Cartagena, Colombia
People looking for a plastic surgeon in Colombia are usually asking three things: why this country, how to choose safely, and what the trip involves. This page answers those questions. It is education from the practice, not a promise of a result, and it does not list prices.
Colombia is one of the busiest countries in the world for aesthetic surgery. In the 2024 ISAPS global survey, surgeons in Colombia reported 321,408 aesthetic surgical procedures, which placed the country 10th worldwide by surgical volume. Volume is not a quality ranking. It does mean the specialty is widely practiced, and that many teams are used to caring for people who travel. In that same survey, surgeons in Colombia said that on average 30 percent of their patients came from somewhere else, most often the United States, Spain and Canada. Those figures are what surgeons reported. They are not a census of every patient who entered the country.
Cartagena adds a practical detail: an international airport and direct flights from several cities in the United States. A shorter travel day is useful after surgery. It is not a reason to fly before your own surgeon clears you. Visitor counts, routes and procedure trends are gathered in the practice’s data report, separate from this guide so the numbers stay in one place.
Read the Cartagena data report
There is no official list of the best plastic surgeons in Colombia. A phrase like that describes a preference, not a registry. A safer way to choose is to check facts you can verify, then decide in consultation whether the surgeon and the plan fit you.
SCCP, the Colombian Society of Plastic Surgery
Dr. Correa’s SCCP profile
ReTHUS at the Ministry of Health
Ask where the operation will take place, who provides the anesthesia, and what the facility’s current authorization is. In Colombia, health facilities are registered through the REPS system. Ask to see that authorization rather than judging a clinic by a photograph of the lobby. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons, in its briefing on cosmetic surgery tourism, tells patients to verify the surgeon and the facility, and to agree on follow-up before they travel.
ISAPS and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both treat travel for surgery as a medical plan: know the surgeon, know the facility, and know how you will be followed after you leave.
The international page of this site goes into lodging and logistics. The sequence itself is short, and the dates are individual.
You share your history and photographs. The team can say whether an in-person consultation in Cartagena is a sensible next step. A video call does not replace the examination before surgery. The consultation guide lists what is useful to prepare.
An operation is scheduled only after you have been seen in person. How many days you should remain in Cartagena depends on the procedure and on how you are healing. There is no single number for every operation. Read the guides on staying, on recovery, and on flying, and keep the return ticket flexible until your surgeon clears the flight.
Before you travel, ask who answers questions once you are home, what needs a doctor near you, and which signs should not wait. ASPS treats that plan as part of appropriate care for patients who travel for surgery, not as an optional extra.
Cartagena, Colombia
Dr. Fulvio Correa is a plastic surgeon in Cartagena. He has more than 15 years of experience and has performed more than 3,000 procedures. He earned his medical degree at the University of Cartagena and continued his postgraduate training at the Ivo Pitanguy Institute in Rio de Janeiro. He is a member of the SCCP. His focus is breast surgery, together with body contouring.
The consultation office is in Manzanillo del Mar, at CC Ramblas. Surgery is at CAPRI Clinic, which is a different address in Cartagena. Confirm which door you are going to before you leave the hotel. The office photographs on this page are the consultation rooms, not the operating clinic.
Member of the Colombian Society of Plastic Surgery (SCCP)
Verify membership ↗
These are the operations the practice offers. Whether any of them belongs in your plan is decided in consultation, not from a list.
See every procedure · What to prepare for your consultation · Contact the office in Cartagena
Safety depends on the surgeon, the facility and the plan for your own case, not on the country. ASPS and ISAPS advise you to verify training, the clinic, anesthesia and follow-up before you travel. Those are the right questions for a consultation.
Confirm specialist training in plastic surgery, look up membership in the Colombian Society of Plastic Surgery, and use the Ministry of Health ReTHUS registry. A social-media following is not a credential.
No. There is no official ranking. “Best” in a search result is not a registry. Use the checks above, then decide after a consultation whether that surgeon is the right one for you.
It depends on the procedure, on how you are healing, and on when your surgeon clears you to fly. The practice publishes separate guides for stay length, recovery by week, and flying. None of them is a personal clearance.
Yes. The practice offers a virtual valuation and an in-person consultation in Cartagena. The virtual conversation is a first step. It does not replace the examination before surgery.
Consultations are at the office in Manzanillo del Mar. Surgery is at CAPRI Clinic, a different address. The team confirms the location for each visit.
If you want to know whether a trip to Cartagena makes sense for you, start with a virtual valuation. Bring your questions about credentials, the clinic, the stay and follow-up. The team can tell you what the next step is. Nothing on this page is a quotation or a promise.