If I'm living in another country, can I come to the USA on a visitor visa and do my BBL?

Dear Mona singh,
this is a legal issue so you will get the best and most accurate info if you contact U.S. Embassy or Consulate.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

A citizen of a foreign country who wishes to enter the USA for medical treatment must first obtain a nonimmigrant visa B-2 for a temporary stay. The order of these steps and how you complete them may vary by U.S. Embassy or Consulate. Consult the instructions on the U.S. Embassy or Consulate website for your country.

There’s no reason why you cannot have surgery in the United States while you’re visiting it on a tourist visa.

I generally recommend patients not travel for elective surgical procedures for the following reasons.

Patients do not appreciate the importance of having in person consultations, the complications actually sometimes do happen, the number of people who will need revision surgeries or have questions or concerns after their procedure and how many people really need in the person follow up appointments after the procedure.

If the country where you live really lacks plastic surgeons with proper experience or skill for this procedure then it does make sense to travel. Patients should however be ready to travel should they need revision procedures or have questions about the results which I would say is pretty much the norm.

Patients post daily on real self with concerns about the outcome of cosmetic surgery that are not being addressed by their surgeon because the patients chose to travel for the procedure.

Following up with questions on real self as a poor substitute for an in person follow up visit after surgery.

Make sure you give yourself enough time to properly recover and be outside of the window for most complications have been recognized.

It would also help to know if you’re a good candidate and what kind of results you could expect from the procedure before scheduling this type of permanent life-changing operation from a different country.

I would make sure I had exhausted all local resources before deciding to travel for this procedure.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD