Phuket The medical hub of Asia.

What is medical tourism / health tourism / health holidays?

Medical Tourism can be broadly defined as the act of traveling to other countries to obtain ‘cost effective’ medical, dental, and surgical care. Medical Tourism also combines wellness and healthcare alongside leisure and relaxation aimed at rejuvenating a person; mentally, physically and emotionally. It revolves around the idea of drawing you away from your daily routine to a relaxed surrounding in an exotic location.

This web site provides information about medical tourism in Phuket Thailand and an insight into elective procedures such as rhinoplasty, liposuction, breast augmentation, orthodontics, and LASIK, to more serious and life-saving procedures such as joint replacements and cardiac bypass surgery among others.

A combination of many factors has lead to the recent increase in popularity of medical tourism: high costs of healthcare in industrialized nations, ease and affordability of international travel, improving technology and standards of care in many countries of the world.

Medical tourists are generally residents of the industrialized nations of the world, the countries they travel are typically the less developed ones with lower cost of medical care, in some cases due to favorable currency exchange ratios. Currently, many of the procedures accessed are considered "elective procedures," such as cosmetic surgery. Because elective procedures are rarely covered through health insurance plans, there may be greater incentive to find such care at lower costs.
Medical tourism to Thailand

Medical tourism is a growing segment of Thailand's tourism and health-care sectors. Lower labor costs translate to significant cost savings on procedures. In 2005, one Bangkok hospital took in 150,000 treatment seekers from abroad. In 2006, medical tourism was projected to earn the country 36.4 billion baht.

While it is not commonly known outside Thailand, the modern Thai medical system has its origins in the United States when Prince Mahidol of Songkla, the King's father, earned his MD degree from Harvard Medical School in the early 20th century. Prince Mahidol convinced the Rockefeller Foundation to pay for an American medical education for a group of Thai men and women. Those men and women became the first educators for the modern Thai medical system. Today many Thai physicians hold US professional certification.

Thailand has an excellent mix of low cost, high quality care coupled with clean, safe, modern infrastructure.

Contact us for more information

Here is a small selection of treatments available in Phuket Thailand. Please contact us at relax@relaxu.nu for more details, price estimates or if you want to make a reservation for a consultation with a clinic or doctor.

Dental treatments

Plastic surgery procedures available in Phuket - Price list

Hospitals and clinics in Phuket can perform many different procedures. Some procedures must (by law) be performed at hospital and other can be performed in clinics. The most popular treatments for medical tourists are rhinoplasty (upper and lower eyelid surgery), breast augmentation, breast lift, face lift, liposuction and tummy tuck. Ear surgery is the dominant procedure in the younger generation. Breast augmentation is popular with women between 19-35 and both ladies and men over 50 go for the eye lid surgery and face lift.

The prices below are only examples for similar cases. If you send us your photos we can give you a price estimate for your case after a photo consultation with a plastic surgeon. This takes normally a couple of days. The final price will be set after a (free) consultation with the surgeon here in Phuket. Prices below are price range depending of doctor and hospital. Please be aware that most prices here can be different if you are a Thai national, tourist or expat living in Thailand. This is the fact also with some hospitals. If you send e-mail to us we can help you to the best doctors and prices. If you send us photos for a photo consultation you will get a more accurate price estimate for your operation. On the photos do not show more than you feel comfortable with. We can also help you with bookings for consultation and operation.

All surgical procedures has a certain risk and there is never a guarantee. There are very few problems after surgery. If it is a medical problem then the doctor tries to correct it usually without any extra charge. If there are problems depending on other medical conditions in the patient, then the patient has to pay. This is why you usually need a check-up with X-ray and heart test before operation. Other problems, usually that the patients expectation are not fulfilled are treated case by case. One example can be after a breast implants the breast are to small or to big according to the patients expectations. This can also be corrected but the patient usually has to pay for a new silicon implant if the doctor agrees to operate again.

