Travlr

Anyone considering plastic surgery abroad should join www.psjourneys.com. It has a wealth of info on it. Premi um membership is $35 but basic is free. It used to be very difficult to join but they now have someone actively moderating it so It should be easier. Shills are quickly run off and most of the people do their own research rather going through a medical tourism company. One of the suggestions on the forum is to not ever give your real name to anyone on the forum in the event someone is wanting to get a discount for a referral. It hasn't been very active for awhile but things are starting to pick up. It has forums for many different countries as well as one for US medical school programs where medical residents and fellows do ps much cheaper.
When I was looking into ps abroad, I read everything I could find, I googled everything I could google and spent months trolling every tidbit from every forum I could. Regrettably, I don't think this thread is very useful any more. Anyone posting a positive experience with a CR plastic surgeon is called a liar. Kimberly chose poorly, which can happen to anyone, especially if you choose your dr or dentist off of a paid website and if you don't do thorough research. There certainly is risk involved . Anyone that has the money should have their work done at home. But as has been mentioned before, when I was searching for a dentist in CR, and then a surgeon, I tried to contact privately everyone that had posted a negative experience about anyone I was considering. From that, I had to figure out if the problem was " just one of those things" that can happen even to the best, or if the doctor was one I wouldn't trust, or the person had an ax to grind , or most important to me was not so much whether there was a complication, but how the doctor handled the complication and whether there was a pattern of complications. I ruled out one doctor that I really wanted to use who has really great facial results, but I found several people who had had complications that I didn't think he handled appropriately, or at least it's not how I would have wanted to be treated. . I was able to weed out the bad to marginal and have been very happy with the dentists used by my husband and daughter and the ps I used.
Kimberly, if I work for someone in CR, please tell me where to pick up my check because I'd like to get a Fraxel Laser treatment!
Just curious, Kimberly, how did you come to the conclusion that because Coto ripped you off that every doctor and dentist in CR is a quack? If CR doctors and dentists really are no good, why do so many of them get into highly competitive residencies and fellowships in US medical and dental schools? Several CR surgeons are FACS (fellow of the American College of Surgeons ). Dr. Marten and Dra Guzman-Stein are published (Guzman-Stein has something like 7 articles) In the leading peer-reviewed US plastic surgery medical journals. (And yes, some of the doctors and dentists inflate their credentials which is why you have to VERIFY!). Why do so many people come here if no one has a good experience?
Anyway anyone looking into ps abroad should look for info elsewhere where you can get the successes and failures, the pros and cons, etc, not just the bad outcome of one person.
One more thing, have you ever thought of hosting a website where people can discuss their bad experiences? There used to be one called "Bad Centeno". I would think it would be more useful to inform people who to avoid rather than to ignorantly insist that there are no good doctors or dentists in Cr and anyone that says there is cashing in.

Do you mind telling me who did your revision rhinoplasty? I live near DC and am trying to find one that does a high volume of rhino revisions

Scratch the last 2 sentences. I was trying to edit and hit the wrong key... As I was saying, I had a fat tube (line) In my neck while I was undergoing a stem cell transplant and it left yet another scar in the front of my neck. I didn't ask Dr Marten to fix them when I had my face lift, but obviously, I should have. It would have saved me a lot of money if I had had it all done at the same time.

PalaPala
I have never referred to my results as "incredible" . I've said I was happy with my results, but have NEVER used that adjective to describe me . I would need a face transplant to get "incredible" results. A mere face lift couldn't render me "incredible".

As I said , I came back to get some old scars fixed. I had 2 indentations at my temples as the result of a cranial halo from years ago when I was rear-ended and was almost quadriplegic. So my neck is now fused. I also had a bad scar on my neck from the surgery to fuse it where the incision
didn't heal or months because of a staph infection which left a prominent scar in the front of my neck. He also fixed a scar on my neck where a tube or linew NEVER EVER referred to my results as "incredible". I've said I was happy with my results. The only way I could get "I

I had a face lift with Dr Ernesto Marten in Costa Rica last July and came back again this week for him to revise some old surgical scars and do a little more work on my neck . I 'm bruised so I can 't tell what kind of results I 'll have, but the care and attention are excellent , I've had no complications and I can assert that yes can be safe IF you research carefully and choose the good surgeons . There are several excellent, safe ones.