Cosmetic surgery is expensive, so it is understandable that patients may seek to limit that cost. Some have gone to other countries in which overhead is not as high and surgery is cheap. Beware the case in which it gets too cheap however. Repair is rarely if ever cheap and sometimes the repair is limited improvement.

A woman posted the story of her friend on my old web site forum board. This poor lady went to Costa Rica for her tummy tuck. She developed a horrendous wound infection, lost tissue (skin necrosis) and was left horribly disfigured. You see evidence of skin grafts on her lower abdomen. The wound must have been huge. The planned week in Costa Rica became three months. At last contact with her, she was on disability.

Now don’t get me wrong: I review cases for the California Medical Board. I have seen domestic malpractice and poor outcomes. This Costa Rica case is the worst Tummy Tuck nightmare I have ever seen.

You can go to other countries to get your surgery much less expensively than here in the United States. Some of this cost difference is malpractice insurance, rent and other things about which you may not care. Other cost differences relate to the quality of the medical care with which you are provided. Powdered sugar on an open wound may be the quality of care in Costa Rica (as occurred in her case by her report,) but that doesn’t pass muster here.

Many patients leave the US and have successful outcomes. Just take into account the risk: benefit profile before you board that plane.

Best Regards,

John Di Saia MD