My Review of Femilife (In English)

First, let me get the things out of the way which I didn't like about Femilife and then we will move on to the very positive stuff.
  1. Considering it is a relatively new company in this field of surgery, it can be a little worrying for them to ask you to send them over 95% of the fees before you arrive in Lima - plus they will not issue you with an official receipt for the monies that you have paid.
  2. Any additional fees are added to your bill as a surplus.  As an example of this, I found that Nikky's bank would not accept wire transfers from the company that I was using to transfer money (XE.com) and so they had to go via an intermediary bank in Miami that then charged over $55 per transaction - an extra $165 which was not my fault but down to the bank that Femilife was using.
  3. Added laterI felt very let down after being told that I really should have had a blepharoplasty done, and it wasn't.  However, just before I left Lima in March, Nikky said to me that when I returned to Peru for my body and hair treatments, she would give me the blepharoplasty.  When I was booking for my return trip she said she hadn't meant that and I would have to pay for the blepharoplasty to be done.  I felt very let down by this attitude and started looking at other centres where this could be done and found somewhere in Instanbul which offered a more advanced type of hair transplant (FUE) than the FUT technique which they were doing in Lima.  This was also cheaper than what Nikky had offered me and the clinic in Istanbul also did extremely advanced abdominoplasties at far less than Nikky had quoted me for - so I booked to have these procedures done in Turkey instead.  After informing Nikky of my decision, I received an email back from her a couple of hours later saying that she would throw in the free blepharoplasty as she had promised me, but I was already in the process of booking my surgeries in Turkey and besides that I didn't really care for the tone of her words in the email, I refused her offer and went ahead with my booking the surgeries in Turkey.
With the above points in mind, it would be fairer for Femilife to ask for something like  50% before you arrive in Lima and the balance once you have arrived at your apartment.  As  you can bring in $10,000 in cash, this would then avoid any overcharging by intermediary banks.
On reflection I can see why Femilife asked me to pay for these additional bank charges, and after the treatment and standard of care that I have received, I have not begrudged paying for them.  However, maybe they could look at other payment options where these charges would not be incurred.

Now let me turn to the good points, which are many and far outweigh the negative remarks which I outlined above.
  1. From the moment you are greeted at Lima International Airport by a chauffeur driven car and escorted back to your apartment, Nikky does her utmost to make her clients feel at home and welcomed.
  2. Included in your costs are 20 days accommodation in an apartment which is comfortable  and reasonably spacious (please note that some clinics only provide 7 to 10 days accommodation in the price - whilst some don't provide any accommodation in the cost at all).
  3. It includes a Wi-Fi connetion so you are able to keep in contact with friends and family back home. My apartment had two bedrooms, a shower/toilet, a small bijou kitchen with cooker, microwave, kettle, coffee facilities, a  toaster and an adequately sized fridge/freezer.  Because my surgeries were split into two parts (I needed 3 weeks between each surgery), Nikky allowed me 40 days worth of accommodation within the total price and I just had to pay for the extra 13 days I wanted to remain in Lima to allow for sufficient time for healing.  It also includes up to 2 nights stay in the clinic where you have your procedure carried out.
  4. Nikky calls for you personally to take you to all your clinical tests and appointments with the doctors and surgeons - so you have no worries if you do not speak Spanish. Her English is good, but not perfect as yet, but you will have no problem talking to her in English.  She will come in with you during the tests etc., to make sure that both you and whoever is doing the tests can understand one another. The cost of all these taxi journeys are also included in the overall cost which you have paid. 
  5. If you decided that you would like other treatments whilst you are over here, Nikky is happy to arrange for this (for instance I discovered that dental treatments are about one third the cost of what I would pay in the UK, so I will be having some dental work done whilst I am here).
  6. The cost you are paying includes all the medications which are required post surgery (pain meds, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories etc).  If you require any other medications, simply ask Nikky she will arrange to get them for you - the cost will probably be far less than you can get them for online.
  7. The clinics you will be attending in Lima are absolutely spotlessly clean, please do not worry that your clinical care will be compromised by electing to have your surgery in Peru.  To be honest they were far cleaner than my local hospital back in the UK.
  8. So far the surgery would appear to have gone well - I have had very few complications (just a mild headache if I am honest - and this is only part of the time).  I have had my first post-operative consulation with Dr. Pimentel since I was discharged and he is very happy with how it has gone so far - so I will return in another two days to have the majority of the stitches removed.  He seems to prefer to do this in two stages, rather than all out at once and to be honest, I think I prefer this caution, after all, you have the full recovery period to get better.
  9. The clinic where I had my CO2 laser skin peel suggested to Nikky that my skin would benefit from a rejuvenation treatment that the clinic also do (Platelet Rejuvenation Therapy) and Nikky kindly included this in the cost of the treatment also.
  10. Also to help make your time in Lima more memorable, Nikky also arranges for you to go on one of the open top bus tours of the city.  The one which I went on included a stopover at the world famous Larco Museum which traces the history of Peru back down to the Stone Age.
  11. Nikky will soon be opening an office suite overlooking the Parqué Central de Miraflores which is a short walk away from the apartment I was staying in and this will be where you will see the surgeons for all your consultations - which should be much more convenient.


