Beauty from Afar

When I was writing Beauty from Afar, my publisher really, really, really wanted me to say how many people traveled abroad for medical care, surgery, cosmetic surgery and dentistry.

I probably should have accommodated my publisher’s wishes, and thrown a number out there and backed it up as best as I could. That is pretty much what McKinsey and other researchers have done since. What I chose to do has invited a lot less ridicule and a lot less controversy. I could have stood up to the former and the latter probably would have been good for book sales.

What I did, instead, is mostly in the segment/page I put online today:

Chapter 1 Page 7 | 100,000 Fellow Travelers — or More

I came up with a very reasonable estimate on the number of U.S. residents who were having cosmetic surgery abroad in 2004-2005.  I didn’t have any basis, I thought, for guesstimating how many Americans were going abroad for anything other than cosmetic surgery or dentistry. Four or five years later, I think I am still on the non-ridiculous side of the argument.

But that doesn’t keep journalists from asking the question. How many people go abroad for medical care? And the answer is — who do you want to count? I have no trouble saying “a million” — if you want to count dentistry, and cosmetic surgery, and every person who drives to Mexico for any kind of medical care at all. Throw in some millions of Americans living abroad who already get medical care overseas … you want to count them, as well? I can make the number quite large.

But the number of people who get on an airplane and fly overseas for life-saving or extending surgery, non-cosmetic surgery, is a relatively small number, no matter what you’ve read elsewhere. It is perhaps in the tens of thousands annually. It’s not trivial. But it’s not huge, either.

Most medical travel is regional. Americans are not lined up to go to the Far East for new hips or heart valves. Numbers that suggest otherwise should be looked at very carefully.

I added Curtis J. Schroeder’s Afterword for Beauty from Afar today, along with fussing with links on the table of contents page and updating the “About” page to reflect the fact that I am available for work and that I am open to the partnership and advertising possibilities inherent in this site.

Curt, as far as I know, is still group CEO at Bumrungrad International in Bangkok, Thailand; and I am still grateful for his kind words, written in 2006.

Yes, putting up the Afterword now is out of order. I thought about putting it up last. But I decided that anything that was really about the book and gives people the reasons why they might want to read it, ought to go up before I started posting actual chapters.

Besides, I love the Afterword and it makes me feel good to read it again.

So … next, I’ll put the jacket copy up, somehow; and then the Introduction … and then, I’ll probably start letting people know about the site and, little by little, post the 12 chapters. I’ll make pretty ebooks, in various formats, once I have pulled all the text out of the Quark file and massaged it sufficiently.

This is another place where links to Chapters 1-12 and the Introduction reside. I am finding it best to provide both the reader and myself with some alternatives as I move along with this project. As it has developed, this page seems to be useful for listing each of the “pages” as I add them.

Introduction | Seeking Beauty from Afar

Introduction (Part 1) Stumbling upon an open secret

Introduction (Part 2) Jurassic Park, it’s not …

Introduction (Part 3) A Nose Job in Iran?

Introduction (Part 4) It’s so … Foreign

Introduction (Part 5) Competition for the United States

Chapter 1 | Medical Tourism: Here, There and Everywhere Part 1

60 Minutes and Medical Tourism … Part 2

Vignettes … Didi, Fabio … Part 3

Patients Going Abroad: A Burgeoning Industry … Part 4

U.S. Healthcare and Spiraling Costs … Part 5

Dear Dr. Rubinstein … Part 6

100,000 Fellow Travelers — or More … Part 7

Tip of the Iceberg — and a Trend … Part 8

Medical Tourism: A Moving Target … Part 9 (End of Chapter 1)

