40 Yrs Old, 5'3", 127lbs BBL Procedure

Hello Ladies, I've been a RealSelf member for a few months, since March 2017. I started my research on here looking for reviews on BBL surgeons. My main procedure interest is a BBL, but I was also considering a BA. I came across Dr. Pantoja, Dr. Campos, Dr. Hazani and Dr. Dass, they were my top 4 doctors that I really liked. I decided to contact them for consultations through RealSelf. I got responds from 3 doctors by the next day. Dr. Campos took about a week to hear back from his office. I was a bit undecided whether I wanted to go to a doctor in Tijuana, MX out of the US. From all the reviews I saw, they were more affordable and their work looked really good. Beverly Hills doctor's reviews were also really good but more pricey. I gotta say, I'm glad I came across this site, because I had no idea it existed, I haven't done any cosmetic procedures before. This will be my first procedure and RealSelf has really helped me with my research. So I figured, I'll write about my experience on here to help other ladies as well. I'm not much of a writer, but I will do my best ;)

Well, I decided to call Dr. Pantoja's office to schedule a consultation. I was initially scheduled for April 15th and the consultation fee was $50. I was super excited to meet Dr. Pantoja in person and discuss the BBL procedure with him. I saw lots of great reviews on here and really liked the results. Couple days before the consultation, I got a call from Nadia notifying me that the doctor was going to be out of town that weekend and needed to reschedule my consultation. Of course, it was Easter weekend. I rescheduled for April 29, I was so bummed that I had to wait another 2 more weeks to meet him. Meanwhile, I sent my pictures to Dr. Pantoja and Dr. Campos requesting an online quote for a BBL and BA. Few days later, I received Dr. Pantoja's quote for $5,500. I thought the price was great and I really liked how his staff responded quickly. So by then, I really wanted Dr. Pantoja as my doctor. I heard back from Dr. Campos after a week and half later with his quote for $8,460. The next day, Norma from Dr. Campos's office called me to see if I had any questions regarding the quote. I requested another quote with just the BBL procedure because I thought his price was too high for both procedures. Norma said she was going to send me a new quote and that they currently had a BBL special. Ok, I waited for the quote and I didn't receive it. So I sent them a reminder along with my current pictures again. Till this day, I haven't heard back from Dr. Campos's office. It doesn't surprise me, I've read a lot of reviews that his staff are not responsive. So I figured I'll just stick with Dr. Pantoja, his price is more affordable anyways. I started to look into recovery homes and continued to read more of Dr. Pantoja's reviews. I was loving his work and I felt like he was the one.

On April 22 I had my consultation with Dr. Pantoja. I live in Riverside County, so my drive to San Ysidro, next to the border was about 1 hr and 45 mins. I parked my car next to the outlets and walked to cross the border. There were lots of people waiting to cross over to Tijuana. It took me about 30 mins to cross and I was running late. I called Nadia to notify her, that I was running late and she was understanding. Immigration was checking everyone's passport. If you didn't have one, they took you into a room to finger print you with a warning. Lucky, I had my passport and didn't have any issues. Once I crossed over to Tijuana, I took a taxi to his office which was $6. The ride was about 5-10 mins, pretty close from the border. I walked into Dr. Pantoja's office, it was clean, cute little office. Nadia was at the front desk, she was friendly and gave me the paperwork to complete. I was called in to the doctor's office by some older lady, not too friendly and didn't even smile. So I finally met with Dr. Pantoja, he was nice and joked a lot. I speak Spanish so I was able to communicate with him without a translator. I told him what I wanted and that I was also interested in a BA. He recommended not to do both procedures at the same time, because I was going to have a rough recovery. I figured that would be the case and I was already thinking I should wait for the BA after my BBL. He told me, he can do both procedures, but that was up to me. He just looked at me through my clothes and said he can probably give me about 500cc on each cheek, but it all depends on how much I weight during the surgery and how much fat he can get out. I was kind of surprised, why he didn't check me without my clothes. He told me that I needed to gain some weight, which I already knew he was going say that. He quoted me for the BBL at $4,000. I continued to ask him questions about the BBL procedure and questions about him. He didn't seem too happy when I started my questions about his practice, then I felt he was rushing me. I needed to make sure he was the right doctor for me and that I got good vibes from him too. At that point, I didn't feel he was the doctor I was looking for. Yes, he does great work, but if I'm not getting good vibes from the doctor in person, then that changes my decision. I left the office, got a taxi back to the border and again, there was a long line to cross back. Ughh! I waited about an 1 hour or maybe more. This whole thing, crossing the border back and forth was too much for me. So with all that being said, I had to continue my research again.