Plastic Surgery in Mexico

Dr Bradon Wilhelmi is the Chairman of Plastic Surgery at Louisville.  He trained down here in good old Texas at UT-Galveston while I was at UT-Houston.  I put a call in to him and he'll call me after he's out of the O.R.

If they have a program, I'll let you know.  I'll tell him to take good care of ya too

Do you any programs like this in the New England area? (I live in MA but I'm willing to travel but someone in New England would be awesome. I was thinking about going to Mexico for the surgery but I'm scared... the while in Mexico thing freaks me out.

I mean I was over weight all my life now I've lost a lot of it but have tons of extra skin! I'm still young (23) and don't want to ruin my health long term. I had a lower body lift here and was very happy but I just can't afford to get it all done here as I need pretty much everything done.

I currently have $8,000 saved and I'm going to keep saving but I'd never be able to afford all the work here thou so I may not have much of a choice. I would def prefer to do the work in any state over Mexico (no offense anyone!)

Thank you for any suggestions or advice you can give!

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer, I hear you about the Mexico thing. I just could not bring myself to go there either. Some things to consider - you are very young so you will get a long lifetime of value from the surgery. Therefore you may wish to take out a medical loan. Many people take loans and look at it as a car payment. 

Staging your procedures/combining them will save money. Think of it as a volume discount.

there is at least one person on this board who had residents perform her surgery. She is very happy with her results. Personally I would use a resident versus going to Mx. She saved a lot of money on the cost.

one other thing to keep in mind is the total cost of surgery.... What it could cost you for complications and revisions for a bargain surgery initially can add up to a bigger expense than if you worked with a well qualified surgeon to begin with. 

As for me, I had thought about going to Mx but the cost savings was not there. The surgeon who did my TT in the IS - and who is very highly qualified - was pretty competitively priced. He was not much more money when I factored in the cost of travel. 

Good luck!

PS Jennifer, Yale has such a program

I just returned from my Smartlipo / Body Jet procedure.   The care and facilities were amazing and so far I am pleased, swollen by pleased.   After arriving and meeting with the Doctor to further go over my concerns I went to a beautiful private patient care home.  Was treated to a massage, organic light supper and to bed.   The next morning I was taken to the VC Center, had my blood evaluations done, EKG, met with the Board Certified Cardiologist and Board Certified Anesthesiologist since I wanted to go to sleep.  

I chose this group for a reason - Doctors from this center have done their residency at places like Stanford University of Medicine and some are members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.  

My liposuction specialist has over 15 years experience and graduated from The University Autonoma de Guadalajara School of Medicine.  It is the only University in Mexico accredited to certify doctors recognized in both the United States as well as in Mexico. When awarded a Medical Degree from this University physicians can go to United States to do their internship, residency and take their medical exams.  I asked my Doctor why she didn't come to the US to practice medicine.  Her answer "This my home - this is where my family is"  and added the body doesn't change when you cross a boarder.

I believe you need to find a Doctor your confident in and do your research.  
 

I had two sets of surgery with Dr. Quiroz at Cosmed.

1. Lower body lift, hernia repair, and thigh lipo. All went well, looks good.

2. Arm lift, breast lift and moderate profile 325cc implants.

The first set went well, I like the way my torso looks.

The second was a disaster. The arms look terrible. After I was already there he told me it needed to be a two step procedure, and that he couldn't do the arms all at once. BS. He left dog ears, he left stitches in my arms and in my breasts, and he never addressed the side hanging fat that I asked him repeatedly to handle. I felt rushed through that second time.

I'm very healthy, very compliant with follow up, I wore my garments, and I have very light skin that heals well. I became extremely ticked off when it was inferred that it was somehow my fault that he didn't do a good job.

The facility itself was clean and nice, the nurses were good. I had good overnight care my first night. There's been a lot of Cosmed drama over on PS Journeys, with people defending Cosmed to the death, while others have had results similar to mine. One woman, gracies on OH, had terrible, terrible work done to her.

Mine came down to finding  a great surgeon in Mexico and having surgery or not having surgery. I chose to go to Mexico. I think there are GREAT residency programs if they are close to you. The closest to me was 7 hours and if I had revisions those costs were more due to anesthia and OR fees or if I needed post op care past the 7ish days I'd have been there I would still have been 7 hours from home.There are a lot of things to consider when going to Mexico. You do need to line up post op care among them. I do have a seroma but it's a mild complication considering and is being handled. Also my risk of blood clots was less as I was home in 3 1/2 hours by plane as opposed to 7 hours by car and that's without stops. Or perhaps it's no worse or no better but I was home a lot sooner. I just drove 2 1/2 hours yesterday (2 1/2 on Sun and 2 1/2 yesterday) to see my therapist and it was VERY hard 3 weeks out. I can't imagine driving 7 a week or 10 days out.

If money weren't an issue I would have had both surgeries in the states. But it is for me so I had to look for alternatives or live with the skin rashes that were eating away at my skin.  The reality is some of us simply cannot afford stateside prices. And to be honest I got care for 8 days following surgery from a nurse and daily Dr. visits. Most people stay 12 days. This wouldn't have been possible in the states either. I would have liked to have had the care and experiene I received in Monterrey in the states. It would have been easier. But with my WLS and this surgery my local Drs were willing to follow me and handle any follow up. The local PS was overbooked but even then she would have easily been close to $15000 and I would have been discharged in less than 24 hours.

But you do have to do your research and make a choice that's best for you. Just as in the US just because someone is a Dr. and a plastic surgeon doesn't mean they are reputable or skilled.

Thank you for your reply. I am currently doing my research on Dr. S and expect to send him my pictures within the next week. I just recently found our about residency programs via the broad today. I did some research and their is a very good one at a very well reputable hospitable less than an hour away from me. I just wonder how much of a difference in price would the procedure be to have at a Residency Program. Either way, I have a lot of research to do.


Thanks again