A mother of two from Arizona reportedly traveled to a clinic in Mexico to have cosmetic surgery and contracted a life-threatening fungal meningitis infection. Alondra Lomas is not the only one, though. She is one of nine cases that have been confirmed in an outbreak connected to several cosmetic surgery clinics in Mexico, bordering Brownsville, Texas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The mother started having painful symptoms such as headaches and back pain that made it difficult to walk before she went to a hospital and had it diagnosed.
A reported 1.2 million Americans travel to Mexico annually to have elective surgery done at a bargain price compared to the costs of procedures in the US, despite the risks involved, according to the New York Post.
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Sadly, this mother is one of many women who contracted a life-threatening infection, all linked to the same clinics in Mexico.
The mother of two shared she was specifically seeking out plastic surgery for a Brazilian butt lift and liposuction because two C-sections births left her with hanging skin on her stomach, per ABC News. The surgeon she reportedly chose was Dr. Luis Manuel Rivera de Anda, who was offering discounted prices. Despite being initially nervous, Lomas said she felt happy to finally “get the body that she wants," the news outlet reported.
But Lomas is not the only mom to contract an infection after getting a discounted cosmetic surgery in Mexico. A 29-year-old Texas mom of four, Lauren Robinson, died May 31 from fungal meningitis that doctors linked to a contaminated anesthetic used for the cosmetic surgery in Mexico, per Daily Express. The CDC is monitoring close to 200 hundred people who had cosmetic surgery done in Mexico and may have fungal meningitis, the news outlet reported.
Doctors suspect a batch of contaminated drugs that was used for anesthesia caused the outbreak.
Dr. Vicente Joel Hernandez Navarro, the state secretary of health for Tamaulipas, Mexico, said, “The strongest hypothesis right now is that a batch of these drugs used for anesthesia, either epidural or spinal anesthesia, were contaminated,” per ABC News.
The clinic where Lomas had cosmetic surgery done, Clinica K-3, uses epidurals for anesthesia, like many of the cosmetic clinics in Mexico, the news outlet reported. According to Navarro, both Clinica K-3 and another clinic called Riverside have been closed and 10 other clinics are being investigated for failing to cooperate with health requirements.
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Mexico is the second most popular destination for medical tourism in the world.
Mexico comes only after Thailand, according to Patients Without Borders, via ABC News. The reason many US residents and other individuals travel to Mexico is for less expensive health care, including prescriptions and even orthopedic and dental surgery, as well as increasingly popular cosmetic procedures, the Post reported.
“North American patients travel to Mexico for care primarily to save 50-70% over what they would pay in the United States for an elective treatment,” said Joseph Woodman, CEO of Patients Without Borders, according to the newspaper.
The CDC even released a statement warning medical tourists about having elective surgeries done abroad. “Medical tourists should also be aware that the drugs and medical products and devices used in foreign countries might not be subject to the same regulatory scrutiny and oversight as in the United States,” the statement reads.
Lomas has been in the hospital for a month and had brain surgery. She hopes to make it home for her son's birthday.
In addition to headaches and horrible back pain, Lomas also suffered hallucinations and fatigue. She said her symptoms were coming and going and she didn't have any answers until she was seen May 7 at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Phoenix and was officially diagnosed with the life-threatening infection, according to ABC News. “The doctors told me that if I didn’t go in time, I could have died within 24 hours because this is a fatal infection,” she said.
The mother was in the hospital for nearly a month, and it seemed her treatment plan wasn’t working, so doctors created a port to deliver medication to the site of infection by performing brain surgery, ABC News reported.
Lomas shared she was ready to go home. "So I try to, you know, stay positive, because I need to be there for my children, you know? I don't wanna have another party in the hospital because my son's birthday is in August. I wanna be able to go home and be present," she said, according to the news outlet.
But she's scared. "Death" is her biggest fear, she admitted, according to ABC News. "And I only say that because I have not seen one lady leave. I have not seen no girl go home yet.”
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