 [ Symptoms ] it is cheaper but is it safe to have my surgery performed overseas [ Disease ] kotler traveling for cosmetic surgery there is a fascinating subject the question is what are the risks of traveling 8 000 miles say to south africa or down to costa rica and having cosmetic surgery and is it a good deal well dollars and cents wise it is a good deal but remember you have to factor in the air fare and all those other issues but let is just say that the total expenditure is less and it may well be uhm it is not the craziest thing in the world frankly for some people and by some people i mean those who are a little more adventuresome here is why first of all you do combine it with a vacation but you better take the vacation part of it first because you do not want to be bouncing around on a safari truck after you have had your tummy tuck but secondly the real issue is what if there is a problem and who presides over the post operative care because you know the care of the patient does not end at the end of the operation or even a week or ten days later because after all there are wounds that have to mature sometimes they heal better in one person than another and who is going to preside over that so the issue is who is going to give the post operative care that is the best scenario problem but the worst scenario problem is what if i get a complication or infection and now i am 3 000 miles or 10 000 miles away from home it is costing me x amount of money because my health insurance does not even cover this medical problem that i have because i am in a foreign country i do not have any family here is that likely most of the time not frankly i will tell you that the south african surgeons are very good we have seen excellent work coming up from costa rica but we have also seen some very substandard work coming up from costa rica for example i could tell you the same thing about mexico i could tell you that i have seen people come back who have had very nice work done and we have had other people that walked into this office without an appointment having a massive abdominal infection because the doctor that operated on them across the border is gone is missing does not respond to phone calls and they walked into this building because they know we have a lot of cosmetic surgeons in this building and they need help so for those who are adventuresome who tend to worry less it is probably okay pick your country pick your doctor well the more advanced countries i think offer you a little more sophistication and safety the exchange rate is indeed very favorable with some other countries like south africa and quite frankly south africa has been