Thai plastic surgeons cut a niche for themselves
Thai plastic surgeons cut a niche for themselves
By Mick Elmore
BANGKOK (DPA): Thai doctors are cutting their way into the world's lucrative plastic surgery market, attracting foreigners with their high standards and low prices for body reconstruction and sex change operations.
About half of the patients of private plastic surgery clinics are foreigners, said Doctor Preecha Tiewtranon, one of Bangkok's most renowned plastic surgeons.
"We have a lot of foreigners coming here. The numbers from Europe started growing about five years ago. And America. In the past two years they've been coming from Japan," said Preecha, of Chulalongkorn University Hospital.
Fifty percent of Preecha's patients are Thais, 20 percent from neighboring countries, including China, and 30 percent from Europe and America. Simple nose corrections and enlargement of the eyes are the most common requests from Asians.
The operations take less than an hour and cost US$400 for the eyes and $600 for the nose. Breast enlargements are the second most popular surgery for Asians. Many European women come for breast alterations, too.
"The majority (of Europeans) come here for the breasts. I think it is mostly because of the price. It takes one day and costs $2,400. In Europe it is between $5,000 and $6,000," Preecha said.
A growing number of men are choosing Thailand for sex change operations and in recent years so have men from Japan where the surgery is illegal, he said.
Called sex reassignment surgery (SRS) the procedure is actually three operations that can be done at the same time taking three to four hours and costing $6,000.
"The operation is cheaper here. Much, much cheaper. Every week I think we have one or so. Ninety per cent are men who want to become women," Preecha said.
Preecha performed his first SRS in 1980 and of the 500 or so he has performed since, only 15 have been women wanting to be men. That procedure is much more complicated and he will only perform it on Thai women because it requires four separate operations and a lengthy recovery period.
"It costs a lot more, too, more than $10,000," Doctor Preecha said.
The origin of Thai plastic surgery dates back to the Vietnam War when the United States was short of doctors and many Thais were sent to America for training, said Doctor Surasak Muangsombut of Siriraj Hospital.
"There were 12 plastic surgeons in Thailand in 1971. Then in 1980 we established the residency training program in plastic surgery. Today there are 150," said Surasak, who was trained in America.
Dr. Surasak points out that many plastic surgeons do "reconstruction surgery" and are not involved in lucrative "cosmetic surgery". Others are assigned to provincial hospitals where plastic surgery is only a small part of their work.
"Plastic surgery does not only concern beauty. Some people think we are unnecessary, that we just want money," he said.
Correcting deformities such as hair lips is common work for plastic surgeons as is skin reconstruction for burn victims, he said. But Thailand's semi-subsidized government hospitals are primarily for Thais, and doctors don't get wealthy from their surgery.
"We ask the patient to pay what they can afford. To make a contribution. But it doesn't cover costs. It is good for the patient but bad for the government," he said.
Thailand's plastic surgery standards are high, but the country possibly leads the world in the unique specialization of penis reattachments.
"My team is 100 percent successful with 30 penis reattachments since 1977," he said.
At least two of his patients have fathered children after the operations, Surasak said.
Dr. Preecha predicted that the number of foreign patients coming to Thailand will continue to increase as the word gets out, especially those seeking sex change operations.
"It will keep increasing. Japanese just started coming. I have done about 20 recently. And as it gets better understood more people are coming," he said.