Sandy Cohen, Contributor
KATHRYN WAS at the point where she thought her face needed a little help.
The Washington, D.C. divorce attorney didn't want to do anything drastic, just a simple facelift. She shopped around the East Coast for a good plastic surgeon. She even considered coming to Los Angeles for a little cosmetic getaway. Then a friend suggested she save money and head to Mexico.
"I learned there were all these ex-pats down there having it done," said Kathryn, 59, who asked that her last name not be published. "I thought, 'Why not?' That's a great way to do it. You go away, you're gone for 10 or 12 days, and you come back refreshed."
So does your wallet. Kathryn saved around $15,000.
As cosmetic surgery becomes more and more popular, doctors from around the world are competing for a piece of the action. They've given rise to a new trend: cosmetic surgery vacations. These travel packages pair plastic surgery with typical vacation activities in exotic places such as South Africa, Thailand and Costa Rica. 'Surgeon and Safari' is one offering. Others promise affordability, privacy and poolside recovery.
"You're bruised and swollen, but you put on sunglasses and a big straw hat and off you go," said Pat Marino, a U.S. agent for Face Lift Mexico, the Florida-based firm that arranged Kathryn's trip in 1995. "You don't have to hide from anyone."
The American dollar goes a long way in most developing nations. Plus, surgeons aren't saddled with U.S. medical restrictions regarding liposuction volume, silicone breast implants and wrinkle-fillers yet to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
"People feel that they can get more done in a foreign country than they can here," said Santa Monica surgeon Michael McGuire, a clinical professor at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine and spokesman for the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. "And there's the perception that they're saving money."
SUBSTANTIAL SAVINGS
The savings can be substantial. Face Lift Mexico charges $6,000 for a complete facelift, plus $975 for a 10-day stay, including three nights in a private hospital room. The same thing in California would cost at least three times as much.
But bargains aren't necessarily best when it comes to cosmetic surgery, which carries all the same risks and potential problems as any other operation.
"If it's not done properly, you can die under anaesthesia or after surgery from overwhelming infection," McGuire said.
You can't always be sure of what you're getting when you travel outside the country for medical procedures, he said. It's often difficult to check doctors' credentials, as no international standard for board certification exists. Nor are there standardised requirements for sterility, equipment or training of nurses and anaesthesiologists.
"Your anaesthesia might be delivered by someone without any medical training," McGuire said. "We live in a bubble of quality in this country but it's dangerous to assume that is the case everywhere. Cosmetic surgery is such a lucrative business that it really attracts the charlatans and the fringe element of medical society.
"Well-qualified, trained aesthetic plastic surgeons are not doing cosmetic surgery for bargain-basement rates."
That's not to say that every overseas surgical experience is a disaster. Qualified physicians practise in countries around the globe. Kathryn was "thrilled with the results" of her Mexican facelift vacation. Beverly Hills surgeon Robert Kotler said two of his patients had positive experiences with cosmetic procedures performed in Costa Rica.
But if something goes wrong, patients can find themselves far from home, or far from their doctor, with little recourse.
Adapted from Secrets of a Beverly Hills Cosmetic Surgeon (Ernest Mitchell Publishers, 2003) by Dr. Robert Kotler. Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.
