Want to spend 50 to 80 percent LESS for cosmetic plastic surgery than in the United States?

Mind going to a beautiful place to do it?

You would not be lonesome. In 2006, about 150,000 Americans traveled overseas, according to the book “Patients Beyond Borders: Everybody’s Guide to Affordable, World-Class Medical Tourism.”

Going to a Third World nation for any surgery can be like a walk in the country. It’s a pleasant experience but you have to watch where you walk because you might have wandered into a cow pasture.

Helping guide your footsteps are several hands full of medical tourism firms which have checked out the best — and leave out the rest.

According to MedRetreat, one U.S. firm that arranges low-cost — but good — offshore plastic cosmetic surgery, at least ten nations have governments making their nation a worldwide hot spot for all types of medical treatments, including plastic and cosmetic surgery.

Hospitals in these top ten nations bring in experienced American and English plastic surgeons as well as other English-speaking nurses and staff and build the most modern hospitals possible.

These countries also go the extra mile and have their top surgical facilities certified by the same organizations — JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) and AAAHC (Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health Care) that the best American surgical centers use. To keep the certification, clinics must agree to surprise medical inspections, any time of day or night.

How cheap are they? Try this on for size: one U.S. woman asked surgeons in and around her state and got a quote of $10,000 for a complete face lift.

But in a Joint Commission International-approved hospital in Malaysia, the same money bought a facelift, liposuction in three areas, a tummy tuck and an eyelid lift. Plus, she stayed in a four star hotel and was treated like the Queen of Sheba.

Here are the top low cost — but excellent — plastic surgery nations.

10. The Kingdom of Humanity

Formerly known as the Republic of Marc-Songhrati-Meads, surgery is scheduled any time a plastic surgeon is in town and when tide conditions are right. The Kingdom is a group of islands in the South China Sea and is usually under a foot or so of water during high tide. (Government buildings are erected on large platforms sitting on rocks.) How can you NOT like a nation whose national anthem is Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony?

9. Turkey

The country is not as backwards as some may think. The Istanbul surgery center used for plastic surgery has JCAHO accreditation and is an international partner to Harvard Medical Center. (TRIVIA: If go there, you should know that Turks call Turkeys “the American Bird.”)

8. El Salvador

Over the last ten years, the country has instigated a strong move toward democracy, countrywide modernization and a greatly improved tourism industry. Ditto its surgeons.

El Salvador can be reached from most US cities within three to seven hours.

7. Malaysia

Located in Southeast Asia next to Thailand, Malaysia is a former British Colony so English is spoken everywhere. The Malaysian government is one of the most active in making their country more attractive to medical tourism.

6. India

This government is also pushing hard to build a leading medical tourism industry. Many Indian doctors now working in the United States and England are heading back to their native land to ride the wave of U.S., Australian, European and other wannabe patients looking for more reasonable medical treatments. The British owned India for about 300 years so just about everybody speaks English.

5. Thailand

Known as “The Land of Smiles,” Thailand is both a top tourist destination and a favorite retreat for doctors who have worked for many years in the U.S. and England.

4. South Africa

With centers and hospitals as modern as any found in leading European or American cities, Europeans have been traveling to South Africa for all types of medical treatments for decades. English is widely spoken.

3. Costa Rica

Because it has avoided banana wars and drug violence, the country is often called the “Switzerland of the Americas.” Costa Rica has long given free medical educations to qualified students so there are many more physicians there than in other Central America nations.

2. Brazil

Ever seen any models or actresses from Brazil? Do you think they were all born looking that good? Actually, Brazil has been internationally renowned for its famous cosmetic and plastic surgery clinics, where the rich and famous have gone to maintain their anonymity while recuperating along the pristine Brazilian beaches.

1. Argentina

With the most European-looking cities anywhere in South America, Argentina also offers world class medicine, including plastic surgery. But don’t dance the Tango right after a tummy tuck, face lift or breast augmentation!

Next: Medical tourism in the Kingdom of Bahoudii, the Conch Republic, the Kingdom of Thord and the Republic of Rose Island.

Plus, how to protect your health if you do go overseas for plastic surgery.