The Brazil option

Excerpt from the book, "Beauty from Afar" by Jeff Schulte

No country has given more to the development of medical tourism and to cosmetic surgery, or has received less in return financially than Brazil but the balance is being redressed.
You can look farther south to Argentina, or you can look in Venezuela.  You can look to Chile, Peru, even Colombia and the smaller countries of South America and find…  modest prices, but it is Brazil that has the most potential as a medical tourism destination. 
There are very good reasons why – despite the reputation of its surgeons – Brazil is currently better known for exporting cosmetic techniques, training aesthetic surgeons from abroad, and for the physical beauty of its own citizens, rather than as a destination for North Americans of average means looking for an alternative to high surgery prices.

…We believe Brazil offers the most comprehensive array of cosmetic-enhancement services.  This is largely a function of local demand – Brazil has every level and type of beauty-related services one can imagine…
In-country cosmetic and aesthetic surgery has long been affordable for any Brazilian, and it has long been sought after by the wealthy elites of the West, but increasingly it is a viable option to consider for the average North American or European who wants quality work at a substantially lower price than available at home.  …With notable exceptions, Brazilian surgeons are only just starting to do what they must do to cater to a broader international market for cosmetic surgery.  Plastic surgery patients are not typical tourists; they are patients, first and foremost and want to be cared for as such.

(MedNetBrazil) is certainly not the only one to offer such medical “concierge” services to foreigners but Christi was among the first to recognize that many more people from the United States would come to Brazil for medical care and plastic surgery if they knew about it and if it was easier to do.  MedNetBrazil has accomplished that using the internet for marketing and for hand-holding patients through the process.  Competitors in Brazil are popping up left and right now and nascent US based medical-tourism companies are entering the fray…If you could create the perfect person to start up a successful medical-tourism business in Brazil, she would be it….She’s also been through the medical system in both the United States and Brazil as a patient and has emerged … with a passion for what she does.