Despite the kidnapping in Matamoros, there is a growing medical tourism boom on the US-Mexico border.

Medical tourism in Mexico has grown so much in recent years, especially on the northern border of the country, that cities like Tijuana and Mexicali, in Baja California; It is largely inhabited by Reinosa and Matamoros in Tamaulipas and Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua.

These cities are just among those where there is the most violence, extortion, seizure of property, the presence of drug trafficking in their states and in the country.

Evidence of this is the recent plagiarism of four Americans, two of whom were found murdered, who decided to travel from South Carolina to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, for an aesthetic intervention.

However, lower prices compared to prices in the US and Canada, stimulated the growth of activity, said Arturo Ramírez Montagnana, President of the Mexican Association of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery.

“It has always existed, but now it has increased due to social networks. The location of doctors and clinics is becoming more visible,” Ramirez explained.

“Fat infiltration is when you do liposuction, you get fat, and this fat can be injected into some parts of the body, such as the buttocks. This operation is carried out very often in Mexico and the USA, but in England it is prohibited. Patients from this country who wish to undergo this procedure will obviously have to emigrate in order to undergo this procedure.”

At least 4 million foreigners arrived in Tijuana and Mexicali during 2022 to conduct operations. resulting in an economic benefit of 29,500 million pesos, according to the State Secretariat of Health.

In Tijuana alone, there are 200 medical centers with accessible operating rooms that perform various surgeries, such as bariatric surgery, which had 99.9 percent of foreign patients, most from the United States and Canada, as well as India and Europe, said Santiago Horgan of the University of San Diego’s Center for Future Surgery.

“The quality of operations is comparable to any part of the world. They don’t offer insurance (some kind of surgery or dental intervention), or they are very expensive, ”he said.

In Chihuahua, the Ciudad Juarez Health and Medical Tourism Cluster implemented a collection of patients at an airport or a plaza in El Paso to make travel safe and to prevent tourists from being extorted for bringing foreign license plates.

The main reasons for moving to Ciudad Juarez are also dental services and bariatric surgeries.and its main seekers are Mexican Americans.

Alfonso Vallarta, former president of the Mexican Association of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, said that, for example, a nose job can cost up to half a million pesos in the United States, and about 150,000 pesos in Mexico.

“Sometimes we talk about more than twice the cost of surgery here in Mexico, in good locations, with surgeons certified and approved by the Mexican Association of Plastic Surgery, with all their credentials and working in places that have all the conditions to do it. it,” he explained.

Some of the most common plastic surgeries include rhinoplasty, tummy tuck, breast implants, eyelid liposuction, and hair transplants.