Roughly 60 percent of patients at Southwest Plastic Surgery travel in from outside El Paso. For a tummy tuck, that turns a surgical decision into a travel-planning one as well, and the questions our office fields are usually about logistics rather than technique.
Patients also compare notes with each other. There is an active tummy tuck community on Reddit where people post recovery photos and, unusually for surgery, their actual prices. Prospective patients frequently arrive at consultation having read those discussions, so Dr. Frank Agullo was asked to address what circulates in them.
On the figure people quote most often, $17,600 all in:
“This article is talking about a certain patient’s experience, so that figure would be correct for her and for her particular combination of procedures.”
“As of this writing, our published range for a tummy tuck is $16,000 to $26,000, depending on the combination. For the most updated figures, readers should go to agulloplasticsurgery.com/fees, which is the page we keep updated.”
One patient’s total reflects the operations that patient had. A hernia repair, oblique plication or mons work will move a quote, and not everyone needs them.
On what the quoted fee at this practice covers:
The surgeon’s fee, the operating room, anesthesia, garments, and the pre-operative and post-operative supplements. SinEcch for bruising and swelling, Skinuva scar cream, a moisturizer, and Exparel for long-acting pain control. Every post-surgical lymphatic massage and every post-operative visit is included. Patients pay separately only for prescriptions picked up at the pharmacy.
On when it is safe to fly home:
Out-of-town patients can travel at seven days, a full week. As Dr. Agullo puts it, “we need you seven days minimum. Some people stay two weeks, but seven days is the usual,” and “you can fly after seven days, that’s not a problem.” Day seven is when the sutures come out. The drain usually comes out on day fourteen, so patients who fly at a week often go home with it still in.
The Week, Described by Someone Who Did It
One frequently referenced account comes from a patient posting as u/Exotic-Way-6903, who traveled from the east coast. Her twelve-week update lays out the schedule plainly.
“I flew in the day before and signed consent forms and took before pictures.” A nurse visited the following morning. “I had a lymphatic massage on day 4 and 7, free of charge at the surgeons med spa. I had my post op appt on day 7, stitches removed from my back where lipo was, and I flew home that afternoon.”
Appointments after the flight home were handled virtually.
Two details in that account are worth drawing out, because they are the trade every traveling patient makes. She received two massages rather than the eight to twelve recommended over a month, because she was only in town for a week. And she notes elsewhere that her surgeon used delayed compression, since liposuction to the abdomen affects blood flow to the skin.
Prospective patients also use these threads to work out how to search at all. “So far I’ve been going to Google maps, then to their instagram to look at before and afters. Is there a better way?” asked u/Melissaru in How did you find your surgery?. Most of the replies point to third-party review sites and to asking for the surgeon’s own unretouched results.
Planning the Week
Most traveling patients arrive a day or two before surgery, stay near the office, and remain within a short drive for the first week. Massage appointments included in the fee are scheduled into that window where the calendar allows, and the remainder are completed with a therapist at home.
Recovery continues well past the flight. Light activity at two weeks. Full exercise without restriction at six. Lymphatic drainage two to three times per week for a month, which Dr. Agullo considers the most important part of aftercare because it works out fibrosis and fluid and shows up in the final contour.
What the Threads Are and Are Not
Asked whether anything in the public discussions needed correcting, Dr. Agullo’s answer was short:
“I don’t think so. This is all a patient’s opinion.”
Those posts are unsolicited, written by patients on their own initiative, and Southwest Plastic Surgery neither commissioned, compensated, nor controls them. Quotations above are excerpted from public posts and linked to their original threads. They are not testimonials, and no individual claim in them should be read as a representation by this practice. Results vary by patient.
Schedule a Virtual Consultation
Out-of-town patients begin with a virtual consultation, which produces a quote for their specific combination of procedures before any travel is booked.
Call (915) 590-7900 or text 1-866-814-0038 to schedule. #StayBeautiful
