A Thai Junket for a Sex Change

Thailand Offers More Than Life-Saving Surgeries  

Thai medical tourism has been known for many things, from the world class hospitals and the lowered costs of treatment to the vacation possibilities in this surf and sand paradise. But the one procedure that remains linked to the image of healthcare in the country is gender reassignment surgery.  This isn’t hard to understand since the industry was founded on word of mouth that began to spread when the country’s famed transsexuals or “lady boys,” most of who had either undergone a sex change or were in the process of doing so, began showing up in clubs across Europe, looking spectacularly like the real thing.  

Soon Europeans were trickling in, drawn not just by the fantastically lowered costs, but also by the amazing results of gender reassignment surgery in Thai hospitals.  These burly men turned coy women needed cosmetic work to complete the transition from male to female, and Thai cosmetic surgeons were only too happy to provide. Before long, the medical tourism industry had grown to expand a whole range of other medical services.  

Low Plastic Surgery Financing Costs and Small Hands

So what makes Thai doctors better equipped to handle delicate sex reassignment surgeries?  According to Dr. Preecha Tiewtranon, the most renowned gender reassignment specialist in Bangkok and a veteran of 3,000 male to female surgeries,  the answer could lie in the size of their hands. Smaller limbs probably translate to greater dexterity.  You could also chalk it up to sheer experience that comes from living in a country where transgender people enjoy a level of acceptance not seen in many liberal Western countries.  Your hotel desk clerk won’t bat an eyelid if you arrive with a 3 am shadow and leave in a pink polka dotted dress.  Add to it the anonymity of being in a foreign land, and the availability of low cost plastic surgery financing, and you have a section of medical services that won’t be facing competition from other providers any time soon.