Breast Implant Exchange with Breast Lift and Liposuction. Dominican Republic, DO

In searching for a RH, I reached out to several. My parents are Dominican and I'm fluent in Spanish so I sent all my emails in Spanish. I decided to go w/ Relax Recovery House. Soraya, the owner, replied to my emails quickly and answered all my questions. Soraya called me to clear things up, and we spoke on the phone for over an hour! That highly impressed me since I was not getting the same response from other RHs I contacted. The other RHs would respond immediately to the first email asking if they had availability for the dates I was going but emails after that asking them for more information on the RH was met with radio silence or it took days to hear back. Soraya doesn't speak English. She said she uses translator apps to help her communicate w/ non Spanish clients. Soraya is very sweet but all business when it comes to making sure her clients are being well taken care of.

The RH is a 3 bedroom apt in the central district of Santo Domingo, which is a good area. I was shocked to learn that some apartments in that area are priced the same as apartments in Long Island. The RH is close to several malls. You must go to Aqua Mall. It's a city block away from the RH and they have American stores. The prices there are much cheaper than in the states...I racked up at Zara's!

Ok back to RH lol...two of the bedrooms are for clients and the third is for staff. I like that it doesn't house that many people. I wanted more one on one attention which is what I got. I was the only client there throughout my stay! That was great and despite me being the only client, Soraya always kept 2 staff members working! One nurse and one cook/housekeeper. Millie, Josefina and Maritza made me feel like a princess! They waited on me hand and foot. They were friendly, really gentle and very attentive. The first couple of days after my surgery, the pain would make me pause when trying to get out of bed or move around and they were always patient with me and told me to take my time. They give you meds at the exact time everyday, never off by a minute....they must use some kind of timer. I meant to ask but forgot. Another thing, the house is always being cleaned and disinfected, especially the bathroom.

The client's rooms each has two HOSPITAL BEDS and a regular twin size mattress bed in them. Sometimes people bring a companion w/ them so they can sleep on the regular mattress. I have to tell you...sleeping on a hospital bed is a must post surgery! I truly believe that it helped me recover quicker. My doc told me not to lay flat on my back and I can't tell you how painful it would've been trying to stay propped up w/ pillows. It also helps facilitate getting in and out of bed. Of course, staff is always there to assist w/ that. You even get a remote call button and they respond immediately when you press it.

The wifi at the RH is fast. I watched Netflix on my iPad 90% of my time there and never had a problem. You get a personal, portable safe that you can lock onto your bed. It's small but you can fit your passport, phones, money, credit cards etc in there. I had two iPads and two iPhones w/ me that I didn't lock up, nothing went missing. They offer free international calling but I used FaceTime or whatsapp to call/text.

Millie, the nurse, is a sweetheart. She walked around the neighborhood with me, went with me to the mall twice and she also went with me to buy a girdle. I opted to go w/ a Colombian girdle (Fajate) that's not offered through Dr. Goico. Soraya doesn't sleep there but she's always a phone call away. Soraya took me to and from all my doctor appointments and massages. She almost always waited for me in the waiting room, the one time she had to run an errand she was back by the time I was done. It's not something I thought to ask before I chose the RH but trust me it's a huge plus. I saw one girl wait for hours to get picked up, I felt so bad for her. I heard it's pretty common for girls to get dropped off and picked up hours later (most of my apps were an hour long bc massage). Make sure you ask your potential RH if they wait for you during appts.

The food was delicious. I was spoiled bc I was the only one there so they made me whatever I asked for. The food was healthy but tasty. They switch it up and I never ate the same thing twice. Everyday they made me delicious tea before breakfast, I'm not a fan of tea but they were good. For snacks, they cut up fresh food or make natural fruit juices. Yuuummm my favorite! Presentation was always pretty. They served me snacks in bed on a tray. I'm telling you I was spoiled!

As long as everything went well, my plan was to stay at the RH until Dr. Goico removed the drains and then go stay with my dad for a few days before heading back to NY. My dad lives 2 hours away so I couldn't stay w/ him immediately after my surgery as I needed to be in the area for post surgical appointments. Normally people stay under the surgeon's care, hence RH, for 14 days. Dr. Goico's office had me sign an AMA when I left. My dad hired someone to help me while I stayed with him and my uncle, who's an internal medicine doc, visited me every day to a me sure I was recovering well and finish the anti-coagulation injections. For those reasons I thought it was safe to leave that soon after the surgery. Worst case scenario, I would've gone back to Santo Domingo to get medical attention from Dr. Goico.

