Dr. Quiroz
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The Surgeon

Dr. Alejandro Quiroz.

I was certified in plastic and reconstructive surgery on the first of February, 1984. Certificate number 293. Most of what I have done with it since is faces.

A surgeon’s biography is usually written by someone else, in the third person, with adjectives. This page is mine. Four chapters: where I trained, who taught me, what I built with it, and what the work is now. Every certificate and license in it is a public record, and at the end I show you where to check each one.

My work is one operation, understood deeply. Part of understanding it is knowing whose face it will not serve.

Dr. Alejandro Quiroz

The chronology

It took a career
to learn one operation.

I · Mexico City, 1972 to 1984

Mexico City made me a surgeon.

I qualified as a physician in 1977, out of Universidad La Salle in Mexico City, with the degree conferred through the UNAM. For a year I taught neurology to students barely younger than I was. Then surgery took over: two years of general surgery, three of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Ruben Leñero hospital, the kind of public-hospital residency where the volume teaches you what no textbook can. On the first of February, 1984, the Mexican board certified me. Number 293.

II · California, 1983 to 1986

California taught me the face.

In September of 1983, with my residency still finishing, I crossed into the United States to train at the Connell Medical Clinic in Santa Ana. Bruce Connell was the surgeon a generation of face and neck lift surgeons learned from, and I stayed under him twice: through October of 1984, and again in 1986. Around those two periods came the rest of the education. The Federal Licensing Examination, passed in San Diego in December of 1983. Robert Flowers in Honolulu. The Miami operating rooms of Baker and Gordon. In February of 1986, California licensed me as a Physician and Surgeon, and I have held that license, active, ever since.

Dr. Quiroz with his mentor Bruce F. Connell
With Bruce F. Connell. I trained under him in Santa Ana in the eighties. The friendship outlasted the fellowship.

III · Tijuana, 1989 to today

Tijuana became the practice.

In 1989 I founded CosMed in Tijuana, 15 minutes from the San Diego border, and my patients have come from both sides of it ever since. In 2013 I founded VIDA Wellness & Beauty, which became the first facility in Mexico accredited by Quad A, an accreditation American ambulatory surgery centers carry. 37 years of private practice run through those two clinics. The facelift became my signature early, and I let it: more than 3,000, none of them delegated.

IV · The present

The work now is faces.

A career narrows as it deepens. Mine has narrowed to the face: the deep plane facelift, the neck, the brow, the eyes. In August of 2023 I lectured at an international congress here in Tijuana on facial surgery after massive weight loss, a problem I have operated on for years and have written about on this site. My longer notes on the work live in the journal. The board recertified me in 2025, through 2030. I intend to use every year of it.

The deep plane was named in 1990.
I had been board certified for six years.

Sam Hamra named the technique. Mitz and Peyronie had described its anatomy in 1976, while I was finishing my medical studies. I did not learn this anatomy from a course. I learned it in the operating rooms of the surgeons who taught it, years before the operation had its name.

Dr. Quiroz operating at VIDA Wellness & Beauty

V · In the operating room

I perform every
procedure myself.

From the first incision to the last suture. The surgeon you consult is the surgeon who operates. Your case does not change hands on the morning of surgery. Dra. Nadiezhda Garcia Bonilla, a board-certified anesthesiologist, is present for every case. The operating room is at VIDA Wellness & Beauty, a Quad A (AAAASF) accredited facility.

In the room, every case

A board-certified anesthesiologist (CNCA, CONACEM) and an operating room audited by Quad A for sterilization, medication handling, and emergency readiness. The facility, in detail.

VI · Credentials · Public record

Check everything.

Nothing below asks to be believed. Wherever a public registry exists, the row links straight to it.

  • Board certified in plastic and reconstructive surgery since 1984.

    CMCPER Certificate No. 293, first issued February 1, 1984, recertified through 2030. The same directory page also shows his standing as a lifetime member (Miembro Vitalicio) of the AMCPER.

    Verify (opens in a new tab) AMCPER directory

  • Licensed in California since 1986.

    Physician and Surgeon license A 42463, Medical Board of California, active. Search by the license number.

    Verify (opens in a new tab) Medical Board of California

  • Two professional licenses in Mexico’s national registry.

    A cedula is the license number every Mexican physician must hold. His two: Medico Cirujano No. 550795, degree conferred through the UNAM, Mexico’s national university, and Cirugia Plastica y Reconstructiva No. 3175867 (SEP, 2000).

