It was once associated with shady doctors and unsafe conditions, but medical tourism has become a booming multi-billion dollar industry.

And more Americans are travelling abroad than ever for cut-price health care, in a bid to avert the astronomical costs of undergoing treatment at home.

From a nip-and-tuck to dental work or a heart bypass, hospitals around the world treat millions of foreign patients a year - and most of them fly in from the U.S., experts say.

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