Health & Fitness: Psst, You Wanna Plastic Surgeon?

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One of the fastest-selling pharmaceuticals in border towns now is Ribavirin, a drug developed in the U.S. to treat AIDS but not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Despite official doubts about Ribavirin's efficacy, thousands of Americans are crossing the border to buy it; smuggling rings have been formed to transport large quantities to the U.S. for resale. "I have had people come in saying they will buy all I can get," says a pharmacist in Ciudad Juarez.

As the number of middle-income Americans looking southward for doctoring grows, so does the demand for sophisticated services. Mexican plastic surgeons are now in big demand. Reason: a face-lift or tummy tuck south of the Rio Grande costs about 40% of what it does in the U.S. "An operation that typically costs $5,000 in the U.S. can be had for about $2,000 here," says Dr. Jorge Lopez y Garcia, a plastic surgeon from Mexico City. Lopez, a graduate of the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery at New York University Medical Center, flies to Nuevo Laredo twice a month to attend to his growing practice. Most of his patients are women from Texas seeking restorative surgery.

Many Americans are surprised by the range and quality of Mexican health care. "I was very dubious at first about coming here for dental work," recalls Mark Hamilton, a San Diego telecommunications consultant who came to Goldstein in Tijuana in 1983 for root-canal treatment. "But now I am convinced that not only is it cheaper, but also I am getting superior dentistry. They care more down here." He recalls once Goldstein even picked him up at the San Ysidro border crossing in her own car and dropped him off again after the appointment. Says he: "Now you can't beat that for service, can you?"