My Brazil plastic surgery, tummy tuck in Brazil, liposuction in Brazil, affordable plastic surgery, cheap plastic surgery cost

Of Brazil Women

Ginger Kramp of Andalusia, Alabama, traveled thousands of miles by herself to a strange country where she didn't speak a word of the language and didn't particularly trust the food. Then she had a major operation. "I can't believe I did it," she said from a hotel in Vitória, Brazil, where she was recovering from plastic surgery. "I'm so happy!"

Kramp's health insurance paid for her original weight-loss surgery in the United States, but she wasn't covered for the procedure to trim away the excess skin left sagging afterwards. Estimates from stateside surgeons came in the $56,000-$86,000 range, leaving the travel agent and pastor's wife in a quandary. "I could never do this in the states," she said.

Kramp spent 18 months investigating her options. Then she filled her suitcase with canned food, cashed in some frequent flyer miles and headed down South America way. And Kramp seemed more than happy with the outcome: "I only wish my husband were here to see the results."

Kramp's story is hardly unique. Women from the US, Europe and other rich countries with high medical costs are flocking to have their tummy tucks and liposuctions done for less in places like Brazil, South Africa, Thailand, Mexico, Costa Rica and Argentina.

Plastic surgeon Marcos Grillo reports a 10-20% increase in foreign patients last year over 2004. "Not just me," he said from his clinic in the southern city of Curitiba. "Everyone has seen growth." The popular cable television program Entertainment Tonight has followed women on the so-called "beauty and the beach" trail to Brazil. However neither the Brazilian government nor the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery (SBCP) knows how many foreigners cross the country's borders for aesthetic purposes.

The best evidence of a trend is probably the emergence of a nascent cottage industry of travel companies specialized in what is sometimes called "lipotourism" (a term registered as a trademark by an Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, doctor). The member-only forums of an informational website called Plastic Surgery Journeys (PSJ), which Kramp used in her research, grew from 250 original participants to 3,000 less than 12 months after its launch. And, as a simple search on the Internet will reveal, that's only a sample of what's out there.

Price is the biggest incentive for prospective patients. Depending partly on the often fluctuating exchange rate, total expenditures in Brazil usually run from one-third to one-half of what the same procedure would cost in the United States, say insiders. An unscientific poll based on five dozen responses from members of PSJ found that about 40% saved $10,000-30,000 by going outside the US; another 40% saved $2,000-10,000. "It is like going abroad to buy a Mercedes and bringing it back without paying taxes," said Marcel Bates, co-founder with his wife Lily of the PSJ website.

Brazil stands out from much of the cut-rate Third World crowd because it can keep a straight face as it offers First World quality. A Brazilian economist once dubbed the country "Belindia" - a place where the best of Belgium coexists with the worst poverty of a place like India. For those who live on the "Belgian side," plastic surgery is common. Over 600,000 operations were performed in 2004, including over 365,000, almost 60%, for purely aesthetic reasons, according to a Gallup poll conducted in conjunction with the SBCP. Brazil has been a recognized international leader in the area for decades. Indeed it might be the only country with a procedure named after it: the Brazilian butt lift. Though cheaper than the northern hemisphere, Brazil isn't the rock-bottom option. "Anybody who is worried only about cost can go to Argentina or Thailand," said Peter Ryan, president of Cosmetic Vacations.

Brazil's leadership in plastic surgery can be traced in large part to a single man, Ivo Pitanguy. Described by admirers as the father of modern cosmetic surgery, the 79 year-old Pitanguy boasts a long line of rich-and-famous clients, starting with such icons of 20th century beauty as Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. Since 1960 his Pitanguy Institute has run a select three-year graduate specialization course for practicing physicians that has awarded diplomas to over 500 students from 40 countries. Pitanguy is a popular public figure in Brazil. The samba school Caprichosos de Pilares honored him in Rio de Janeiro's 1999 Carnaval parade, dancing to the theme "The Universe of Beauty: Master Pitanguy."

Plastic surgery tourism for regular gringas in Brazil may have started with Pitanguy. São Paulo-based physician Bernando Froes graduated from the Pitanguy Institute in 1991. He remembers small numbers of foreign commoners who had made their way to Rio for nips and tucks. "There weren't many patients, but there were people who served as intermediaries," recalls Froes. "And they made money that way."

Pitanguy may be a household name in Brazil, but most foreigners only come across him when they begin to do their homework. "Not everybody knows that Brazil is one of the countries that develop techniques," said a woman from Ashville, North Carolina, who went to Brazil to remove redundant skin following a gastric bypass operation and subsequent loss of 85 pounds. "Pitanguy has been on the national news, but none of us know that until we start getting serious."

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has released a white paper that urges caution for patients thinking about heading abroad. The warnings essentially boil down to buyer beware. "In the United States and some other countries there is quality assurance and more regulatory control," said Scott Spear, professor and chief of Plastic Surgery at the Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C., in an interview. "When you leave home you take on an added risk, and when you go to a Third World country even more so."

The surge in plastic surgery travel notwithstanding, such words do not fall on deaf ears. Indeed they find especially fertile ground among friends and family. "When you first tell people that you're thinking of having plastic surgery, they think you're crazy," said PSJ's Lily Bates. "Then when you tell them you're going abroad they think you'll be taken to a back alley and butchered." The North Carolina woman's partner, a retired medical professional, at first joked with her: "Make sure the price includes a cardboard box to send you back." But after he saw the before-and-after photographs of the Brazilian surgeon's patients and heard their testimonials, he encouraged her to go.

Even among prospective patients doing their background checks, misconceptions often persist. "Some people think they'll be going to the Amazon," laughed Moraes. "One asked whether we use disposable needles."

Full-service operators try to eliminate some of the worry by helping prospective patients perform due diligence on physicians and hospitals, an often difficult task given language barriers and an unfamiliar bureaucracy. "We take the time to check on the surgeons, to see, for example, if they have any complaints registered against them," said Ryan.