Thai Cosmetic Surgery Blog

Visiting Thailand? Get a full health check up

admin — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:12:10 +0000

Are full general health checkups covered by your insurance? Great! But if you only get minimal, or no, checkups refunded and you are visiting Thailand, you might want exchange the beach for a hospital for a day.

Health check

Doctors recommend having a health checkup every one or two years, more often for people aged above 50. Why not save a few bucks by having this checkup during your visit?

Yanhee International Hospital offers different checkup programs for different age groups and sexes, starting at $30 USD. This light package, for people who are between 20 and 30 includes:

A physical examination
Chest X-Ray
Complete Blood Count (CBC)
Fasting Blood Sugars (FBS)
Lipid Profile (Serum cholesterol level and Serum triglyceride level)
Renal Function Test (Creatinine level)
Liver Function Test (SGPT)
Urine Analysis
Visual Aucity Test

In total there are 7 different packages to choose from, the most inclusive being around $325 USD. You can add extra tests to each program if you want to. You will receive the results within 3 hours after the test.

Brochure

Interested? I have scanned their brochure, you can download it here [pdf] (excuse the bad the quality of the scan).

If you want to schedule an appointment, tell us about it and we'll set it up for you.

List of JCI accredited hospitals in Thailand

admin — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 09:52:50 +0000

On our home page we mention the number of JCI accredited hospitals in Thailand. But what does that mean? And which hospitals are JCI accredited?

What is JCI and its accreditation?

JCI stands for Joint Commission International. It is an international organization that has set a group of objective standards for hospitals. A hospital anywhere in the world can apply to be accredited, this is completely optional.

If a hospital is not JCI accredited does not necessarily mean it doesn't meet their standards, but usually that they haven't applied. The thing is, it costs $46,000 USD for applying. That kind of money goes a long way in Thailand. It could also pay for ten extra nurses for a year (at $358 USD per month).

Which hospitals in Thailand are JCI accredited?

Below is a list of the 12 accredited hospitals in Thailand at the time of writing. For an up-to-date list go here.

How important do you think JCI accreditation is? Would you only consider surgery in one of those hospitals?

5 insider tips on how to navigate Bangkok traffic

admin — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 10:17:55 +0000

Bangkok is notorious for its traffic jams. Traffic jams are never on nobody's must-do list for a holiday. Especially when just having had surgery it is wise to avoid being stuck for hours in traffic. After surgery you'll likely feel sore, weak, drowsy and there is the risk of bleeding. Not the best time to tackle traffic jams and a taxi driver with dollar signs in his eyes.

I have been living in this city for almost 10 years, and I have some experience with the traffic here. I thought to give some insider tips on how to minimize your travel time.

1. Avoid rush hours!

Well duh! This is not different from anywhere else in the world, but still very true. When on a holiday it's easy to forget the day of the week and that other people have to work. But really, try not to schedule an appointment anytime before 10.30 AM, especially if you have to go into the city. And if your treatment is finished after 4.30 PM, just relax in the hospital lounge until 7.30 PM or so. The lounges are generally very comfortable. There are food courts with good food and often a few televsions. You can ask the help desk for a room for yourself, you might get lucky. Nevertheless bring a book or a magazine, unless you particularly enjoy watching Thai soap operas.

2. Weekends are best

Weekends mean that the hospitals are busier than usual, but as long as you have an appointment you should be fine. The good thing is that a lot less Thais have to work on Saturday and on Sunday most enjoy a day off. As a result there's a lot less traffic and you can occasionally ignore the tip above. Keep in mind that's Sunday and to a lesser extend Saturday, Friday evening is the worst time for travel.

3. Rain = Traffic jams, avoid traveling in the rain

From around mid June to the beginning of November it's rainy season in Thailand. It's actually not a bad time to visit: there are not that many tourists, flights are often a bit cheaper and many hotels offer a discount. And it doesn't rain the whole day anyway. Usually it rains perhaps once or twice a day for an hour. And then it rains hard! Really hard! And Bangkok's poor drains often can't handle the rainfall, leading to some roads being flooded. That'll usually slow things down a bit. It's a bit hard to plan around the rain, but after treatment of post-operation check you can stay in the hospital until the rain stops.

