Plastic surgery in Russia is on the verge of survival: buttock implants are running out

They stopped being imported, and whether they will be available again is another question.

It seems that in the short term, Russian women will be able to show off only their natural beauty: implants that help create bulges and volumes in the most attractive places have begun to rapidly leave our market. Back in the spring, right after the imposition of sanctions, the cost of gluteal implants rose sharply (and now the market price of a butt augmentation operation averages half a million rubles), but today some plastic surgeons began to complain about an acute shortage of “sculptural” material.

The other day, Andrey Lekhner, a surgeon from Novosibirsk, sounded the alarm, who complained about the shortage of buttock implants, which was the result of the sanctions policy. According to him, due to the sanctions, the prices for various foreign materials used by plastic surgeons in their daily practice have noticeably increased: these are not only implants, but also suture material, various drugs, including “beauty shots”, as well as consumables for high-tech surgical and anesthetic equipment. Most of the listed things are simply not produced in Russia, and their rise in price has also led to an increase in the price of operations by 20-30%.

First of all, manipulations for the installation of implants have risen in price. So, operations that cost 250 thousand in the spring, today already cost half a million. In Russia, no one produces implants at all, and their main suppliers are America, Brazil and Germany. At the same time, according to Lechner, in Germany there are now problems with the production of such products. It has become quite ornate to bring it from Brazil and the USA: you have to build routes through third countries, which is long and expensive. But with gluteal implants, Lechner emphasizes, the situation is quite sad: they were no longer imported at all, and whether they will be available again is another question. For example, in the clinic where he works, there is only one pair of gluteal parts left, and even that one was bought out.

The Novosibirsk surgeon explains that for the time being, some clinics keep prices low because they stocked up on consumables ahead of time, but all good things will come to an end, so they will also face the need for new purchases. “So plastic surgery in Russia is becoming less accessible to many potential patients, as it was at its dawn in the distant 90s,” says Andrey Lekhner.

As plastic surgeon Anastasia Guzik told MK, indeed, plastic surgeons faced a shortage of implants for operations to change the shape of the buttocks – they were no longer imported to Russia due to logistics problems that arose against the backdrop of Western sanctions: “Due to the situation in the world difficulties began with the supply of medical equipment. This affected not only implants, but also suture material. At the moment, all these deliveries are established, but nevertheless there are changes that we are already used to.

All materials have seriously risen in price, some even more than twice. As our suppliers explained to us, this is due to logistics. We have to deliver through numerous countries, use additional resources to bring them to Russia. This is what causes the rise in price. I want to note that the quality of the goods has not changed, they supply the same good and proven silicone material. As for the suture material, the situation is similar with it – they have greatly increased in price. Gluteal materials are currently missing – they have either been discontinued or are planned to be launched. But, unfortunately, we are not given accurate information. But one way or another, there are no buttock implants at all. Buttock implants are very specific, they require a special manufacturing technology. Conventional breast implants are not suitable for use in the buttocks, as an alternative, specific products are needed that are designed to be placed in the buttocks. We very much look forward to the resumption of deliveries.”

However, plastic surgeon Dmitry Skvortsov told MK that he has not yet observed any problems with implants: “Indeed, at first we had a little difficulty with logistics, but today we have all the implants in stock and we use them. The only thing is that they have increased in price by an average of 10-15 thousand rubles. This price had to be included in their updated logistics, which became a little longer in time and distance. Now we have all consumables in stock, both threads and implants – we just have to order all this in advance. That is, for example, an application for implants must be submitted 3-5 days in advance. In February-March, when there were fluctuations in the exchange rate of the dollar and the euro, prices rose sharply, but then everything leveled off – and prices plus or minus returned, but, I repeat, the increase was fixed in order to justify the logistics. There are American factories, including those for the production of implants, in Switzerland, which maintains neutrality, and today we take all the materials from there, and also from Brazil, which generally remains a friendly country. Therefore, we do not experience a shortage of implants – even chest, even gluteal, even testicular – at all.