    Verify (opens in a new tab) Registro Nacional de Profesionistas

  • US fellowship under Bruce F. Connell, 1983 to 1984 and 1986.

    Connell Medical Clinic, Santa Ana, California. Further training with Robert Flowers in Honolulu and with Baker and Gordon in Miami.

  • The Aesthetic Society member for more than 25 years.

    Also a member of the ASPS, the ISAPS, the San Diego Plastic Surgery Society, and the Federacion Ibero Latinoamericana de Cirugia Plastica (FILACP).

    See profile (opens in a new tab) The Aesthetic Society

  • Founder of CosMed (1989) and VIDA Wellness & Beauty (2013).

    VIDA Wellness & Beauty is the first facility in Mexico accredited by Quad A (AAAASF), licensed by COFEPRIS, Mexico’s federal health authority.

    Visit (opens in a new tab) VIDA Wellness & Beauty

  • Lectured on facial surgery after massive weight loss.

    International congress on facial surgery, Tijuana, August 2023.

Every credential above is a public record. Profile last reviewed .

That is the record. If it settles the question that brought you here, the next step is a remote consultation, with no obligation. Request one.

VII · The questions

Questions patients
ask about me.

Patients ask these in the third person. They are answered the same way, so each answer stands on its own.

Is Dr. Quiroz licensed in the United States?

He has held an active California Physician and Surgeon license since February 1986 (Medical Board of California, license A 42463), earned through ECFMG certification and the Federal Licensing Examination. American Board of Plastic Surgery certification is a separate United States credential and should not be assumed.

Does Dr. Quiroz speak English?

Yes. He has held a California physician and surgeon license since 1986 and trained in California and Florida, and he consults with United States patients in English. The practice is bilingual throughout, from the coordinator to the nursing staff.

Does Dr. Quiroz have disciplinary actions on his record?

The Medical Board of California publishes his license record: as of the last review of this profile (July 2026), no disciplinary actions and no posted malpractice judgments or settlements since the license was issued in 1986. It can be checked in about 2 minutes at the board’s public lookup, searching license number A 42463.

Does Dr. Quiroz perform the surgery himself?

Yes. He performs every operation personally, and no case changes hands on the morning of surgery. Dra. Nadiezhda Garcia Bonilla, a board-certified anesthesiologist, is present for every case.

Is Dr. Quiroz still operating?

Yes. His practice today is devoted to the face: the deep plane facelift, the neck, the brow, the eyes. His board certification was renewed in 2025 and runs through 2030, and he lectured on facial surgery after massive weight loss at an international congress in 2023.

Where does Dr. Quiroz operate?

At VIDA Wellness & Beauty in Tijuana, 15 minutes from the San Diego border. It is the first facility in Mexico accredited by Quad A (AAAASF), and recovery happens in-house with nursing available 24 hours a day.

Who is Dr. Alejandro Quiroz?

Dr. Alejandro Quiroz, MD, is a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Tijuana, Mexico, in practice for 37 years with more than 3,000 facelifts performed. He is certified by the Mexican board (CMCPER No. 293, since 1984, recertified through 2030), has held a California Physician and Surgeon license since 1986, and trained under Bruce F. Connell in California.

Is Dr. Quiroz board certified?

Yes. He is certified in plastic and reconstructive surgery by the Consejo Mexicano de Cirugia Plastica, Estetica y Reconstructiva (CMCPER), certificate No. 293, first issued in 1984 and recertified through 2030. The CMCPER is the certifying board for plastic surgeons in Mexico, recognized by CONACEM, and his standing is public in the AMCPER directory.

How many facelifts has Dr. Quiroz performed?

More than 3,000 over 37 years in practice. The facelift is the operation his practice was built around, and he performs every one personally.

Who did Dr. Quiroz train under?

He trained in fellowship with Bruce F. Connell in Santa Ana, California, in 1983 to 1984 and again in 1986, with further time under Robert Flowers in Honolulu and Baker and Gordon in Miami. Connell taught the modern face and neck lift to a generation of surgeons.

The record above says what I have done. It does not say whose face this operation will not serve. Some patients are better served by a smaller procedure, or by waiting, or by no surgery at all, and if that is your face you will hear it from me in the first conversation, before anything is planned. If you are considering the operation itself, read it explained in full: the deep plane facelift. It is the same explanation you would hear from me in consultation.

It starts with a conversation, not a commitment.

You have read my record. A consultation is where I read your face: your goals, your history, and an honest answer on whether this operation serves it, with no obligation. Your questionnaire and photos are studied first, then a call, by phone or video, then an itemized quote, in that order.

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