title: Brief encounters: Assembling cosmetic surgery tourism.
abstract: This paper reports findings from a large-scale, multi-disciplinary, mixed methods project which explores empirically and theoretically the rapidly growing but poorly understood (and barely regulated) phenomenon of cosmetic surgery tourism (CST). We explore CST by drawing on theories of flows, networks and assemblages, aiming to produce a fuller and more nuanced account of - and accounting for - CST. This enables us to conceptualise CST as an interplay of places, people, things, ideas and practices. Through specific instances of assembling cosmetic surgery that we encountered in the field, and that we illustrate with material from interviews with patients, facilitators and surgeons, our analysis advances understandings and theorisations of medical mobilities, globalisation and assemblage thinking.
authors.affiliation: University of Leeds, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holliday
authors.affiliation: University of Leeds, United Kingdom. Electronic address: d.j.bell@leeds.ac.uk.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Olive
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: University of Technology Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Meredith
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: University of Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Elspeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Probyn
mesh_terms: D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006739:Hospital Administration; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D057193:Medical Tourism / Q000639:trends*; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D061108:Social Media; D060756:Social Networking; D012962:Sociology, Medical; D013518:Surgery, Plastic / Q000458:organization & administration*
keywords: Assemblage; Cosmetic surgery tourism; Flow; Network