Plastic surgery quotes

Hey folks 

I know I won't qualify for Manitoba Health to perform any part of a tummy tuck because I have absolutely no issues with my skin. I have a quote from the plastic surgery center (The Ariel Center) that is affilitiated with the facility where I had my VSG in Tijuana, as well as quotes from two private plastic surgeons in Winnipeg who I saw today. 

Ariel Center in Tijuana:  Tummy tuck is $4995 (on special for $3995). However, after assessing the photos I had to send, I was recommended to also have the "love handles" removed. The fee for that is $6240 U.S. The compression garment is extra, as well as hotel accommodations (only $65/night) and of course the flight to get there. They recommend a companion for this surgery. Air fare for two is about $1500. (Air Miles could be an option, but the flight selections are horrible.) All told, with conversion to Canadian dollars, it's around $8650. That doesn't include meals or any other incidentals which would add at least another $500, so it would be around $9150 total.

I won't name the Winnipeg surgeons here, but PM me if you want to know. Surgeon #1 did my breast reduction surgery in 2001. He has many years of experience and is rated very highly in North America. Surgeon #2 is familiar to me from a hospital we both worked at 35 years ago in another province. I don't know anything personally about his plastic surgery outcomes since he wasn't specialized in that then, but he did a residency and has been doing plastic surgery for many years now.

Surgeon #1 does the standard abdominoplasty with some liposuction. The full surgery (above and below the umbilicus) is $8400. To have liposuction to the love handles on the back is an additional $1050, so $9450 for the full deal. 

Surgeon #2 does the abdominoplasty mainly by liposuction rather than surgical excision. Of course the skin is removed surgically. He won't do the love handles at the original surgery, so I don't know how much that would cost, but there would be some facility fees you would probably have to pay twice. His fee is $8557 for the full abdominoplasty.

So, in the big scheme of things, they are all within a few hundred dollars of each other. The cheaper cost in Mexico is made up in the cost of getting there, hotels, meals, etc.

I hope this answers questions for a bunch of us who have been curious about the cost if they have to pay out of their own pockets. I paid for the two consultations ($105 each) because I wanted more than one opinion. My husband is okay with me spending the money to have the surgery. It sure is a lot, though. 

Thanks Dianne for the information. I will message you directly with a few questions.

Hi Dianne!
Have you made any decisions to get the plastics done?

Hi Pegcitygirl

I had the plastic surgery done on Aug 10!  You can check out my original post:

If you put your mouse over my picture, you can see a link that says "latest posts". Click on that and you will see a list of my recent posts. The plastic surgery one is "Full abdominoplasty two weeks ago - so far, so good".  If you click on that title where it appears anywhere, it will take you to the full thread of the original post.

I'm now four weeks out and things are progressing well. I'm feeling mostly back to normal, except for the continuing weird feelings in my abdomen. Sneezing and coughing still aren't very pleasant! 

I still have the bulge I mentioned in the first post and discovered a little more asymmetry in another spot. However, the consent I signed stated this might be a possibility, so I suspect this is the way it will be unless I pay more to have it all fixed. I'm not sure I'm willing to do that, but we will see. I likely couldn't consider anything like that until a year or so out anyway. 

Hi, I was just wondering where you ended up going for your plastics. I am a former patient of OCC, but can't find much info and reviews of the Ariel center side of his practice.

Thanks!!

Hi. Sorry I'm just seeing this now on Aug 15. I haven't been checking this forum very much and I didn't get a notification that someone replied to one of my posts.

If you read my post above from 09/08/13, it tells you how to get to the info on my surgery experience.

I had my surgery here in Winnipeg by Dr. Ken Dolynchuk. The difference in cost between here and the Ariel Center wasn't enough of an incentive for me to go to Mexico for plastics. I'm glad I stayed at home. The recovery from the plastic surgery was 100 times worse than from the VSG (which was a piece of cake). 

I'm having scar revision surgery on Sept 5 to have the excess bulge removed.