Beauty from Afar

Today’s so-called “page” is just three paragraphs. That is the way it worked out with the subheads from the original book.

Chapter 2 Page 8 | If You Can’t Beat Them …

I excerpted this aside from a lengthier interview with Oscar Suarez, M.D. in his office at CIMA Hospital, and I quote him more extensively later in the book. I don’t know if he is still head of the Department of Plastic Surgery at CIMA but it is evident that his practice is thriving. That is one of the problems with including official titles in books — people move on from where they were.

When I first walked into the waiting area of Dr. Suarez’s office, his assistant asked me what procedures I was interested in … and it was the first time anyone ever suggested I might need (or at least want) cosmetic surgery. I’m sure it was SOP for the office and no psychological harm was intended. For the record — at 53, I’m unmodified, other than my teeth.

Chapter 2 Page 8 | If You Can’t Beat Them …

Oscar Suarez, M.D., is head of the Department of Plastic Surgery at CIMA Hospital in San Jose, Costa Rica. CIMA is a modern, private facility where a number of Costa Rican surgeons cater primarily to patients from the United States.

“The surgeons in the United States, the ones I talk to, are of two minds about medical tourism,” Dr. Suarez said in an interview. “Some are against it. And others, they want to be part of it.” Dr. Suarez said he has been contacted by a number of peers in the United States who are interested in partnerships or opening facilities in Costa Rica.

That a patient can find experienced and talented cosmetic and aesthetic surgeons in a number of countries around the world is not a matter in serious dispute. Surgeons can disagree as to the risks involved in traveling and as to the difficulty of choosing a good surgeon. In the end, however, those are considerations for individual patients to weigh. Prominent, qualified, and experienced surgeons from all countries emphatically counsel patients that they should not choose a surgeon based on price alone.

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