Facelift with Dr. Arguello in Costa Rica -- 2/18/15

I’m 58 years old and have always taken good care of myself with supplements, exercise and bio-identical hormones, which I started about 3 years after menopause. I feel like I’m in my twenties most of the time. The bod is 103 pounds of toned muscle.

When your mind tells you that you are still young and attractive, but the mirror tells you that you look like Mother Teresa..it’s time for a tuneup.

I’m not in a hurry for my overhaul. I plan on doing considerable research on the doctors I am interested in.
Last month, on the spur of the moment, I decided to make a 4 hr trek, alone… across Los Angeles and into the wild, wild west of Tijuana. By myself (mind you) to visit a facelift patient, Jenny (who I met on RealSelf) and her friend and to get a consultation from her surgeon, Dr. Alejandro Quiroz. At the time, Jenny was just 5 days out of surgery.

Tijuana is a scary place….chaos by design. Crumbling buildings mixed in with modern shops. Trash, graffiti, and street salesmen mixed with steaming street vents emitting a cacophony of sounds and smells. Even with car windows rolled up, the hawkers festoon your side view mirrors with gaudy wares, like bizarre Christmas ornaments.
Driving into Tijuana, you will take your life in your hands. No one bothers with lanes or signals, but your horn is essential. You merge into a roundabout while jockeying for position like a horse on the track. Here were my directions. Go past the “big scissors”. Go past the “big indian”. Go past “Abraham Lincoln”. Turn right at “the man on the horse”. (Actually, this all became quite obvious..but it would have helped to have someone riding shotgun to troubleshoot the traffic.) Street signs with actual names on them? Good luck. You will need it. By the time I arrived at Cosmed/Vida, I was needing a stiff drink.

Meeting Jenny and her friend was a wonderful experience. Jenny looks even better in person than in her photos on her RealSelf review. My first and immediate impression was that Dr. Quiroz did a wonderful job, even though these two very nice ladies were obviously attractive to begin with.

My consultation went well. Dr. Quiroz has a great bedside manner, which he has polished to perfection, and he is quite sweet and sincere. I liked him immediately. I was told I needed a neck and brow lift and mid-face, as well as some laser. I was not blessed with great skin and I have spent my life outdoors.
Back in again with Jenny- the recovery boutique is nice, with darkened rooms. I wanted to stay longer, and chat with my new friends, but my goal was to get back over the border before dark.

I ended up getting lost and not finding the “medical fast pass” lane, and was shunted into the regular traffic, forcing me to run the gauntlet of swarming hawkers to get back to the US., which took me 2 ½ hours. I do feel badly for these people and the poverty that is apparent. It must be an awfully hard, terrible way to make a living.

The border guard asked me, “what are you here for?” Me- a plastic surgery consultation. Guard- “what kind of surgery?” “facelift” “what will it cost?” Oh, about seven thousand dollars.” Guard- “is it worth it?”

Yes, I think so. I really think so.

Am now busy reading reviews. Or should I say, I’m addicted to reading reviews.

My approach is going to be to consult with a Doctor, to read reviews on that doctor (and to compile them, or at least develop an opinion based on reading multiple reviews), and to communicate with others who have had the same procedure by that doctor. I don’t know if I will have the time to be as comprehensive as I would like, but I will try.

Since I am a layperson, I really believe that it is unfair for me to pass judgement on a procedure. I don’t know what a correctly done procedure IS, at this point. So until I learn what a correctly done procedure is, I can only offer an opinion, or a visceral response. I am not sure how helpful that will be.

I am so thankful for this site, RealSelf. I had plastic surgery 20 years ago, have had breast implants and a rhinoplasty. I was danged lucky that I had good results. I don’t know if RealSelf was around then (was there even an internet?) It was difficult or near impossible to even get information. Plastic surgery back then (in the dark ages, when we wrote with quill pens and received information by carrier pigeon) seemed like so much more of a crapshoot.

I want to thank all the brave women on this site. We are all given only one body and one face during this lifetime. To entrust that body and that face, and sometimes even our LIVES to a surgeon (for an elective procedure) is not something to be taken lightly. I think all these courageous women who share so that others may benefit should be applauded and supported. No one should be discouraged, or be made to feel sorry they have offered. None of us profit from this, no one is paid for their stories.

I have read stories of hope, of excitement, of anticipation. Stories of preparation and study, and pain. Stories of joy and happiness, but also of anger, sadness, discouragement, disappointment, and finally resignation. And this is crushing. It breaks my heart.

All of it is a bit confusing to me right now. Trying hard to process it all.
Does this prove that plastic surgery is not an exact science, not entirely predictable?

I am finding stories of joy and happiness, and satisfaction.
I am finding things that distress me, but I am not sure that they should..like about the lady who woke up twice during surgery. She was not feeling pain, but this sounds like a twilight zone nightmare to me.

Finding out you can only get over the counter meds and Tylenol for pain reduction in Tijuana, so if you want something more, bring your own. Good to know.

Reading about women crying all night, throwing up. This is not a picnic, obviously.

“Barbaric” looking incisions. When one is having large amounts of flesh removed, would they not all look barbaric? I don’t know. I need education.

Surgeons need to realize this site, and sites like it, are a powerful and empowering resource for consumers. I think that those doctors who embrace it will benefit the most. With knowledge comes power. They need to understand that this is ALL we have to go on, other than word of mouth.

Patients who choose elective surgery should be realistic about their expectations and outcome.

Surgeons need to realize that they are not just there for the surgery. A surgeon should never leave a patient with a large degree of dis-satisfaction, in my opinion.

I don’t think any surgery of this type should ever be rushed, so as to fit as many surgeries into a day as possible, even if multiple surgeries make the most economic sense.

It is my deepest wish that all surgeons (and/or their people) should study this site like it was a medical text. Plastic surgery is about anatomy, cutting and sewing- but it is also about people, their emotions and their choices. I think the most successful surgeons will understand this. If every doctor took these comments to heart, the good doctors would become great doctors, and they would see their practices expand as a result.