Trends and Issues of Foreign Patients Undergoing Plastic Surgery Over the Past 15 Years

The Foreign Technical Intern Training Program, established in 1993, has undergone three revisions, and the number of foreign workers in Japan (as of October 2024) is expected to reach a record high of 2.3 million and continue to grow. In Nagasaki Prefecture, foreign residents account for more than 1% of the prefecture's population, and the number of foreign patients visiting plastic surgery departments is also increasing. We investigated the trends of foreign patients who underwent surgery at our hospital's plastic surgery department over the past 15 years and analyzed the results.

Foreign patients who underwent surgery at our hospital's plastic surgery department between April 1, 2010, and March 31, 2024, were retrospectively identified from medical records. The following factors were examined: 1) Patient background (nationality, employment type), 2) Clinical findings at the first consultation (mechanism of injury, disease name).

A total of 31 foreign patients underwent surgery. The number of patients increased sharply after 2017, when the Foreign Technical Intern Training Act came into effect, with Vietnamese patients accounting for the majority (55%). Seventy-one percent of surgical patients were foreign technical intern trainees, and most cases (61%) were work-related accidents.

With the increase in foreign residents, especially technical intern trainees, the number of foreigners undergoing plastic surgery has also risen. Many cases involved work-related accidents among foreign technical intern trainees, more than 80% of whom were from Southeast Asia. As the number of foreign residents increases, the number of foreign surgical patients is also expected to rise. However, work-related accidents are likely to decrease as the working environment improves.