 or go to A&E with pain and swelling in a leg and shortness of breath or chest pain (NHS), or, after weight-loss surgery, severe tummy pain or vomiting blood (NHS).
- Get an urgent GP appointment or call NHS 111 after weight-loss surgery with a high temperature, a fast heartbeat or regular vomiting (NHS), or after eye surgery with sudden new floaters, flashes, a dark curtain across your vision or sudden blurring (NHS).
- After laser eye surgery, contact your eye doctor at once with severe pain, or if your vision gets worse instead of better (FDA).
Outside the UK, use your own country's emergency number.