Would I recommend Femilife to my best friend - Not so sure now after I was promised a free blepharoplasy because this was missed out and later when I was going to book for my hair and abdominoplasty she said that I would have to pay for that now - an extra $1,300.  When I said I was looking at other clinics, suddenly this was offered to me again, but by then the damage had been done and I felt that I could not trust her again.
Although Dr. Pimentel's bone work is first class, I am concerned as my nose, although a better curve to it, is now wider than it was originally and this is something that I will have to have fixed elsewhere.  The face lift is also not the best - in fact when the surgeon in Turkey saw me, he recommended a face lift (he didn't know at that point that I had just had one done in Peru) as the naso-labial folds are still too pronounced - and are not even which gives a lop-sided appearance to my face.

11 comments:

  1. Fantastic Carol.I am so pleased to hear that you are doing well and have received nothing but the best of care.To say I am anticipating your comments and/or photos of your final unveiling would be an understatement.
    I will certainly be contacting Femilife when my time for researching FFS closely finally arrives.
    Thank you again for taking your time to do such a wonderful blog.
    Hugs and warmest regards Collette Michelle

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  2. You are welcome Collette, thank you for your kind comments
    Carol xx

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  3. Carol.. I am strongly considering using Femilife for my FFS that I'm doing in August. however, communication with them has been slow at best. After I received my quote, I emailed back with some questions, and it has been just over a week without response. Did you have this type of communication lag with them? It does make me weary when you are trying to plan for something so big and important, and can't seem to get answers from them. Just looking to connect with someone who's had experience with them so I know if I should proceed with them. (Otherwise, it's Dr. Cardenas in Guadalahara). I see you had an amazing experience with them, so I hope you don't mind me asking about communication problems with them. Thanks for your help and insight!

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  4. Yes, sometimes communication can be a bit slow as Nikky is very busy with clients at the moment and with the opening of her new offices and consulting rooms. The delay could also be down to the fact that Nikky will have to arrange an appointment with the surgeon to discuss the points that you require answers to - and this could delay her response too. I am sure she will respond in the next day or so - perhaps if you would care to leave your name I can contact her on your behalf - or point her to your comment so that she knows who to respond to.

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  5. Hi A,
    I am not going to publish your response as it contains personal information that could identify you and you asked to remain anonymous. I will contact Nikky on your behalf and see if I can jog her memory.

