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Dr Leah Totton, winner of The Apprentice, has voiced her worries about the trend of cosmetic tourism. After winning the BBC show in 2013, the businesswoman and practising doctor secured a business partnership with Lord Alan Sugar. Since then, Dr Leah, 37, graduated from the University of East Anglia in Norwich back in 2011 and later registered with the General Medical Council. While most people going on The Apprentice with a full business plan, this is something Dr Leah hadn't thought about. Just a year after her victory, Dr Leah launched Dr Leah Clinic, co-owned with Lord Sugar, in central London, later expanding to additional branches in Essex and London. The duo subsequently introduced Dr Leah Skincare in October 2022, generating a significant profit. The entrepreneur from Derry specialises in non-surgical cosmetic procedures, but she admits having concerns surrounding the ongoing epidemic surrounding cosmetic surgery tourism. Each year, thousands of Brits jet abroad for cheaper cosmetic procedures, often at a huge fraction of the cost of what they would pay in the UK. But this comes with substantial risks, reports the Mirror . "It's really worrying, it's a really worrying trend, a really concerning trend," Dr Leah told the Mirror. She continued: "When you undergo surgery, it's a very different risk, a general anaesthetic, which can cause its own huge risks, or significant risks at least. And the thing with non-surgical cosmetic injectables is that, for the most part, they are reversible. "The surgery is a permanent change, and even the psychological sequelae of undergoing a permanent cosmetic change is something that you need to be supported through, counselled before, and there needs to be a thorough consultative process to make sure you're a suitable candidate for the surgery, physically, psychologically and emotionally. That is a big part of my concern for cosmetic tourism to people." Dr Leah went on to state that the aftercare of surgery abroad needed to be highlighted, should anything go wrong. However, she stressed that the quality of surgery isn't always impacted, as there are "good surgeons who don't work in the UK", but other aspects sparked a concern for her. "I've had a lot of patients approach me, having unfortunate outcomes of face and necklifts abroad who want help remedying the outcome," she said. Dr Leah added: "It's very difficult to get a doctor in the UK to take on that case, it's doing revision work, it's difficult, your medical negligence insurance for it is substantial. "If you've had a botched outcome abroad, you're going to find it difficult to get a UK surgeon to take on that case, and patients need to be aware of that. The NHS will treat them in emergency situations, but it is not their responsibility to correct cosmetic treatment outcomes." With celebrities such as Katie Price often promoting cosmetic tourism, Dr Leah admits that she hopes that surgeons offer detailed examinations beforehand. "The driver for going abroad to have surgery is the price, it's value-seeking," she explained, adding: "If the same treatment was available in the UK, no one is going to put themselves through the risk or frankly the inconvenience of having to get a four-hour flight, stay at a hotel, fly back post-op. That's not anyone's first choice normally. "Why are we having medical tourism? The issue is affordability in the UK." Although Dr Leah practises in non-surgical cosmetics, she has raised her concerns over pricing with her surgeon colleagues. "Is it that it's no longer affordable to undergo surgery in the UK, and that's why we're seeing this exodus of patients going abroad and increasing their risk in doing so?", she asked. Dr Leah admits that the press are "excellent" at highlighting the risks of cosmetic tourism and raising awareness of the risks people undergo on a regular basis, as people may often be naive of the risks involved. "You may not be aware of what the risks truly are, how much follow-up is required after a neck lift and a tummy tuck," she said before explaining: "A BBL is another huge, high-risk surgery where the risk is literally death. "We have cases well publicised where women have died undergoing that surgery, so raising awareness about the risks so the general population are better able to make a more informed decision, I think, would reduce medical tourism." But, Dr Leah says the industry has seen a huge advancement in non-surgical procedures, including treatment for neck and face sagging, using energy-based devices, threading and therapy – but neck-sagging can be difficult to treat non-surgically. "We're moving as a clinic more towards offering more surgical for neck-sagging, which we are launching in December. A lot of people don't want to undergo surgical necklifts," she said. Around five years ago, Dr Leah launched the Derm division in her clinics, including mole checks and cosmetic mole removals, which have rocketed in popularity due to staggering waiting lists within the NHS. Another division is the wellness part of her business, including B12 injections, Vitamin D injections, IV drips and NAD IV Infusion Therapy. This is a stark contrast from how Dr Leah started out in cosmetics, offering Botox, injectable fillers, to a full 360 wellness and cosmetic clinic. In the past decade, cosmetics have rocketed in popularity, with Dr Leah admitting that while cosmetics have always been around, the industry has changed to fit demands."When I first pitched the business, even when I won the show, there was a big backlash about Lord Sugar backing a Botox business; it was quite stigmatised at that time. "That stigma around having cosmetic injectables has been removed entirely in the UK, and it's undertaken by a high volume of the population." But she admits it's a "double-edged sword" of people having tweakments and undergoing them so frequently, or not using the right treatments. "They end up having them done in more risky situations and can have devastating outcomes," she said, adding: "It's a really interesting industry, I've been in it for 12 years, I know it very well, there's some great things about the cosmetic sector, but there's some really worrying things as well." Prior to working in cosmetics, Dr Leah worked in Accident and Emergency but admits it was a "difficult" decision to step away from the NHS, even after winning the show. "I actually left for three years and then went back," she said, having dropped to part-time hours in her clinics. "I went back and did general practice in the NHS, I love both – I worked in the NHS up until coronavirus > Covid ," she explained. Working in the NHS is something she will always find beneficial due to working with teams, experience, clinical aspects and governance. "To being a hospital doctor or GP, it was a real learning curve working in business. Alan Sugar, who was my business partner and mentor, I'm very close to him, he helped me alot in the business side of things." Reflecting on her time on the programme, Dr Leah said: "It went so quick, I was very young when I did the show, 25 when it aired and I won, it just went so quickly. I think you know it was a lot of the success that we have with the clinics is to do with timing I think the time that we did the business, the whole aesthetic industry was nowhere near as popular as it is now. Luckily, we got in there at that point, and then the whole industry just boomed, and the business did as well, so it worked out." Lord Sugar is somebody Dr Leah gets on with extremely well, praising her business partner, she said he was "fantastic" and saw potential in her, which "helped me enormously in business." She continued: "I didn't go into The Apprentice with any business knowledge or experience, so I learnt on the ground with him as we were opening clinics and looking for sites. "I'm incredibly grateful for him and for, you know, for the knowledge that he gave me and for the support that he showed me. Luckily, together we were able to have enormous success with Dr. Leah Clinics. So he is how he seems on TV. That is not an act; that is him. But he's, you know, he's a fantastic businessman and mentor. I'm incredibly grateful for him." But could she see herself returning to the show as a mentor? "I would love to," she gushed, before adding that she's a huge fan of Baroness Karren Brady and wasn't after her job "just yet." "One day, who knows? It's something I'd definitely consider, or something similar." For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter .
