Surgery abroad? Medical tourism inquiry.

[riotshield]

I had my surgery done in Seoul 6 months ago. I've been living in South Korea for a year and a half so I had all of my treatment, including braces, done here.

I'm satisfied with my result. Seoul's pretty well-known for cosmetic surgery, and jaw surgery is fairly common here. However, I'd strongly recommend having the entire braces and surgery treatment done here, because of the number of follow-up visits, communication between the ortho and OS, and general language barriers. I wouldn't feel comfortable if I had an ortho in the US and just came to Korea for the surgery.

As for costs, I paid the equivalent of almost $11,000 USD for a Le Fort I, BSSO and genioplasty including 3 nights in a clinic hospital, and about $5000 USD for braces. It can be done cheaper here than what I paid, but I decided to go with doctors who were fluent in English and US trained.

[24braceface]

I would really, really, REALLY encourage you to explore other options regardless of what the surgeon's skills are. This is such a major surgery and being able to regularly follow-up with the surgeon is extremely important. If something goes wrong, you will end up spending much more than the amount of money you saved by going abroad.

It sucks that I found out about this after my surgery, but there apparently are a lot of surgeons in the states who are using in-office surgery suites for orthognathic patients to make it more affordable to those who don't have insurance. It's really the hospital bill that causes this surgery to be so outrageously expensive (amongst other things, but still, the hospital bill is the big one). If you are in the southeast region I would try googling Lon Doles in Charleston, SC as he is very accomodating to patients who do not have insurance and is an excellent surgeon. Like I said, I found out about this option after my surgery, and honestly I am paying more now for going abroad than had I just stayed in the states and looked for a surgeon who offers this option. Even in the most skilled hands, things can go wrong with this surgery, and it is so, so, so much better to be able to follow-up with your surgeon face-to-face rather than over a phone on a different continent.

So whether it's India, England, Australia, Costa Rica, or wherever, I would say stay within your own country!!! There are plenty of doctors in the States that are willing to help you navigate the orthognathic surgery route if you are uninsured or are having difficulty with getting approval, if in fact you are in the United States. I unfortunately found out about some of these docs only after my surgery.

Oops, posted in wrong place. Sent you a pm.

[kieranmullen]

Would you suggest that US people look into Korea? If so how does one find a good doctor? Directory online etc?

[quote="riotshield"]I had my surgery done in Seoul 6 months ago.[/quote]