Chapter 2 | Comparing Quality, Comparing Costs … Part 1

News Gets Around … Part 2

A Warning Lives on,  Mostly Unheeded … Part 3

Sticks and Stones … Part 4

American Doctors Speak Out … Part 5

Point, Counterpoint … Part 6

The Best of Both Worlds … Part 7

If You Can’t Beat Them … Part 8

Prices in the United States vs. Abroad … Part 9

Chapter 3 | A Brief and Selective History of Medical Tourism Part 1

The Pioneers of Medical Travel … Part 2

Build It and They Will Come … Part 3

Origins of Term Medical Tourism (cont.) … Part 4

The Media Imprimatur … Part 5

Chapter 4 | You’re Going Abroad for…What!? … Part 1

Cosmetic Surgeries and Procedures … Part 2

Eyelids, Foreheads, Noses and Peels … Part 3

Breasts, Arms and Tummies … Part 4

Body Lifts and Butts … Part 5

Hair Implants, Otoplasty, Bariatric, Dental Work … Part 6

What Else is Out There? Non-Cosmetic Procedures; Conclusion … Part 7

Chapter 5 | Research, Research … and More Research … Part 1

Medical Travel and Cosmetic Surgery: Top Resources … Part 2

Patient Support Sites for Medical Tourism … Part 3

(February, 2006)

At first blush, it may seem a bit odd that a board-certified plastic surgeon living and practicing in the United States is writing a foreword for a book detailing the ins and outs of getting cosmetic treatments outside of this country. What’s next? Major airlines offering insight into bus travel? At the risk of being called a heretic, however, there are several reasons why I think education about cosmetic medicine abroad is useful and why this book, Beauty from Afar, can be helpful for people considering surgery outside the United States.

First, let me say that I support the cautious position of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), detailed in this book, on travel abroad for cosmetic surgery. It is sound advice that I feel is inarguable. At the same time, the ASPS has been very good about including and cultivating the input and instruction of very talented surgeons from around the world. Their techniques are frequently included in ASPS journals and educational meetings.

On a personal note, I have been extremely fortunate to have spent time training with very gifted physicians practicing outside the United States, among them Dr. Ivo Pitanguy in Brazil. The techniques that I acquired while observing these doctors are an integral part of my practice today and are used on an almost daily basis. I have personally seen quality surgical skills outside of our borders.

When we talk about travel abroad for medical services, we are almost always involving an aspect of medical economics. We Americans know that we have an extremely competent medical system. But we also know that in relation to the rest of the world, we have the most expensive. Health care in America can come at a very high cost. This means that, at times, many Americans are unable to afford the highest level of health care services that they feel they may want or deserve. This is true of the aesthetic medical field as well. While my advice would always be to have your surgery done domestically if you can afford it, there are many people who simply would not be able to have a procedure done if they had to pay U.S. prices. In today’s global market where multiple companies and individuals are outsourcing to save on costs, it comes as no surprise that this phenomenon has surfaced in the medical industry.

Ultimately, however, quality and safety must be the top priority, whether you are seeking medical attention here or abroad. Unfortunately, in the United States as well as in other countries, there seems to be no shortage of unscrupulous practitioners who portray themselves as experts in their field, but who have never completed a recognized training or credentialing process. The medical experience for a patient is daunting enough, even in a qualified and legitimate familiar environment. Stepping over the border for equally qualified and legitimate care requires guidance. That’s why Beauty from Afar is so essential. This book provides individuals the necessary tools to make an informed decision when seeking out individual health-care options. Its solid principles apply to anyone searching out quality health care, whether across town, a border or the ocean …

John J. Corey, M.D.
Aesthetic Surgeon in private practice
Scottsdale, Arizona
U.S.A.
www.doctorcorey.com

Beauty from Afar: A Medical Tourist’s Guide to Affordable and Quality Cosmetic Care Outside the U.S. will be going out of print soon, and the rights to the book have reverted to me, the author. This is a good thing, because I plan to offer the book online.

You can look for substantial changes to this web site by later on in the summer.

I’ll be using the blog format, obviously. I am leaning toward offering the entire book online, supporting it with advertising; and also offering an ad-free e-book. I’m interested in the experiences of other authors who have put their books online after regaining the rights from a publisher. Thousands of copies of Beauty from Afar are already in print, and sold; nonetheless, I have learned that most people want to research medical travel and tourism from in front of a computer screen, not from in front of an open book.

In the meantime, I still recommend that people interested in getting affordable major dental work abroad check out the Prisma Dental blog, which I edit. The story of my visit there in 2004 remains at:

http://www.tftb.com/beautyfromafar

If you wish to write to me directly, the email address is jss (@) beautyfromafar (dot) com; or you can use the form at: http://www.jeffschult.com/blog/contact.