After giving birth to her third child, Shannyn Palmer traveled to Mexico in search of a firmer body. She got here back badly burned and required multiple amputations.
Palmer, 36, paid $12,500 in August for a “mommy makeover,” including a tummy tuck, abdominal muscle repair, chest lift, and fat transfer to her hips.
First, she had examined a board-certified surgeon, Dr. Mario Gonzalez, a few months earlier and felt confident before undergoing the procedure at The Beauty Hospital in Tijuana.
But Palmer, of Vancouver, Washington, knew immediately something was fallacious when she woke up from anesthesia and felt her hands “principally on fire,” she told The Post.
The dazed patient said clinic staff told her her hands were cold during the procedure, prompting the nurse to make use of heated saline bags to warm them up.
She said this alleged act left Palmer with second- and third-degree burns, resulting in the partial amputation of her right thumb and left middle finger.
![Shannyn Palmer of Vancouver, Washington, had to have parts of her fingers amputated after a botched tummy tuck in Mexico, she said.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/IMG_9697.jpg?w=1024)
![Shannyn Palmer's amputee thumb](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/KNM_MUMMY_MAKEOVER_OP_HELL_17.jpg?w=768)
“I never had an instinct that something was going to go fallacious,” Palmer said. “I selected a really good surgeon; never had a bad record and had a good portfolio. It definitely didn’t work out for me in any respect.”
Cosmetic surgery is hugely popular in Mexico, where 4 Americans were kidnapped over the weekend – and two were killed – while visiting one of the survivors, Latavia McGee, for a tummy tuck.
In 2021, a total of roughly 1.2 million surgical and non-surgical procedures were performed, in keeping with the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
Data shows that this total has been exceeded by only three other countries: the United States (7,347,900), Brazil (2,723,640) and Japan (1,270,605).
![Shanny Palmer in the hospital](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/KNM_MUMMY_MAKEOVER_OP_HELL_26.jpg?w=683)
Botox, hyaluronic acid skin treatments and hair removal were the commonest treatments in Mexico in 2021.
Globally, liposuction, breast augmentation and eyelid surgery are leading the way, in keeping with ISAPS, with a 19.3% increase in the total number of procedures in comparison with 2020.
Some clinics in Mexico City advertise tummy tucks from just $3,500. For just $300 more, TopPlasticSurgeonsMexico.com patients also get a week’s hotel stay, a bilingual assistant, and pre- and post-surgery consultations.
![Shannyn Palmer's amputee hands](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000007842925-rotated.jpg?w=768)
In accordance with the website, the practice is one of the best medical tourism destinations in Mexico.
Health and Wellness Bazaar, a San Diego-based medical group, says a trip to Mexico for a tummy tuck — with fees starting at $5,500 — can save patients as much as 60%.
“In the past, people from less developed countries, perhaps with poor medical services, often traveled to countries with more advanced technology and higher services to get an operation or treatment that was not available in their country,” the website reads. . “Nonetheless, nowadays a whole lot of patients from countries comparable to the United States, Canada and Europe have found it very convenient to travel to other countries for medical services and surgeries, comparable to a tummy tuck in Mexico.”
![Shannyn Palmer with 4-year-old daughter Emily](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/KNM_MUMMY_MAKEOVER_OP_HELL_20.jpg?w=682)
Palmer said she had wanted a “mommy makeover” for years and at last decided to act after she was diagnosed with kidney cancer last 12 months, which has since gone into remission.
She said the cost was the major motivating factor for going to Mexico with maximum coverage.
“In fact it depends upon the area and the surgeon, but when I stayed in Washington, it might cost about $20,000 to $25,000,” Palmer said. “Some ladies got a momma makeover in the $35,000-plus range.”
![Brandyn Palmer with his wife Shannyn and daughter Emily and sons Jackson and Luke](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000007842913.jpg?w=770)
The common cost of a tummy tuck in the US is $6,100 in keeping with the latest statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
This figure doesn’t include anesthesia, operating room fees, or other related expenses.
Palmer, a retention specialist at UPS, lost her job for about five months before fully returning to work last week.
She advised other Americans who are pondering of traveling to Mexico for cosmetic surgery to think about other options.
“Going under the knife may be dangerous,” Palmer said. “But for those who’re going to have a cosmetic procedure, stay in the US because going to court will likely be a lot easier, and if anything goes fallacious, you’ll need access to your surgeon here.
Palmer said she was not capable of play the piano or sew like she used to.
“I’m not only a mom of three,” she said, “I’m also an artist and I do a lot of costume design, so I take advantage of my hands for literally all the pieces.”
She said her children were also embarrassed by her blackened fingers, which were amputated in the United States after a recent hyperbaric oxygen therapy session at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Oregon, she said.
“My boys thought I used to be turning into a zombie when my fingers turned black,” she said. “So I had to clarify to them, ‘No, I’m not a zombie.’
![Latvia McGee](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000007824416-4.jpg?w=1024)
She added that she needed to relearn the right way to perform basic tasks comparable to housekeeping and easily holding her daughter.
“There are a lot of things I could not do in the starting,” Palmer said, adding that she was improving day by day. “Now they think I’m like a superhero mom taking a look at the prosthetics I’m trying on.”
But Palmer’s children keep asking if her fingers will ever come back – she said that is a hard reality.
No, it doesn’t work that way, she recalled telling them. “I’m permanently disfigured for the rest of my life.”
![A photo posted on Twitter reportedly shows the kidnapping of four US citizens in Matamoros, Mexico.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000007795417-2.jpg?w=1024)
The remainder of the procedure went in keeping with plan, Palmer said, highlighting the risks of going under the knife for any reason.
“If it hadn’t happened to my hands, I might have been very blissful,” she said. “However it is a life-changing experience. I still have not come to terms with how this can affect me for the rest of my life.”
Palmer now plans to sue Dr. Gonzalez, who practices mostly outside of Guadalajara, in addition to his clinic and medical team. Attempts to achieve the surgeon at his clinic on Tuesday were unsuccessful.