Beauty on a budget – cosmetic surgery, dentistry and lasik surgery!

Costa Rica’s reputation for excellent, affordable health care is no longer a well-kept secret.  Each day, Juan Santa Maria International Airport welcomes tourists flocking here for elective surgeries.  Several doctors and private clinics offer plastic surgery, lasik eye procedures, dental work and complete physicals to foreigners, as well as Costa Ricans.  Physicians, hospitals, clinics and health care professionals are expanding their practices to cater to this burgeoning medical tourism.  English speaking care providers are easily available.  Costa Rican hospitals and clinics meet or exceed standards found in well-respected hospitals and clinics located in the U.S. or Canada.  Well known for its eco-tourism, what is driving this new phenomenon?   Why are people flocking to Costa Rica for treatments available in their home countries?  In a word: cost.  Not only are procedures less expensive here, but the private recovery facilities are luxurious and relatively inexpensive.  This makes Costa Rica an appealing alternative when undergoing dental work, cosmetic surgery, eye surgery, etc.  Compared to U.S. costs, an individual can come to Costa Rica for medical care, relax in beautiful, tropical surroundings during recuperation and fly back home with money in their pocket – sometimes for less than half the cost they would have paid in their home town.  It is not uncommon to see women browsing, laughing and enjoying themselves in a shopping center or restaurant with bandages wrapped under their chins and over the tops of their heads, obviously face lift recipients.  (I am aware of one facility – and there are undoubtedly others – that offers door to door service for a flat fee of less than $10,000 for a complete face lift.)  During recovery, “patients” can enjoy day tours of Costa Rica, bask by a pool or hot tub while watching cloud formations over distant mountains, dine on tasty food prepared in an on-site kitchen and return to their homes refreshed and looking and feeling younger and healthier.  Wouldn’t recovering from a root canal or liposuction be more tolerable in lush, tropical surroundings?  (For the perfect recovery facility, check this out.)

Costa Rica Health Care – Smoke gets in your EARS

Have you ever tried lighting a cigarette with it placed in your ear? I haven’t, but many ticos have done just that. This is a common folk remedy performed when someone is having trouble with their hearing, experiencing pain in their ears or feeling something isn’t quite right with their ears/hearing. This “treatment” is intended to remove air that has accumulated in the ear canal and is creating a problem.  (I’m just reporting what I’ve been told. I didn’t know air got into your ears. I’ve only had a problem with water getting in mine. Also, a bug one time, but that’s another story.) The cigarette treatment: Place an unlit cigarette in the ear with the filter in the ear. Hold a match to the cigarette. The claim is that the air in the ear will light the cigarette and the offending air will be sucked out by the cigarette. The newspaper treatment: Roll a newspaper into a tube and place one end in the ear. Light the other end with a match. A cautionary note: Be sure the paper is long enough so your hair won’t ignite.  Try at your own risk.

Costa Rica Health Care – PEGA

Have you ever noticed anyone with bruises on their upper arms? If you have, you may have seen someone who has been treated recently for a stomach ache or intestinal problem. Costa Rica practices several non-traditional methods of health care along with traditional “western” medicine. One of the more unusual forms of treatment for gastrointestinal disorders is “pega.” This treatment involves deep, often painful, rubbing on certain areas of the body considered to be pressure/release points, such as the upper arms. The vigorous massaging of these points is believed to force movement and release of toxins within the body’s circulatory system, causing everything to begin flowing smoothly once again and affording relief to the person in distress. Once when I had a stomach ache (no doubt there are more definitive and correct words for my malady and its location, but I consider the stomach to be nearly everything a few inches above and below the belly button), a tica friend of mine ordered me to lie down on a large chest-type freezer in the kitchen of her restaurant. She started massaging my stomach, which was uncomfortable (have you ever tried to lie down on a freezer?) and painful (my stomach was very tender) and caused my “innards” to make all sorts of peculiar, rebellious noises. With her “hmms” and “uh-huhs” I assumed she was making a diagnosis and going to the heart of the problem. However, I couldn’t tolerate the discomfort and pain and aborted the treatment.  I may never know if pega works, but ask any tico and they’ll swear by it.

Costa Rica Health Care – Injections

From the first time I visited Costa Rica until 2 weeks ago, I wondered and marveled (with no small amount of skepticism) at the use of injections as routine treatment for so many different kinds of ailments.  A friend’s knee hurt, so he got an injection.  Another friend had a stomach ache, so she got an injection.  I couldn’t imagine what was in these injections – anti-biotics, steroids, anti-inflammatory agents or just plain glucose solutions (since so much illness is attributed to psychosomatic causes).  Maybe the mere act of having an injection has a placebo effect.  Somehow, I never saw myself as falling for this new form of “cure.”  That was BBB – before bad back.  Some years ago I herniated a C-7 (back of the neck), which resulted in a shoulder that can best be described as frozen and overly sensitive to cold.  A few weeks ago, my shoulder started getting tighter and aching more than usual (sitting at the computer hours on end couldn’t have been a contributing factor, could it?).  I figured it would be better the next day, but it wasn’t.  Gradually, the tightness went down my back and settled around the back of my waist.  It got a firm grasp on the muscles there and started jerking them, more frequently all the time.  A friend suggested I walk up to the pharmacy and get a shot and I laughed.  The mere mention of a needle and my stomach starts rolling around.  A few more days passed and things got worse.  My back was in constant spasm and it was difficult to walk, talk, sleep, eat, etc. – walking to the pharmacy was out of the question.  A friend offered to take me to her doctor, which I accepted and was grateful for her offer.  Unfortunately, the doctor wasn’t available, but there was a pharmacy next door.  When my friend suggested going for a shot, I was game.  I would have accepted leeches at this point.  Well, maybe not leeches, but an injection sounded worth a shot (pun not intended).  The pharmacist had me lie down on an examining table in a little room and she gave me an injection of Voltaren.  Within 20 minutes – I KID YOU NOT!!! – I could walk, talk, sit and even smile.  Call it a wonder drug.  Call it a miracle.  Hallelujah!  I couldn’t believe it then and I still don’t now, but if my back starts spasming again, I won’t wait until a hammer over the head is preferable to the pain.  Here’s some medical advice without a doctor’s license: VOLTAREN is good for what ails you.