Dr. Goico removed my drains 5 days after the surgery and I stayed at the RH for an extra day to do some clothes shopping and get the girdle. You can't use a tight girdle until after the drains are removed. Soraya didn't charge me for the last day! That was nice and totally unexpected!

Hope this review helps you ladies in knowing what to ask of your RH. I had a great experience at Relax Recovery House and highly recommend it.

I'm not one to write reviews but I had to share my experience when I traveled to Santo Domingo, DR to get surgery on 10/2/2015. It's kind of long but getting surgery is pretty serious and when I was looking through reviews I appreciated the ones that were more detailed and I hope this helps. I live in Long Island, NY and opted to go to DR for my surgery for two reasons: cost for breast implants alone in NY start at $10,000 and doctors in NY do not sculpt your body with lipo, they only suck a few liters of the fat out and leave you however it is that you come out.

A little backstory....this is my second time getting lipo and breast implants. The first time was 12 years ago. That time I went to Colombia to get it done for the same reasons I already mentioned. A friend referred me to a surgeon that did her nose which came out really good. I took advantage of her taking a trip to visit her family in Colombia and joined her to get my surgery. Back then I didn't know many people that had undergone cosmetic surgery and didn't know any better when they never ran any type of medical testing to clear me for surgery. I didn't even stay in the hospital overnight, I was literally discharged still woozy form the anesthesia. Thank God I survived the surgery and was mostly happy with the results (I was an A cup and wanted a full C, I woke up to having double D's!! They were always hard and didn't have the natural look I wanted...lipo came out fantastic!) It wasn't until after hearing horror stories of women dying from cosmetic surgeries that I realized how lucky I had really been.

Back to the present...I looked online for a good surgeon. I read many reviews on RealSelf and looked at many pictures...I would then click on the surgeons website and look through their before and after pictures. It took months to do my homework and I reached out to Dr. Fernandez Goico. The pictures of his breast implants and breast lifts are flawless, his work leans towards the more natural look. His lipo is on point too. I sent him pictures of myself and we spoke for over an hour about what I wanted, what he wanted me to expect and his recommendations for my frame. We also texted a lot through whatsapp on his cell. He told me not to hesitate to call his cell with any questions. He's quick to respond texts and very straight forward. He won't just tell you whatever you want to hear to make a sale. He is true professional...concise and thorough. He doesn't rush through any conversation and gives you his undivided attention. I asked A LOT of questions and never got an "ugh" vibe from him and he answered them all in a clear way that left me feeling informed. Before I sent a down payment I felt totally comfortable that I would be in good hands.

The cost was $5200 and it included the breast implant exchange, breast lift, liposuction, medical insurance, pain killers, 7 days of antibiotics, 7 days of injection prevent blood clots and 5 post surgical lympathic massages. He will not do more than 1 major surgery a day (he considers mine major bc it involved 2 procedures) and he always schedules any major surgery as his first surgery of the day. He also won't perform more than 3 simple surgeries (only lipo) max in one day. It's reassuring that he doesn't overwork himself (I told you I asked a lot of questions lol). I found some surgeons down there that schedule up to 10 surgeries in one day!!! How is that humanly possible??

I was in DR from 10/1/15 to 10/12/15. I was scheduled to get blood tests and get examined by a cardiologist the day of my arrival and be his first surgery the following day as long as the results came back fine. He said if anything was off or my iron levels were low he would not perform the surgery. I was not too happy to hear that but I appreciated that he prioritized my health over my money. So that was the plan and that's the way it went. I will write more about the surgery and post before and after pics as soon I as I get them from him (I didn't take any before pics at home bc I never intended to write a review). I have only good things to say about him and the experience I had. He did an amazing job and I'm sooooo happy with my results.

After picking my doc I only had one thing left to do...find a good recovery house. Sometimes people don't realize that aftercare is as important as the surgery itself, I know I didn't the first time around. Many women die from infections or blood clots due to poor aftercare. Dr. Goico's secretary, Karel, sent me a list of RHs he recommends. I will write a separate review and post pics on the RH I ended up choosing....Relax Recovery House.