    Carol xx

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  6. I'll take FFS with Femilife because I love, from a long years ago, the works of Doctor Pimentel. He loves details. The best thing in a Doctor is to see the details. At my work I do the same. I was very confident taking Surgery with Dr. Pimentel, and even someone may say the contrary I don't care, because Face Surgery is very, very, very difficult. How many times someone has to retake a Nose surgery? Imagine a FFS? I know that I'll have to take 2 or 3 FFS to be okay. Lots of people take only 1 FFS and say "The
    Surgeon wasn't good, he made mistakes...". Look, only 1 Nose has to be done 2 or 3 times to be very good. So, after reading and seeing all the pictures of the book "Face Feminization Surgery", written by Dr. Douglas Ousterhout, I concluded that only 1 FFS will not be enough to be okay at the 1st time,
    so it would be better after a 2nd FFS. The 3rd FFS time would be taken for any detail and to rejuvenate the Face. Something that I didn't understand,
    Carol Uren, is that: why you had a FFS and needed a 3 weeks between the FFS to return taking the FFS again? Oh, you look very, very, very beautiful. I don't have the luck you have. Congratulations to you. Gabriela.

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  7. Hi Gabriela,

    I took the liberty of removing your email address from your message for your personal security reasons.

    The reason why I had to wait Gabriela was purely down to my age and Dr Pimentel did not want me to undergo all the procedures he wanted to do all in one operating session so he split it into two main sections - the first was mainly all the bone work which he wanted to do and then after a 3 week rest, he then did all the soft tissue work.

    Actually, although he didn't realise it is that I tolerate anaesthetics well and recover fast and people who are much younger than I am have taken far longer to come through it lol

    Good luck when it is your turn Gabriela - it really does make an amazing difference

    Carol xx

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  8. Aloha Carol,

    I have been considering FFS for myself. The surgeries that you had done, in Peru, required three separate visits? The financial hit must have quite substantial. The work you had done in Turkey sounds like it was on par, or better than the procedures done in Peru. Why did you choose to have most of your work done in Peru?

    -Lulu

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    1. Hi Lulu,

      No, I only went there once, it was cheaper to pay for the extra accommodation between the procedures than to pay for the extra air journeys from the UK.
      I went to Peru on the recommendation of a friend as it was cheaper and seemed on a par with others. However, the accommodation was not very clean, the nursing staff seemed quite lax (unlike Turkey where I could not fault the accommodation or the care I received. Appointments with the doctors were always prompt (unlike in Peru).
      If they had been doing full FFS surgeries in Turkey then at a similar sort of price, I would have definitely preferred having it done in Turkey.

      Carol xx

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  9. Hi Carol. Thank you for your blog which is helpful. I sent Nicky photos and she emailed me back the next day. They said I needed jaw and chin work only. Would you recommend them and is it safe there. Thank you. Im apprehensive to send money and then they disappear! .

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    1. I found Dr.Pimental's bone work to be excellent - but his soft tissue work not as good. I found the district of Miraflores to be safe, even at night - but other parts of Lima can be a little rough and I would not have wanted to venture there, even during the day.
      As Femilife wants all the money (in cash) up front, it is worrying and one girl who had to cancel did have problems getting her money back - and when it was eventually returned, there was a sizeable deduction from it. The other point is that you will have to go via an intermediary account based in Mexico who charge a large amount for doing the transfer. This is not deductable from the charges that Femilife make and Nicky will exprect you to make good this deficit before you can have your surgery.
      I was left waiting for my transfer from the airport to my accommodation for well over an hour - so you can imagine the thoughts that were going through my head at that point in time, especially not being able to speak any Spanish.
      On another occasion I was simply left at one of the clinics to have my treatment one evening and Nicky did not return to collect me - with no explanation.
      On some occasions, for follow ups after surgery, Dr. Pimentel cancelled after we had arrived, after we had been waiting in the consulting rooms for over an hour - then on another occasion when we had been told to stay in as Dr. Pimentel would arrive to see us at our apartment, he never arrived. It was all far to lax and chaotic.
      Am I pleased with the surgeries that I had done - overall yes, but I think that they might have been performed better elsewhere.

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Thank you for your patience -- Carol