4. Get the hotel or hospital to get a taxi for you

More so that you don't get cheated. Bangkok taxi drivers like to think that foreigners are all very rich and don't mind taking a detour to pad the bill. Some refuse to turn on the meter and want to set a fixed price. This is illegal, but still happens a lot.
To minimize the risk for these tricks ask the doorman from the hotel or hospital to get a taxi for you. They usually know the taxi drivers in front of their building personally, and often get a little kickback from the taxi drivers. But this also means that the doorman's job and the taxi driver's spot is at stake if you complain to the management. Nu guarantees here, but it often helps.

5. Express ways are the way to go

There are a few express ways going above the city, ugly things from below, pure bliss when you cruise over the city looking down at the traffic jams. Rush hour or no rush hour; you should take them if your time is valuable to you. They only cost 45 to 70 THB per go and really speed things up. However during rush hour, they still get traffic jams.

Alternative means of transportation

I admit, I usually stick with taxis, especially if I'm not traveling alone. And if you just have had your treatment, they are probably the way to go. However make sure they turn their meter on. If they refuse, flag another one down that's driving by.

Saying that, the boats on the river and some canals are a fun thing to do and can actually be a quite fast way to navigating those parts of the city. The sky train and subway cover a very a limited area, but are really great outside rush hour. Tuk-tuks are fun, but pretty useless unless you are carrying a basket of fish to the market. Try them once for the experience and stick with taxis after. Taxis are almost always cheaper anyway for tourists.

If you have been to this incredible here before, I'm sure you have your own Bangkok traffic experiences. We'd love to read them in comment section.

Image credit: Keng Susumpow

See your cosmetic surgery results with the touch of a button

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 13:37:11 +0000

The always inspiring folks at ModiFace have created an awesome application for anyone toying with the idea of getting cosmetic facial surgery.

Curious how a neck-lift would look on you? Ever wondered if Botox would be the right thing for you? Head on over to LiftMagic.

What is LiftMagic?

LiftMagic is an easy-to-use web application that will predict how your face will look like after cosmetic surgery. It uses advanced algorithms to calculate the effect of the treatment, based on a picture that you can upload. After adjusting some simple settings it shows those effects with a 'before' and 'after' picture.

How does it work?

You start by uploading a picture of your face. Something like a passport picture works best. The application will try and detect your face. You can then adjust some settings, like contrast, to enhance the picture. On the left are 15 sliders, each for a cosmetic treatment. To see the effect of those treatments, adjust the sliders and the 'after' picture will update itself.

How well does it work?

As amazing and fun as it is, it is not 100% exact. According to their site: "The visualization results of this tool may differ significantly from an actual operation or procedure. For an accurate evaluation, please consult a physician who will recommend treatments for your specific volume amounts, facial structure, age, and/or other factors".

However the results look very realistic, definitely worth trying out. After playing with LiftMagic, care to let us know your thoughts about this application?

Visit LiftMagic

Video: Thai medical tourism on the rise

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 07:56:27 +0000

This video is almost a year old, but still very relevant. Definitely worth watching if you are considering coming to Thailand for medical reasons.

5 times cheaper in Thailand

The video follows an engineer, Don Neilsen, who explains about his decision on having his neck surgery done in Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok. He explains that the cost of the treatment would be 5 times as high in the United States. And let's be honest, Bumrungrad is definitely one of the more expensive hospitals in Thailand.

Insurance coverage

Mr. Neilsen's insurance didn't cover his neck surgery, which was the reason he decided to have his surgery in Thailand. However more and more insurance agencies are thinking about offering overseas treatment.

In the video is a short interview with Hamad Mohammed El Mesafri from the United Arab Emirates, whose heart surgery has been paid for by the UAE government.