Dr. Araya and others?

Hi Trudy,

I know of several people who have had surgery with him at CIMA, so I don't know why he's not listed; maybe it's just been overlooked.

Here is Dr. Lev's website: http://www.eternallyvain.com/

I don't have any info about Dr. Urzola. There's no reason to use a medical travel service, in my opinion. I've taken two cosmetic surgery trips to Costa Rica, making decisions based on info gleaned from websites and forums. I communicated easily by email with the doctor I chose, as well as the aftercare facility I decided on. My experiences have been more than positive in every way. Menopause had a very sad effect on my face and body, but now I get up every morning thankful for the face and body I see in the mirror.

I am ever so grateful I didn't go to Dr. Araya. I went instead to Dr. Alberto Arguello Choiseul, with tremendous results. Before I left CR I had a good look at one of Dr. Araya's patients and her eye incision had completely opened up. She's going to be horrifically disfigured and he was nowhere to be found. She was making rumblings of going to Dr. DeCruz to try to get it fixed, but there you go, by the time she's done she will have paid twice for her surgery. I emailed her to ask if she was getting it sorted out, but have not heard back. People act like they're your new best friend when you're down there, but you don't hear from them again. In contrast, with Dr. Arguello, my face didn't even have a bruise and my scars were so hidden by my hair that it didn't look like I had anything done. I would definitely recommend Dr. Arguello, but only if you are a non-smoker. Also, I noticed that some women took on too much at once, as if they had suddenly discovered that they had become old, so they were having a breast lift and a tummy tuck and an arm lift and a thigh lift and fractal laser and god-knows-what else all at once. That's just too much to put your body through in one go. Just before I left a new crop of women arrived looking to reinvent themselves and one stood out because she was clearly very obese. I was guessing that she was going to have a gastric band. Instead, just before I left I noticed an X on her neck and I realized that she was having extensive plastic surgery. She explained that she was having a breast lift, tummy tuck, liposuction, thigh lift and more, (from her skin I guessed she was mid-thirties), because she had gained a lot of weight after she had two kids. She was going under for eight hours, (as much time as open heart surgery). From her general level of fitness, quite frankly, I was a bit scared for her. With that many extra pounds, the results will never satisfy her and will sag if she ever does diet and exercise. And frankly, she seemed like the kind of person who was at risk of deep vein thrombosis. If you want a good result, cut out all aspirin, even cold meds for months before, never take vitamins, exercise daily including a half hour run, never sun tan, and don't smoke.

May I ask the name of your surgeon?

I too thought that Araya worked out of CIMA, but he is not on a contactable list of doctors there, although his site has him posing in front of the building. He lost his privleges there some time ago. If he got them back then it's a grave injustice, but my sources tell he that he gives the impression he is still there but does not have privledges there. Here is the long and short of what I witnessed and then heard about after I left:
I was there in March and met a women who had been worked on by Araya at the end of February. Her sutures pulled apart above the eyes in such a way that she will have quarter inch scars above her eyes. Under her chin was a massive diagonal scar, very inflamed and furthermore unnecessary to tighten up skin there, and her neck had been so over tightened that the flesh over her tyroid area of her neck tore apart, leaving a massive infected area. She looked like hell. Araya was nowhere to be found. As the weeks wore on she because increasingly more distraught and hid in her room as the scars became more infected and horrendous looking. Finally in the middle of March she was able to track him down, and he issued her some tranquilizers. He did nothing for the torn apart sutures, which would be horrendous scars.
After I left, I heard from a woman who had given me the original info on Las Cumbres. Another woman she knew had travelled down there roughly a month after I left. Staff told her on the qt that a woman who had been there in mid-March, which is the time frame I am talking about, had demanded a revision from Araya after his original surgery went array, (funny how that adjective just came to mind). During the revision she became seriously ill and ended up in the ICU for 10 days, (all at her own expense), followed by three more weeks in hospital.
That would put her in the same time frame as the woman I met when I was down there. Was she one and the same person? I can't even tell you, because her email is no longer working and god knows what the reason for that can be. All I can tell you is that the last I heard she was horrifically distraught and demanding answers. Then I left the country and the next thing I know a woman fitting her description and time line turns up in the ICU following another botched Araya surgery.
Another woman he worked on in the fall, name of Sue, looks like a stroke victim and her doctor tells her it may be a year before she recovers use of one side of her face, if ever.
Do you really want to risk your face on this butcher?

who did you chose for your surgery? I am thinking about going in august.. I live in FL... thank you

JCHAO is a JOKE there. There is no peer committee review, no standards on pain control, no committee on infection control...Nothing. So I have personally come to the conclusion, after living with JCHAO regulation readiness person for 10 years, and then getting quizzed by her for another 10 years, all JCHAO is down there is someone paid someone $$$$$ to get the certificate. The accreditation process is NOTHING EVEN close to the one here. I had a physician try to walk into a sterile corridor with his white coat on. We call that "white coat syndrome". NOBODY here wears a white coat, NOBODY! YOU DO NOT wear it into the OR! They are dirty, you spread germs from one patient to another to another. Show me please where there is one positive reference for Araya. I have not seen anything positive for Araya. If you bad mouth a physician down there, they can have your business license revoked, whereas here they can't do anything to you. As far as Araya being at CIMA, his privileges were revoked at CIMA long enough to load the American's body on plane and get it onto US soil and that is all. I have a VERY RELIABLE contact there and he is still at BIBLICA and CIMA, which means he is subject to JCHAO accreditation. And is JCHAO doing a thing about this? NO. Forget having some society of plastic surgeons answering, let JCHAO answer. Anytime there is a death in a JCHAO facility, it AUTOMATICALLY goes to a review within 48 hours here in the US, IT'S THE LAW! And the reason they are not reviewing it there? MONEY. It is all about MONEY. I would like to put something I have been trying and trying for a while to get something together for 20/20 with all of these disasters.

Ok I'm a recent convert. How long should I wait to have plastic surgery now that I've stopped smoking?

I am one of the ones that referred Isabel. She and I pretty much agree 100% on everything including diet. How long did you smoke and how much did you smoke. This may also seem like a strange question as well, but San Jose is over 4,000 feet above sea level. What is the altitude where you live? I live high in the Rockies and have never been a smoker so respiratory wise is never an issue. I was in medicine for over 20 years (working actively in a hospital). I am out of a hospital environment but I still dabble with volunteer clinics.

What is your definition of a recent convert? A week, a month, a year? How much did you smoke and what kind? Lights, unfiltered or filtered?

You are also going to have to do an exercise regimen to get lung function back. I am also going to suggest you see a pulmonologist here in the states prior to booking any kind of surgery.

You have a long way to go to undo the damage (if you can) from the "cancer sticks". Start exercising and eating right. You may want to see a registered dietician as well. I do a lot of juicing due to the fact that I have Celiac disease. I am able to better absorb vitamins this way. You have robbed your body of essential vitamins and minerals with the cigarettes over the years of smoking.

Exercise and eat right. See a physician and find out how much damage you have done. Also, what is your height and weight? Isabel and I are about the same size. Well, we were, now I am smaller (not intentionally). I think last time I talked to her she said she was a size 5. I am between a 0-3 now and getting smaller every day (not intentionally).

I work out, I eat right and Isabel does the same. She stays out of the sun better than I do.

It is time to start repairing yourself. You can email me offline at ada5is at msn dot com and I can better get a feeling of your situation.

Amie