I put my fees on my website, where anyone can read them. Competitors included.
That decision gets questioned, and the questioning usually comes with a warning attached. So let me start with the thing I am supposedly not supposed to say out loud.
As of this writing, a mommy makeover, which includes a tummy tuck, liposuction, and a breast procedure, ranges from about twenty-five thousand five hundred to forty-five thousand dollars. If we add a BBL, that becomes an extreme mommy makeover, ranging from about thirty thousand to fifty-five thousand dollars. Prices are subject to change, and you can always find my updated fees at agulloplasticsurgery.com/fees.
That took one paragraph. In this field, that paragraph is unusual, and the reasons it is unusual are worth your attention.
Why the Range Is Wide, and Why That Is Honest
A twenty-thousand-dollar spread looks evasive until you understand what sits inside it. These are not tiers of the same operation. They are different operations.
The final cost really depends on the exact combination of procedures, the number of liposuction sites, and whether we are using Renuvion J-Plasma, BodyTite, or FaceTite anywhere on the body. It also depends on the type of breast surgery, whether it is an augmentation, a breast lift, a breast lift with augmentation, or a breast reduction, and whether or not we are using mesh support with GalaFLEX or DuraSorb.
The surgery also depends on each patient’s physique, which may make the procedure longer or shorter, and that can increase or decrease the anesthesia and operating room time.
On the tummy tuck side, it depends on the type of abdominoplasty, whether it is a mini tummy tuck, a standard abdominoplasty, an extended tummy tuck, or a circumferential tummy tuck. It is important to note that I perform the triple plication internal corset on all the different types of abdominoplasty, so this benefit does not go away.
The Arithmetic of Combining
Patients often ask whether they should split the procedures up and pay over time. It sounds prudent. It costs more.
When you combine your procedures into one surgery, you share one anesthesia, one operating room, and one recovery, and I can perform it all safely in a single setting. The main savings comes from the time in the OR and anesthesia. The first hour of anesthesia in the operating room is the most expensive, because it includes all the equipment necessary and all the setup for a routine surgery.
Therefore, when you do everything in one surgery, you only have that one first hour. Whereas if you break it up into two or three surgeries, you have the cost of that first hour two or three times. On top of that, you also do not have to spend on medications two or three times, or the body moisturizer, scar creams, and lymphatic massages.
Staging is sometimes the right medical decision. It is almost never the cheaper one, and I would rather patients choose it for the actual reason instead of a financial one that does not hold up.
What Is In the Fee
The quoted number covers the surgeon’s fee, the operating room, anesthesia, garments, the preoperative and postoperative vitamins and supplements, SinEcch and Bromelain for bruising and swelling, Skinuva scar cream, Elastin moisturizer, Exparel for long-acting pain control, a BBL pillow if the case needs one, every lymphatic drainage massage, and every postoperative visit.
Really, the only thing you are responsible for is picking up your prescription medications at the pharmacy.
I list all of that because unbundling is where the number gets played with. A practice can advertise thousands below mine and take it all back in anesthesia, facility, garments, and massage, billed as they arrive. By the time the patient adds it up, she has already scheduled.
The Cheap Quote Is the Expensive One
I always feel like when things are too good to be true, they usually are.
If a price seems far below what everyone else is charging, you have to ask what is being cut, whether it is the surgeon’s experience, the accreditation of the facility, the type of anesthesia, or the follow-up care. With a mommy makeover, you are not just paying for the operation, you are paying for safety.
Unfortunately, I perform a lot of revision surgeries for procedures done by other surgeons from around the United States and Mexico. I can tell you that the cost of revising a surgery here is far greater than the fees for the initial procedure. And the final results are usually compromised, so the patient will not obtain their best possible result, the result they would have had if it were done correctly the first time.
Read that last part again, because it is the whole argument. Not that she pays twice. That the ceiling comes down permanently, and no price comparison she ran will ever show it.
What I Do About Affordability Instead
The alternative to a cheap operation is not an unaffordable one. It is a payment structure.
Making a mommy makeover affordable is something we take seriously, so we offer several financing options, including PatientFi, AlphaEon, Cherry, and CareCredit. Beyond those, we also offer direct financing through the practice itself, where a patient can make payments toward their surgery ahead of time. This lets them schedule their procedure around a timeline that works for them, paying gradually and at their own convenience. And of course, patients are always welcome to use a credit card, pay in cash, or finance through their own bank or another institution.
Insurance covers none of it, because it is cosmetic. I would rather a patient take eighteen months to pay for the right operation than six weeks to pay for the wrong one.
Back to Why I Publish
The warning is always the same: post your prices and you become the cheapest-wins option. I think it does the opposite.
Patients shop on price because nobody will give them one. Hide the number and price becomes the only thing she can actually compare, so it becomes the only thing she uses. Post it and the conversation can move to what is included, who is operating, in what facility, and what month three looks like.
Roughly sixty percent of my patients fly in. Canada, Seattle, California, New York, Florida, plus the drive markets across Texas. A woman flying home to Seattle on day five cannot absorb a surprise invoice, and she certainly cannot absorb a facility that turned out not to be set up for her case. For that practice, transparency is not generosity. It is the only version that works.
The Credentials Behind the Opinion
Double board-certified. Plastic surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, where I teach the residents. Castle Connolly Top Doctor thirteen years running.
None of that makes my price the right price for every patient. It does mean that when I tell you where the corners get cut, I am not speculating. I am describing operations I have been asked to go back and fix.
#StayBeautiful
Ready to Talk?
If you want a number for your case rather than a range for everyone’s, that is what a consultation produces.
Call (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book online. Current pricing lives at agulloplasticsurgery.com/fees.
Follow along: @RealDrWorldWide on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, @Agullo on X, or @AgulloPlasticSurgery on Facebook.
Related reading: The patient-facing line-by-line breakdown is at What a Mommy Makeover Really Costs on agulloplasticsurgery.com. Procedure details are on the Agullo Plastic Surgery mommy makeover page and the Southwest Plastic Surgery mommy makeover page.