The 2026 CDC Cosmetic-Procedure Findings: What They Mean for Medical Travelers

What CDC published

On June 2, 2026, the CDC published "Adverse Outcomes of Travel-Related Cosmetic Procedures among US Residents, 2014–2024" in its journal Emerging Infectious Diseases (vol. 32, no. 6), by McNamara, Rowh, Stoney and Perkins. It came with a CDC press release. Headlines described it as a warning about cosmetic surgery abroad. The study itself is narrower than that, and more useful once you know what it measured.

How the data were gathered

The authors reviewed consultation records from CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. A "consultation" is a request from a health department for CDC's help investigating possible patient harm from infection-control failures. The review covered January 2014 through December 2024.

• 2,162 consultations were reviewed in total.
• 34 involved patients who had travelled for medical care.
• 21 involved travel for cosmetic procedures and met the inclusion criteria. They covered about 145 patients.
• 17 of those 21 involved international destinations and 4 involved travel within the US.

Reconstructive and bariatric surgery were excluded, as were procedures done in the patient's home state.

The key findings at a glance

What the facility assessments found

Infection-control findings were available for only two consultations, one domestic and one international. Both showed gaps in fundamentals: environmental cleaning, use of protective equipment, hand hygiene and reprocessing of surgical instruments. In one domestic investigation, the surgery center had already closed before it could be assessed. The authors also point to non-sterile water and ice as a possible route for NTM transmission.

None of this involves exotic technology. These are the routine practices that separate a well-run procedure room from a risky one, and they are hard for a patient to see from the outside.

What the study cannot tell you

The authors are clear about the limits, and travelers should take them seriously:

• It isn't a rate. The study counts investigations, not procedures. It can't tell you your odds of infection in any country or clinic.
• It's a convenience sample. It includes only jurisdictions that asked CDC for help, so it doesn't represent every travel-related outbreak.
• Problems are probably undercounted. Facilities may not track outcomes, reporting varies, and full investigation details weren't always sent to CDC.
• It doesn't rank destinations. The examples highlighted in the paper centre on the Dominican Republic and Florida. The study gives no ranking or comparison of countries, including Colombia.

Reading it as "cosmetic surgery abroad is dangerous" or "my destination wasn't named, so it's fine" both miss the point. For how this evidence fits with other data, see our 2026 evidence report on medical tourism safety.

Five practical lessons for medical travelers

1. Plan for infection first

Infection showed up in nearly every included consultation. When you compare options, ask how each facility prevents, tracks and responds to surgical infections, and give those answers as much weight as price and reviews.

2. Expect problems to surface at home

Multi-state investigations show that patients often scatter before anyone links their cases. Your home doctor may be the first to see a complication. Arrange that relationship before you leave. Our guide to planning follow-up at home explains how.

3. Keep an exact record of what was done and where

Investigators can only link cases when patients can say precisely which facility treated them, on what dates, and with which procedures. Write it down, and keep the operative report and discharge papers.

4. Treat combined procedures with care

Sixteen of the 21 consultations involved more than one procedure. The study doesn't show that combining procedures caused the harm, but combined sessions are common in this field. Ask your surgeon how combining affects your individual risk.

5. Distance from home counts, not just borders

Four consultations involved travel within the US. The challenge of getting care far from home, then returning to clinicians who weren't involved, applies whether or not you cross a border.

Why small numbers still matter

Twenty-one consultations over eleven years can sound reassuringly small. That isn't how the authors frame it. Each consultation was a health department asking for help with harm it had already found, sometimes involving dozens of patients. And the authors expect underdetection. A cluster is only recognized if enough patients in one place happen to see clinicians who suspect a link, test for the right organism and report it. So the number tells you the minimum that came to CDC's attention, not the size of the problem.

How to read the headlines

Coverage of studies like this tends to drift in one of two directions. Both are worth resisting:

• "CDC warns against cosmetic surgery abroad." The study doesn't tell anyone not to travel. It asks patients to weigh the risks, especially infection, and to plan accordingly.
• "Only 21 cases in ten years, so it's safe." The study isn't built to measure safety, and the authors say outbreaks were probably missed.

The most accurate reading is in between. Serious infections after travel for cosmetic surgery have been investigated repeatedly. They tend to involve basic infection-control failures. They are easy to miss when patients scatter after treatment.

Questions this study gives you for your surgeon

• How does your facility track surgical site infections, including ones diagnosed after patients go home?
• Do you use sterile water and sterile products wherever an open wound or injection is involved?
• How are surgical instruments cleaned and sterilized, and who checks that?
• If a patient reports a wound problem from abroad, what do you do, and will you share records with their home doctor?

No answer guarantees safety. A team that answers these questions comfortably and specifically has usually thought about them.

If you've already had a cosmetic procedure away from home

The study is also a reminder for people who have already travelled. Watch your wounds for healing that stalls, recurring redness, lumps, or drainage that won't stop, and get it checked in person rather than relying only on messages to the clinic. When you're seen, say where and when the procedure was done, which procedures were combined, and what antibiotics you've already taken. That history is what lets a clinician consider the less common infections this study describes.

What CDC asks of patients and clinicians

For patients, the authors advise weighing the potential risks, including infection, before travelling for cosmetic procedures, and discussing plans with a healthcare professional beforehand. For clinicians, they recommend considering infection, especially NTM, in patients who travelled for cosmetic surgery, keeping a low threshold for notifying health departments, and investigating even a single healthcare-associated NTM case outside the lungs. Complications can be reported to state or local health departments and to CDC at medicaltourism@cdc.gov.

For what NTM infection looks like and how it's diagnosed and treated, see our separate guide to nontuberculous mycobacteria after cosmetic surgery abroad.

Frequently asked questions

Does the 2026 CDC study show that cosmetic surgery abroad is more dangerous than at home?

No. It reviewed investigations CDC was asked to help with, so it can't calculate or compare complication rates. It describes the kinds of harm that were investigated, not how often they happen.

Did the CDC study mention Colombia?

The examples highlighted in the paper centre on the Dominican Republic and Florida. The study doesn't rank or compare countries, so it gives no evidence either way about Colombia specifically.

How many people died in the cases CDC reviewed?

The study reports that 4 of the 21 included consultations involved deaths. Outcomes were unknown in 14 consultations, so the full picture is incomplete.

Why did NTM come up so often?

NTM were the most frequently identified pathogen among the infection consultations. The authors highlight non-sterile water and ice as a possible route of transmission, along with basic infection-control gaps at the facilities that were assessed.

What should I do differently because of this study?

Put infection-control questions near the top of your checklist, arrange follow-up at home before you go, and keep exact records of where and when each procedure was done. If a problem appears after you're home, give your clinician your full travel and procedure history.