If you're coming from outside Colombia

You arrive → in-person consultation → surgery → follow-up visits in the city → cleared to fly → follow-up from home

Your recovery doesn’t end when you board the plane: what happens once you’re back home is here too.

If you’re coming from abroad, everything happens in Cali: the consultation, the surgery and the follow-up visits. I also have an office in Pereira, but for patients who travel we organize everything in Cali, which is simpler.

It’s the first thing you need to know, because it determines when you book your return flight.

Surgery	Recommended minimum in the city
Breast explant and reconstruction	20 days
Breast lift	20 days
Tummy tuck	20 days
Breast augmentation	15 days
Breast implant exchange	15 days
Liposculpture, on its own	20 days
360 lipo	20 to 25 days
Liposculpture combined with a breast lift, a tummy tuck or biopolymer removal	One month
Buttock augmentation with fat	I’ll confirm it in the consultation
Biopolymer removal	One month
Rhinoplasty	15 days
Facelift	20 days
Eyelid surgery	15 days
Otoplasty	15 days
Gynecomastia	12 days
Vaginal rejuvenation (vaginoplasty)	One week

How the first days are organized: on day 1 you arrive in Colombia and rest; on day 2 you go for your lab tests, buy your compression garments, and have your consultation with me; and day 3 is surgery. To be safe, arrive with 48 hours to spare if you’re coming from the Americas and 72 if you’re coming from Europe. The minimum days are counted from the day of surgery.

These are recommended minimums. It’s the time I need to have you nearby to see how you’re healing, do your follow-up visits, and, if anything comes up, handle it myself before you travel. If you can stay longer, even better.

Once the minimum is up, you can fly. That’s why I recommend booking a return ticket with a flexible date: if your recovery needs a few more days, it shouldn’t depend on a ticket.

• Your ID: a valid passport, or your cédula if you’re Colombian. From Spain, the United States, Canada, and Chile, you don’t need a visa for a short stay: you enter with a permit for up to 90 days, extendable to 180 in the year. The stays in this table fit easily.
• The Check-MIG form, from Migración Colombia. It’s completed online between 72 hours and 1 hour before your flight.
• A return ticket, with a flexible date. Some airlines and immigration control may ask you to have one.
• Your tests and medical records. You can get your pre-op tests done in your home country, as long as they’re no more than 15 days old on the day of surgery. You can also get them done in Colombia without any trouble: they take about 4 hours and you need to be fully fasting.
• Any medication you take, with its generic name.
• Comfortable clothes for your recovery days.
• Someone to come with you: this is required. We don’t provide a nurse or caregiver, so that person is the one who helps you during the first few days.
• Before you buy your tickets, talk to your insurance company. These are the exact questions to ask:
  • Does my travel insurance cover planned surgery abroad, or only the unexpected?
  • If I have a complication from that surgery, will it cover me there? And when I get back?
  • What documents will they ask me for?

In Colombia, neither public health insurance nor private prepaid plans cover cosmetic surgery or its complications. That’s why complications insurance is required in order to have surgery: today my patients take it out with Sura.

• What it covers: medical, surgical or hospital treatment for a complication of your surgery, for 30 days.
• When you take it out: in Colombia, before surgery. It has to be issued at least 3 days beforehand.
• If you live abroad: you don’t need to be enrolled in Colombia’s social security system to take it out.

I’ll explain how to get it in the consultation.

You buy it in Cali, on the day of your lab tests and consultation. The compression garment has to be the one we recommend: not just any garment will do, so we’ll tell you where to buy it.

Surgery	What you need
Liposculpture	2 rigid compression garments with a back closure · 1 abdominal board · 2 compression stockings · Epifoam pads · a donut cushion
Tummy tuck	2 rigid compression garments · 2 soft compression garments · 1 abdominal board · 2 compression stockings · Epifoam pads · a donut cushion
Breasts (augmentation, implant exchange, explant)	2 post-surgical bras
Biopolymer removal	2 rigid compression garments · 2 compression stockings
Buttocks (augmentation with fat)	The same full compression garment as for liposculpture, with built-in shorts. You wear it for 3 months
Chin liposuction and facelift	A chin strap
Otoplasty	A sports headband. You wear it for 3 months

What the compression garment has to be like: back closure, full bust, sleeves to the elbow, and long enough to reach the knee.

We decide your flight date together, at your last follow-up visit, once the minimum for your surgery is up and I can see you’re ready to travel.

Flying after surgery increases the risk of blood clots. That’s why clearance isn’t just a date: I give you instructions for the flight.

• Carry your prescription and your medical travel authorization with you.
• On the plane, walk around every half hour.
• Drink 2 bottles of water during the trip.
• While you’re seated, tighten your calf muscles.

Your recovery doesn’t end when you board the plane. In the city, I see you at 4 days, at 8, and at 15 to remove the stitches; if any stitches remain, every week. From home, follow-up continues by WhatsApp, in writing or by video call, coordinated by Sthefany, from my team. There are usually two, although it depends on what your recovery needs.

Message us if you notice any of these signs:

• pain;
• warmth or redness in the treated area;
• a racing heart (tachycardia);
• fever.

Depending on the case, I’ll give you instructions or tell you to see a doctor where you are.

It’s worth knowing before you leave, without any alarm: in an emergency, your country will treat you. What changes is the coverage for everything else.

	An emergency when you get back	Cosmetic surgery and anything non-urgent
Spain	You’re treated when your situation requires immediate care.	Cosmetic surgery isn’t covered by the public health system. There’s no health care agreement between Colombia and Spain.
United States	Hospitals with emergency departments will stabilize you, whether or not you can pay.	Complications may not be covered by your health insurance: ask beforehand.
Canada	Your provincial plan covers emergencies, with limits.	Most travel insurance doesn’t cover planned procedures outside the country.
Chile	The Emergency Law covers you until you’re stabilized, whether or not you have FONASA.	Ask your insurer before you travel.

And two things the governments themselves recommend: come back with your medical records, and tell any doctor who sees you that you had surgery abroad for at least 12 months.

I’m not going to tell you what the city is like: I’ll tell you where to look it up yourself. Your government publishes a travel advisory, with a date, and it’s the source I’d check too:

• Spain: Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores · Recomendaciones de viaje: Colombia
• United States: U.S. Department of State · Colombia Travel Advisory
• Canada: Travel.gc.ca · Colombia
• Chile: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores · Viajero responsable