when all is said and done, it'll end up being $35K-40K for everything (I'm still not done yet - I'm going back at the end of March for a breast lift, arm lift, and have my flanks taken in from arm pit to probably my waist). It would have been more than that had I not gotten a deal on my lower body lift (they moved to a different pricing structure for a couple of months, but then went back to their original structure when they realized everyone else was charging quite a bit more. Too bad they realized it before I had phase 2 done!). Dr. Sauceda quoted me about half that for the same procedures, as I recall - plus he included a few nights in a hotel plus $600 towards my airfare as part of the deal. So yes - he was definitely a lot cheaper.

I decided to go to Chicago because I didn't want to be too far away from home if I had complications. A lot of doctors don't want to deal with you if you had surgery somewhere else - and I didn't want to fly somewhere again if I had to see the surgeon for something. Plus Dr. Zachary is pretty expensive compared to the other massive weight loss PS specialists (although again, I got a deal on phase 1, so he'll end up being about the same as the others). But even if I'd been charged his original price, had I gone to a cheaper person on one of the coasts or in Texas or somewhere, there would be travel costs - plus the cost of staying in a hotel for a couple of weeks - so I probably wouldn't have saved all that much.

with the Mexico thing, in addition to being far away from home, I was worried that I might get an infection or something. If that happened here, and a local doctor refused to treat me, and it wasn't severe enough to run down to Chicago to see Dr. Zachary, at least he could call a prescription for antibiotics or whatever into Walgreens or CVS, and I could go pick it up on this end. I was concerned that a doctor in another country might not be able to call in prescription for me (although I could be wrong on that)

if your doctor on this end is willing to work with you, though, if something comes up, then these might not be issues for you. You'll certainly save a lot of money by going to Mexico...

btw - I've had/will have a lower body lift, breast lift, arm lift, and "flankoplasty" (or whatever he calls it - going down my sides to get at some of the other excess skin that he'd have a hard time getting at otherwise)

I went to Lawrence Zachary in Chicago. He specializes in body contouring for massive weight loss patients and has been at it for many years. But then, it's two hours from my home in southern Wisconsin, so it's not a huge burden if I had to drive back down there for anything (and after the first post-op appt (which he does three days after surgery), I was able to go back home and then just drive back for subsequent post-op appts). There wasn't anyone really closer by me who specialized in that - or even did a lot of these surgeries (I would consider someone who does a truckload of them, even if they didn't exactly specialize, but no one close by fit that bill, either).

From what I've heard, Dr. Sauceda has an excellent reputation. I had him do an estimate for me a couple of years ago, and his prices are much lower than they are around here (and probably anywhere in the US). But then, that's probably true of any surgeon in Mexico. Medical things in general are really expensive in the US.

they did lipo on my mons area when they lifted it - as part of the lower body lift. The scar is just above that area, so they might not have been lipo'ing and cutting in exactly the same area. At any rate, I didn't know that was an issue.

there are some excellent plastic surgeons in the US who specialize in body contouring for massive weight loss patients (which is the ideal type of person to have, if you can swing it). Many of us travel to get to them. Where do you live?

Thank you so much. I live in Texas. My Surgeon is Dr John A Standefer Jr. at Fresh Image Cosmetic Surgery Center. $10,200. He is awesome and a wonderful bedside manner. I am thrilled with my results.

Hello, I hear so much about Dr. Sauceda. His work is amazing. However, I have concerns about the fact that I am in another country and if something goes really wrong, you are sent to a Mexican hospital for care. That is frightening. Has anyone had that experience?

What plastic surgeon do you recommend highly that lives in the states?

Also, I understand that Dr. Sauceda does not want to do lipo where he will also be cutting and stitching, but, I need my pubic mons to have lipo before my lower body lift. Has anyone had that done?

And last, has anyone split their surgeries into two by staying for two weeks after surgery then going in for the other half and staying another two weeks.