I traveled to Colombia and lost my gut, double chin, 20 pounds, along with my HEART!

Lower prices for plastic surgery create demand for vacation/surgical packages to Latin America

Sun, surf and scalpels

By JOHN OTIS
Dec. 2, 2007, 12:06PM

During a six-hour operation, a Colombian plastic surgeon lifted Yesquen's face, straightened her chin, lipo-sucked her abdomen and removed a five-pound slab of skin and fat from her belly. The total cost: $10,000.

Yesquen is one of a growing number of foreigners flocking to Colombia and other Latin American nations for nose jobs, breast implants and other nips and tucks to enhance their sagging, middle-aged bodies.

Hundreds of clinics have sprung up across the region featuring top-notch surgeons and low prices, a key combination since American health insurance plans rarely cover plastic surgery.

Through word-of-mouth and the Internet, patients hook up with doctors overseas, discuss prices and procedures and make appointments. Travel agencies specializing in medical tourism offer all-inclusive vacation/surgical packages.

"I came to Colombia because it's cheaper than Spain," said Aurora Baquero, a homemaker from Madrid who flew to the Colombian city of Cali for a laundry list of cosmetic enhancements. "They've done everything to me: nose job, eyelids, face, bust, thighs. My mother won't recognize me anymore."

Affordable destination
Bogota is home to 60 clinics that specialize in plastic surgery. Once known for their cocaine cartels, Cali and Medellin are now meccas for tummy tucks and liposuction.

Clinics in these cities offer nose jobs for $2,000 and breast augmentations for $2,500, procedures that would cost about $6,500 and $8,500, respectively, in the United States.

Adding to Colombia's allure is its fascination with beauty pageants, which usually feature surgically enhanced contestants, and the fact that soccer legend Diego Maradona, who was desperate to lose weight, traveled here in 2005 for gastric bypass surgery. All told, tourist officials estimate that more than 30,000 foreigners visit Colombia annually for cosmetic surgery.

"I operate on six to eight foreigners per month," said Celso Bohorquez, a physician and spokesman for the Colombian Society of Plastic Surgeons, who performed the tummy tuck and face lift on Yesquen. Besides better-looking bodies, he added, "they get to travel and get to know the world."

The globalization of medical treatment has been a boon for health providers in other Latin American nations. Although it's difficult for foreign surgeons to practice in the U.S. and Europe, it's relatively easy for patients to travel to Latin America.

In Argentina, the 2002 economic crisis that collapsed the currency made plastic surgery more affordable to tourists and led to an influx. In Brazil, officials estimate that about 50,000 tourists annually arrive for medical treatment, including cosmetic surgery.

Once in country, patients often find highly skilled plastic surgeons.

Choose doctors carefully
In Rio, the Brazilian capital for cosmetic surgery, procedures cost 30 percent to 50 percent less than in the United States. But Luis Carlos Celi Garcia, the past president of the Brazilian Plastic Surgeon's Association, said price is only one of the attractions.

"Money is not the only issue. If the quality was bad, people wouldn't come back," he said. Alluding to the gorgeous seafront neighborhoods of Copacabana and Ipanema, he added: "They come to spend time on the beach and then they get their operations."

But patients are advised to choose their doctors carefully.

In Colombia, anyone with a medical degree can legally perform plastic surgery even if they have never specialized in the practice. Garage-like clinics have sprung up in Bogota and Cali, where unqualified doctors offer rock-bottom prices.

"We've had four or five cases where people come to us to help them correct bad plastic surgery," said Diana Richardson of Turismedic, a Bogota-based travel agency that brings foreigners here for cosmetic surgery. After a botched operation, she added, "one woman complained that her breasts hung down to her belly button."

Connecting with a patient
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons cautions that patients may take unnecessary risks when choosing cosmetic surgery vacations by inadvertently selecting unqualified physicians. The organization also warns that vacations and major surgery often don't mix.

"To properly heal and reduce the possibility of complications, patients should not sunbathe, drink alcohol, swim, snorkel, parasail or exercise after surgery," the society said in a briefing paper on cosmetic surgery tourism.

But Yesquen, the patient from New York, says the U.S. medical system has its own problems. She described American doctors as cold, impersonal and expensive.

"They don't care about you once the operation is over," said Yesquen, a 46-year-old Chilean who moved to New York 15 years ago. "They just collect your money."

Over the years, Yesquen had put on weight and was unable to stick to diets or exercise. She couldn't afford plastic surgery in the United States, so she considered Colombia. Besides low prices, cosmetic surgery packages here include private nurses, post-operation therapy and follow-up consultations with the doctors.

Through the Turismedic agency, Yesquen got in touch with Bohorquez. They e-mailed messages and photos back and forth and settled on a handful of procedures that could be performed during one marathon operation. Joking with Dr. Bohorquez as he wheeled her into the operating room, Yesquen smiled and said: "I hope everything works out and that I'll also look beautiful."

'I made the best decision'
The surgery itself was long, tedious and gory.

During the tummy tuck, Dr. Bohorquez used metal spatulas, scalpels and laser cutters to slice away a half-moon-shaped wedge of Yesquen's stomach that nurses later weighed on a scale for newborn babies. Liposuction tubes clogged up with a liquid mix of red blood and yellow fat.

"It's grotesque," Bohorquez admitted from behind his face-mask.

Yet the end result was impressive. A week after surgery, Yesquen sported black-and-blue eyes and bandages on her chin, but she looked years younger.

"My stomach is flat. I feel so good," said Yesquen, as she toured Bogota's colonial downtown with her own private tour guide provided by Turismedic. "I made the best decision coming to this country."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/5343450.html

By Medellin Traveler on Dec 2, 2007, 12:43 in Friendly Talkzone.

calikitty1 says on Dec 2, 2007, 13:10:

A hell of a lot cheaper just to buy a full-sized plastic blow up doll

Bam Bam says on Dec 2, 2007, 13:39:

I need to get butt implants, so I guess I will go to Colombia for that

kat1 (Moderator) says on Dec 2, 2007, 13:52:

Bam bam let us to be the judge of that... picture please hehehhhe

engage brain before opening mouth

Bam Bam says on Dec 2, 2007, 14:18:

I don't know how to post pictures! Help me!

I would rather show you in person anyways....

msaucey says on Dec 2, 2007, 14:26:

Well, that's one heck of a story.... At least they touched on the bad botch up jobs too... Colombia being associate with plastic surgery is way better then cocaine...

The trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. - CS Lewis

Lisa Zee says on Dec 2, 2007, 18:00:

Kat, yo queria preguntarle lo mismo,jajaja!!!

RUV says on Dec 2, 2007, 19:28:

You girls can take it off line. je je je