Beach babe

www.pitanguy.com

Image: Rio de Janeiro, courtesy F1 Online/Alamy

Brazilians love to flaunt their "assets," so it’s no surprise that Rio is the world capital of plastic surgery — especially for the lower bod. The Ivo Pitanguy Clinic () operates out of a 19th-century mansion and adjacent modern building with four operating theatres, a state-of-the-art recovery therapy room, six rooms for outpatient care and 14 flower-filled recovery suites.

African queen
If you’ve always dreamed of getting up at sunrise to watch giraffes cross the African plain and of getting new breasts, now you can have both. South Africa’s Surgeon and Safari (www.surgeon-and-safari.co.za) offers package deals that include a pre-surgery safari, your choice of a five-star hotel, and an assistant to accompany you to surgery. Rates for lifts, augmentations, resurfacing and tucks are almost a third of what you’d pay in Canada.

Image: Africa, courtesy Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Lonely Planet

 

Czech mate
The Laderma Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery Clinic (www.laderma.com) in Prague is best known for its tummy tucks and breast augmentations and reductions. The clinic’s cozy suites are most popular with Brits. (It’s cheaper to fly from London to Prague than from London to Glasgow.) Arrive a few days early to take in the old-world charm of the city’s cafés, art galleries and bridges. Rates are generally 50 to 70 percent less than U.S. costs.

Image: St. Charles Bridge in Prague, courtesy Johathan Smith/Lonely Planet

 

Russian doll
Just steps away from the Hermitage, the N.I. Pirogov Clinic in St. Petersburg offers competitively priced facelifts and liposuction. The larger Cosmetology and Plastic Surgery Centre in Ekaterinburg (www.ekaterin.tv/plasticsurgery.htm) features seven in-house surgeons and more-modest accommodations in local apartments.

Image: Russia’s famous onion domes, courtesy Medioimages/Alamy

 

Island girl
Nestled among the palms on Margarita Island, Venezuela’s International Surgery Center (www.internationalsurgery.com) offers a full spectrum of procedures — although 60 percent of the work is buttock implants. All-inclusive packages feature a choice of accommodations, a pre-travel medical evaluation, a personal escort on arrival, interpreter services and unlimited email and phone support back home after the surgery.

Image: Venezuela, courtesy Eugenio Opitz/Alamy

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