Surgeons in Mexico:
How do you find and select the best?

Although site explains the attractive idea of having surgery in Mexico with the ultimate aim of saving an appreciable amount of money compared to what you’d have to pay for the same surgery in the United States, it’s logical to think about a very important matter:

In whose hands am I going to put my life?

It may sound obvious but it’s the simple and plain truth: when you go into a surgery room, you put your life in the hands of the surgeon and his team.

That leads us to two necessary questions:

How good are the surgeons in Mexico?How can I select a good Mexican surgeon?

As an insider in the hospital industry for more than eight years, my responsibility is to answer these questions with the clarity they deserve:

Just like in the rest of the world, in Mexico you find the full gamut when it comes to surgeons, from world class down to those with suspect reputations.

Finding excellent surgeons in Mexico isn’t that hard: I think the easiest thing to do is to first look for the highest rated mexican hospitals (which aren’t hard to find) and request information about the surgeons that make up their medical teams, who are members, or whose reputation is backed by the hospital.

By doing that, we eliminate a good part of the work. So search for the top Mexican hospitals, request references from two or three Mexican surgeons in a specific specialty and then you can practically start working with them directly in terms of conversations and price estimates.

The truth is that in Mexico there aren’t any agencies or companies that dedicate themselves to promoting and certifying “the best surgeons in Mexico,” which leads me to repeat my belief that hospitals are the most reliable means through which to obtain these recommendations.

After all, by suggesting a doctor the hospital knows that their own reputation is at stake and I don’t think they’ll hesitate at all in recommending the most outstanding surgeons Mexico has to offer.


Three ways NOT to look for the best surgeons in Mexico:

On the Internet:

The majority of web sites about surgeons in Mexico are written in Spanish and don’t have a translation in English. Not all surgeons have their own web sites, and just because a surgeon in Mexico, or any other part of the world, does have a web site, DOESN’T NECESSARILY MEAN THEY’RE A BETTER SURGEON.

At the universities:

Generally in Mexico, the best performing surgeons try to focus on the area of private medicine since that’s where they’re going to earn the most money. University hospitals have a more social focus and are in charge of offering services to local communities.

Through specialists associations or schools:

Just like in the rest of the world, this type of association has a high content of politics, which can carry the risk of receiving a recommendation based on other interests and not so much on the performance of the surgeon. (I say this with due respect to the members of these institutions, but it’s better to tell you now and not after a problem arises. Besides, my opinion is common sense and for the well being of everyone.)

Medical tourism agencies as searchers and selectors of surgeons:

As with the comments above, here you’ll see conflicts of interest that you’ll have to balance out to insure everyone has the best:

So that you, as a patient, obtain an excellent recommendation and that your personal wellbeing is taken into account above all other personal interests.

So that the medical tourism agency can operate their business peacefully as is their legitimate right, but avoids falling into excessive commercialism that leads to recommendations of inferior quality aimed to increase their profitability.

And lastly, so that the surgeons don’t forget that their principle mission is to improve and preserve the health of their clients and that they have a duty to their patients above any other intermediary.

Having said that, I think it’s a good time to sum things up and give a few practical pieces of advice from my point of view based on my experience and the personal relationships I have cultivated with some surgeons in Mexico:

No matter what way you contact the Mexican surgeon, I think your obligation to yourself is to verify, even if by telephone, that the hospital recognizes him or her as a good surgeon. (I don’t think the hospital will give you this information in writing, but it should be enough to have them confirm it by phone.)

Contact a minimum of two surgeons in Mexico so you can compare their proposals and the way in which they explain the entire process. This part has NOTHING to do with the price since it might turn out that the surgeon who gave you the most information and instilled the most confidence in you has the highest estimate.

If you’re going to use an agency’s services, I still believe it’s YOUR responsibility to either talk on the phone or communicate through email with the surgeons that are candidates to attend you and that YOU are the one who decides which surgeon is right for you.

It’s worth repeating that web site that promote surgeries in Mexico (or in any other part of the world) ARE NOT designed to offer medical information about the uses, results or possible effects of any surgeries. The ONLY valid recommendation to find out whether a surgery is right for you is the one that comes from a doctor to whom you have given all the preliminary information.

Although we know that saving money is the main reason you’re researching and exploring this site, money isn’t the ONLY consideration for making your decision, so I urge you once again to thoroughly verify the information that they offer you in a quote.

In fact, once a surgeon or medical tourism agency offers you a set of quotes, you should talk directly with the hospital to ask about the possible changes in costs that could arise and how much more it might really cost you. (For example, what would happen if it becomes necessary for you to stay in the hospital for a few extra days? How much would that run?)

Lastly, remember that you must be mindful of all of the medical aspects along with the tourist details (returning to the previous example: How much would it cost you to change your return flight?)

To wrap us this topic, there’s nothing more to say than to follow the principles that we offer in this site —a resource created especially for you. It shouldn’t be difficult to find the top surgeons in Mexico. If you make the effort to compare and verify the information you receive, I have no doubts whatsoever that you will be in the best hands with the best Mexican surgeons.

This site has three main objectives:

To promote surgery in Mexico as one of the best options on the international level for citizens of the United States and Canada.

To give clear and direct advice to make our visitors more critical regarding offers for surgeries available in the marketplace so that dissatisfaction and fraud are minimized.

To preserve the prestige of Mexico as one of the best medical tourism destinations in the world.


Go to Surgery in Mexico Page from Surgeons in Mexico Page