Posted on 03/28/2006 6:11:20 PM PST by SJackson
Americans take note of Guadalajara's growing reputation for plastic surgery
Photograph by :
Story by : Ben Miller
Six years ago, Beverly McCarter looked in the mirror and didn't like what she saw.
"I had a moment like that little boy in Home Alone," she says, describing the moment where Macaulay Culkin clutches his fame and screams.
The registered nurse from North Carolina checked up on costs for the facelift and eye surgeries she was interested in having, and found quotes of around 20,000 dollars.
She had visited Mexico before, and came across Airlift, Inc. which made all-inclusive arrangements for patients to have cosmetic surgery in Guadalajara. She paid 6,000 dollars for a facelift, blepharoplasty (eyes), and a forehead lift, including accommodations.
McCarter, who has since bought Airlift and now runs it, is not alone. Last year, she says she sent about 60 patients to Guadalajara. The service schedules all appointments, arranges accommodations, and provides a driver for the length of the stay.
Mexico is one of the biggest spots for plastic surgery outside the United States, says Guadalajara surgeon Benjamin Villaran, and many patients come from outside the country. Guadalajara is home to 75 certified plastic surgeons. More importantly, it is home to the Institute of Reconstructive Surgery, a world-renowned facility that has been educating students from Mexico and around the world for more than 35 years. Each year, an annual symposium draws professionals from around the world.
Villaran has many patients from the United States and Canada, including Mexicans and other Latin Americans living north of the border. He estimates that altogether these could be half his patients. Although many live in Jalisco for part of the year, they could just as easily have their operation in the United States.
"Everything is cheaper here," he says. "Even Botox injections cost less."
A basic facelift now costs around 2,500 dollars in Mexico. This is a Guadalajara surgeon's bread and butter, especially among patients from abroad. Villaran says these patients almost exclusively want rejuvenation surgeries, mainly in the face and eyes. A small amount of younger patients want tummy tucks, and breast surgeries are not very common. About 90 percent of all his clients are women.
The first foreigners came to Mexico for surgeries in the 1970s, Villaran recalls, and there were many in the late 70s and early 80s who took advantage of favorable exchange rates, but that died down. The current wave didn't start until the mid 1990s.
Villaran said most of his business comes from word-of-mouth, an important and crucial advertising source for all surgeons, who must combat stereotypes foreigners might have about medicine in Mexico being sub-standard.
The list of references that McCarter has built at Airlift is essential, especially for Americans unfamiliar with Mexico. The main concerns for U.S. patients, who often speak with several former Airlift clients, are lower quality and safety.
"I'm a nurse and I've watched these surgeries." McCater says of Dr. Jose Guerrerosantos, one of the Instituto's founders and the surgeon with whom Airlift works. "The quality is better."
Royce Wheeler, another American who had a facelift in Guadalajara, agrees.
"I've always had excellent care here," says Wheeler, adding there was someone with her each time she woke up. Although a longtime resident of Jalisco, Wheeler is very familiar with U.S. medical facilities, having worked at a hospital in California and had other surgeries there. She said she prefers the experiences she's had here. For those who have difficulty with Spanish, Wheeler says getting an English speaker was not difficult. Nearly all doctors - and even some nurses and assistants - have trained in an English-speaking country. Some even work in the United States.
"I knew someone who flew from here to Houston to have an operation, only to hear that the doctor will be late, he's arriving from Guadalajara."
The attention patients get is another advantage local doctors stress.
"It's important to care for patients during their stay here," is what Villaran describes of the "culture of care" that exists in Mexico. He says here everything is taken care of, comparing it to a nice European restaurant. It is important for many Latin Americans in the United Sates, who prefer the personal touch to the somewhat perfunctory approach to care there.
Guadalajara is by no means the only popular destination in Mexico. Many Americans and Canadians go to Mexico City and Monterrey. The largest market may be in border towns such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, where, according to news reports in the past few years, there are both reputable and not-so-reputable clinics. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons cautions that there are risks to having surgery abroad, mostly due to uncertified border clinics.
"When you leave the U.S. you have a risk," said Ronald Iverson, a surgeon in Pleasanton, California, and chair of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons' safety committee. He has worked on patients who have had complications after surgeries abroad. The United States has strict methods of certification for doctors and facilities - and these cost money, a main reason for higher costs along with overall higher costs of living.
Iverson said surgeries increase every year in America, and his society's concern is for safety not finances.
"In every city, you have those who are good and not so good," says Dr. Jose Luis Haddad, of the Mexican Association of Plastic Surgery in Mexico City. His organization is trying to make Mexico an attractive destination, and control the charlatans who give plastic surgery in this country a bad name, he says.
Haddad says in recent years, doctors have begun to rely a little less on word of mouth and have taken to more active advertising campaigns. He says a majority of doctors in the organization routinely undertake courses in the North America or Europe to keep up with the latest advances.
With so many well-trained doctors in Mexico and other countries, competition may become stiff for U.S. physicians. Airlift expects more patients this year than last.
"It's definitely gaining in popularity as American prices rise," McCarter says. "Doctors in the U.S. are pricing themselves out of the market."
If Mexican surgeons cross illegally and work for half price, doing jobs American's won't do, that's not fine.
Of course that won't happen, since Doctor's jobs are protected by layers of regulation.
You get what you pay for.
If a doctor could fix her chin and lips which are way out of proportion, she might look okay. She doesn't look so bad if you cover her mouth and chin.
I wonder if the promoters of this stateside are involved in corrupt foreign practices? NAH! What am I thinking! LOL ...
That is a living breathing human?
and overlook her(?) forehead and cheeks...
I think it the cover art for "Sex Change Bloopers"
Return of the Bride of Wildenstein
By This is London 18 October 2004Readers of a nervous disposition should look away. Jocelyn Wildenstein - the American socialite who has spent £2million on cosmetic surgery - has revealed her latest face - and it isn't pretty.
Jocelyn, 58, was nicknamed the Bride of Wildenstein several years ago after her attempts at improving her looks left many observers horrified.
But judging by her recent appearance she has not given up the treatment.
Jocelyn was a fresh-faced mother of two until she discovered her billionaire art dealer husband in bed with a 21-year-old.
Hoping to keep him, she began a never-ending cycle of surgery to change her eyes, cheekbones and lips. Unfortunately, her husband left her anyway.
She was recently named the world's scariest celebrity by a plastic surgery website.
Age happens.
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