Beauty from Afar

You probably found this blog post by searching the Internet, which might mean that you can skim or even skip Chapter 5 of Beauty from Afar, which starts today:

Chapter 5 Page 1 | Research, Research … and More Research

But then again, you might learn something even if you’re a whiz at Internet research. This is probably the most blatant “How-To” self-help-style chapter in the book and if you dislike self-help books generally, which I do, maybe you want to take a look through and see how I managed to make the material palatable … which I’m guessing I did. It starts off OK, anyway.

I really did have the notion that I *might* get enough of a book advance for Beauty from Afar to take a budget tour of the world’s best hospitals. As it turned out, I didn’t get quite that much and the advance payment mostly went for things like food and shelter.

I found the silver lining in having to do most of my research online and by phone, as you’ll see.

We’re done with procedures and pricing. That’s all I’ve got, for now, anyway.

Chapter 4 Page 7 | What Else is Out There?

I liked finishing the chapter with the comments of the Indian M.D. who was elected president of the International Society of Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery in 2005. Dr. Naresh Trehan has been a controversial figure at times in India, but I do not believe anyone would dispute his accomplishments. He said he would build MediCity, and he has:

Multi-speciality hospital Medanta commences operations

I have not exactly breezed through Chapter 4, but it will be wrapped up with the next post. Today, we brush against: hair implants, ear pinning, weight loss surgery and dental procedures. This concludes Beauty from Afar’s summary of cosmetic procedures that people frequently seek outside of their own country.

Chapter 4 Page 6 | Other Cosmetic Procedures

In the conclusion of Chapter 4, I touch briefly on what is generally called complex medicine — no disrespect to cosmetic surgeons intended. This has to do more with treatment of disease, life-saving surgery, etc. And, of course, medical travel includes such care as well … though to date, at least for those who travel out of the United States, dentistry and cosmetic surgery remains the largest part of medical tourism.

I probably know more about female cosmetic surgery than is common to 50-something males who don’t have a spouse or girlfriend who has had any … or who aren’t cosmetic surgeons.

And people who are interested in having cosmetic surgery have no reason to be interested in my own opinions about the subject. This might be why at least a couple of reviewers have characterized Beauty from Afar as “dispassionate.” I consider it a high compliment. Today, we have a brief update with material on body lifts and buttocks impants and augmentation.

Chapter 4 Page 5 |Body Lifts and Butts

In Chapter 4, I tried to keep my list of  “surgeries for which people travel abroad” down to those which people most commonly seek. Apparently I could not resist butt implants, which are still relatively uncommon … and here one have the one, brief mention of cosmetic surgery of the labia.

Maybe I added that to prove I wasn’t a prude. Or maybe I was titillated. I don’t believe that particular operation to be very common. But I do recall seeing an entire cable TV show about someone who had it sometime in the last couple of years, so I’m not feeling like I’ve given the matter any undue attention.

We’re close to the end of Chapter 4 … just two more web pages, it looks like to me.

In my summaries of the cosmetic procedures and surgeries that many people go out of country for, it looks as though in 2004-2005 I was working from head to toe … the last sections being mostly about the head and face and this one moving down to the torso.

Chapter 4 Page 4 | Breasts, Arms and Tummies …

However, it’s coincidence. In the next post, we’ll be back up to the hair and then down to the legs. I honestly cannot recall if there was a reason for the order in which I placed the procedures in Chapter 4 of Beauty from Afar. It is conceivable that they appear in the order in which I thought of them.

I’m surprised by this, considering the amount of effort I remember putting in to organizing where things went. But I’m not going to go all alphabetical on you now.

The posting of Beauty from Afar resumes this evening with more of my laundery list of cosmetic surgery procedures that many people have done abroad at considerable savings.

Chapter 4 Page 3 | Eyelids, Foreheads, Noses and Peels

Again, please note that I came up with the price ranges in 2004-2005; however, my educated guess is that they are mostly still pretty much on the mark in 2009-2010. I would love to hear from readers who have substantive information on the subject. At some point — after Beauty from Afar is all the way online — I’ll try to revisit and update relative prices again.

Cosmetic surgery is not a commodity. All facelifts are not created equal. And “How much is a facelift in Mexico?” … or in California, or Costa Rica, or Malaysia is not, are not questions that have tidy, brisk answers. You pay for the experience of the surgeon. You pay for geography. You pay what the market will bear.

Chapter 4 Page 2 | Cosmetic Surgeries and Procedures

Despite the efforts of my editor to wring specifics from me on cosmetic surgery prices, I held to broad ranges when characterizing what cosmetic surgeons charge in different countries — or even within one country, or in your neighborhood. As such, the information I gathered in 2004-2005 is probably just about as relevant now as it was then. Surgery prices have no doubt risen for some, declined for some and stayed about the same for others. Fluctuations of the dollar and exchange rates have mostly been unfavorable for overseas surgeons who operate on U.S. residents — but not extraordinarily so.

There are some changes, surely … and I hope readers will enlighten me as we go.