Lipotourism: Is it worth the risk?
Lipotourism: Is it worth the risk?
February 5, 2007 -
Approximately 800,000 Americans opt for cosmetic surgery every year. To save money, some have taken to traveling overseas where cosmetic procedures can cost as much as 75 percent less than in the United States-a fact that makes so-called lipotourism a rapidly growing trend in plastic surgery.
Costa Rica is just one of many countries that has seen a recent boom lipotourism. Americans are flocking to the country by the thousands, and not just for its lush rain forests and beautiful beaches; they’re also going for breast augmentations, facelifts, and other cosmetic procedures.
In the U.S., a breast augmentation procedure can cost anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000, compared with $3,000 in Costa Rica. Similar savings are seen with other popular procedures like gastric bypass and facelifts.
But why is plastic surgery in paradise so much more affordable abroad than it is in America? Less liability and overhead, said Rudy Rupak of Planet Hospital, a Los Angeles-based medical tourism company.
“An American doctor and a foreign doctor will get the same salaries, same cost per surgery. The difference is in the hospital costs,” Rupak said.
Still, cost isn’t the only consideration when it comes to surgical procedures. More important than cost is quality.
“Can we control the quality over our borders? No, we can’t,” said Dr. Ted Mazer of the California Medical Association.
Mazer said that patients considering going abroad for plastic surgery must be willing to accept the potential risks.
“How do you determine the quality of a program you’re going to do? How much risk are you willing to take to save a dollar?”
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