Dental Surgery and Lasik Surgery Experience in Panama

Jeffrey Brociek, Chicago, ILL., USA – Dental treatment and Lasik surgery – February 2010

Why did you choose Panama as a place to do your surgery?
Prior to coming to Panama, I had been to resort towns like Riviera Maya. It was a great place to take my daughter for spring vacation, but the whole area for miles was protected and everything outside the hotel was premium priced. I went to Costa Rica 2 winters ago. San Jose is a rough, congested city. The weather is great, but ALL the houses have fences around them including barbed wire. I had wanted to go to Mexico City, but with the drug wars, no way. By the way, I live in Chicago (cold and snowy). I am a divorced man with one daughter. I couldn't even afford a computer until 18 months ago after my daughter graduated from college. I tried to get prices last winter to see if I could afford it with no luck. I looked at a map and never saw Panama in the news, but I just new it was the place I wanted to go.

I contacted 3 medical tourism places. One place wouldn't give me a price when I asked. Someone from Ageless Wonders contacted me and at the same time, a woman was pushing Costa Rica saying I'll never get prices for implants in Panama as good as Costa Rica. She had a Costa Rican doctor calling my house. He was pretty arrogant and he was from San Jose and I didn’t like him. A third company called me out of Boston and gave me pricing within 12 hrs.. I was going to go with them just for giving me a price which was very good, but it was San Jose. I only spent one night in San Jose previously and didn't want to go there again. I don't know how Eric from Ageless Wonders popped up on my screen, but he handled me perfectly.

Have you been referred from someone to our services in Ageless Wonders Panama?
Not really.., I yahood medical tourism and picked No. 3 Ageless Wonders and two others. I already had my heart set on Panama. One said, No, go to Costa Rica because you’ll never get the price as good in Panama. They had 2 Doctors call me like it was a done deal from Costa Rica, and I never did get a price. The second was from Boston. I liked them a lot. They gave me the Costa Rica price and said that was the best price. I was going to go with them just because they were fair.

Agelesswonders-pma was contacting me simultaneously. I gave him the price breakdown and he said "let me see what I can do", we`re more concerned about patient safety and quality in Panama, but let us discuss it. He matched the price, and I wanted to go to Panama. Sometimes I get lucky and this was one of those times.

That's not he whole story. I would have gotten this done a year ago. I tried 3 other places 2 called me on the phone. I didn't know if I could afford it, and I could have. They wouldn’t give me a price. I was pretty frustrated. I don't know what they were thinking, but now AWP people were right on target.

Did you like the service & personalized attention of our team in Ageless Wonders Panama?
I genuinely like these people and the doctors. They speak excellent English and they are both really attractive. They are regular people. I miss them already.

How do you rate and qualify our medical care team?
I had this periodontist, Dr. Cabrerra, in Chicago. He did the scaling of my teeth, and I had my teeth cleaned at his office. He was head/president of the Periodontist Organization. He was the best I've seen until now. He just moved his office to a much larger, inconvenient, conjested location. He started advertising on TV, so he’s now big business. Dr. Boyd from Arango-Orillac Dental Clinic in Panama is a clone of Dr. Cabrerra. They question you, they get in, make their decisions, bullseye the spot, put the implants in, take an X-ray and show you the before and after. He really gave me what I needed. I wasn’t ready for him. One thing both offices had were beautiful women assistants. I expected trauma and it wasn’t bad at all.

Dr. Belanger is the dentist I spent most time with at the clinic. He took all the molds for my mouth, made my dentures fit and look like new (no more adhesives). He will build and put the final product in when I go back in a few months. Guys like him, women like him, guys like that women like him; just like George Clooney.

The Lasik was a different thing altogether. There was absolutely no pain and I see perfectly in less than a week, even read the yellow pages. The doctor was excellent…! My involuntary muscles that protect the eye seemed to take control. It wasn't that way for the Doctor who put an anesthetic eye drop in my eyes. I just felt more like an uncooperative patient. I was exhausted. If I had to do it again, it would probably be the same way. Like I said, no pain and I haven’t worn prescription glasses since.

How did you qualify the results of your procedure? Were you pleased by the outcome?
Dental implants were my primary reason for this trip and I'm really happy about the results. When I asked for a price on Lasik, I hated prescription lens, it was something I planned down the line. I am really thrilled with the freedom it has given me. A guy at work, same age, showed me his no line bifocals with color changing lenses for $700. He was disgusted trying to get the insurance company to pay the 20% and didn't bother. Just wait until he loses them. Talking to Dr. De Obaldia, Chief Medical Officer of Ageless Wonders once, was all I needed. I just knew what kind of person she was. The scariest part for me was sending my deposit to a web site. I even panicked and had buyers´ remorse that night. I just made a decision to trust them. I have a Marketing MBA from Loyola. I am not a salesman (it eats me up on the insides), but I knew they were doing everything right. The one thing I didn't like is Dr. De Obaldia wouldn't say that I was an eligible candidate until she was sure, but that’s me. I got to unexpectedly where contact lenses for the first time as part of the testing and didn´t want to go back. I´m finally free of my eyes´ discomfort and my sight is wonderful.

World News just did a 5 minute take on Lasik surgery. It has a very high success rate there are people with dry eye and return blurriness. The conclusion so far is that the people with poor results were bad candidates to begin with. The best Doctors scolded those who did not screen their candidates correctly or knew they were bad candidates, but went through with it anyway. Kudos to Dr. Ilka!

Would you recommend the services of Ageless Wonders Panama to friends or relatives?
I would definitely recommend going to Panama with AWP to all my friends and relatives. At the end of my journey, I ended up trusting them more than most people I ever met, so I´ll be back again.

What is the difference of the medical services of your own country compared to those of Panama?
I am divorced from a big-time, cold blooded closer lawyer. She was the first woman to ever penetrate the old boy network of Marlboro advertising, the biggest print account in the world. It is just second nature to me when I hear bull, which is what every lying dentist in the US gave me including my dentist who sent me to a periodontist where I paid $125 to watch slides of disaster implants when you travel outside the US and never gave me a price. In US their only concern is to bring more patients and make more money, without the care and personal attention you´ll find in Panama and other LA countries.
I will also mention that the ability for a Lasik Doctor to tell a patient "No" to Lasik is important (unless it's me) and this is very common in American standards, which wasn´t the case in Panama.

If you need to have another surgery or procedure, would you consider traveling to Panama & contact our team, at Ageless Wonders Panama?
I truly like Panama, so if I have to have another surgery, of course I'll consider traveling to Panama and contact Ageless Wonders. As I said, I ended up trusting them more than most people I ever met, so I´ll be back again.

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