For questions about plastic surgery send your question to relax@relaxu.nu
We can help with answers and recommendations. We can also help you with booking of appointments for consultation with the leading plastic surgeons in Phuket.

Abdominoplasty - Tummy Tuck
Procedure: Flatten abdomen by removing excess fat and skin and tightening muscles of abdominal wall. It can work wonders for people who are left with folds of lose skin after losing a lot of weight or after multiple pregnancies. It will leave a permanent scare depending the size of the operation. Several days stay in the hospital after the operation
Price: 100,000 - 200,000 THB

Augmentation mammaplasty - Breast enlargement
Procedure: Enhance the size of breasts using implants. This operation is about improvements, not perfection. The surgeons will use cohesive silicon implants.
Price 90,000 - 115,000 THB including one night stay in the hospital

Mastopexy - breast lift
Procedure: Raise and reshape sagging breasts by removing excess skin and repositioning remaining tissue and nipples.
Price 90,000 - 140,000 THB including 2 nights at the hospital

Breast lift and augmentation by implant
Procedure: Raise and reshape sagging breasts by removing excess skin and repositioning remaining tissue and nipples. This procedure also includes enlargement with implant.
Price 120,000 - 150,000 THB including 2 nights at the hospital

Back Ear surgery - Otoplasty
Procedure: Set prominent ears back closer to the head, or reduce the size of large ears. Most often done on children between the ages of 4 and 14 years.
Price 20,000 - 70,000 THB under local anesthesia

Eyelid surgery - Blepharoplasty
Procedure: Correct drooping upper eyelids and puffy bags below the eyes by removing excess fat, skin, and muscle.
Price 20,000 - 40,000 THB under local anesthesia

Facelift - Rhytidectomy
Procedure: Improving sagging facial skin, jowls, and loose neck skin by removing excess fat, tightening muscles, redraping skin. Most often done on men and women over 40.
Price: Lower face and neck 200,000 - Full face lift 250,000 - Lower face and neck and both eyelids 310,000 THB

Forehead lift - Brow lift
Procedure: Minimize forehead creases, drooping eyebrows, hooding over eyes, furrowed forehead and frown lines by removing excess tissue, altering muscles and tightening the forehead skin. May be done using the traditional technique, with an incision across the top of the head just behind the hairline. Most often done on people over 40.
Price: 130,000 THB

Liposuction - Suction-Assisted Lipectomy
Procedure: Improve body shape by removing exercise-resistant fat deposits with a tube and vacuum device. Can be performed using the tumescent technique, in which targeted fat cells are infused with saline containing solution with a local anesthetic before liposuction to reduce post-operative bruising and swelling. Common locations for liposuction include chin, cheeks, neck, upper arms, above breasts, abdomen, buttocks, hips, thighs, knees, calves, ankles.
Liposuction is not recommended for very obese people. Its not a substitute for diet and exercise but it is a help on the way to get rid of stubborn fat left after diet and exercise.
Price: 85,000 for abdomen, abdomen and tights and buttock 160,000 THB

Male breast reduction - Gynecomastia
Procedure: Reduce enlarged, female-like breast in men using liposuction and/or cutting out excess glandular tissue.
Price 85,000 THB

Nose surgery - Rhinoplasty
Procedure: Reshape nose by reducing or increasing size, removing hump, changing shape of tip or bridge, narrowing span of nostrils, or changing angle between nose and upper lip. May also relieve some breathing problems.
Price 15,000 - 35,000 (reduction including bone job is more expensive)

Sex change operation
Male to female
Price 185,000 - 350,000 THB

Dermatology procedures available in Phuket - price list

There are many beauty salons in Phuket. Some target only Thai customers and offers usually AHA treatment in combination with other treatments. Some clinics can understand English but do not expect to be able to communicate well with the staff. We work mostly with the new laser treatment center in Patong. They have the latest in equipment and education. They also communicate very well in English. For recommendations please send your question to relax@relaxu.nu
We can help with answers and recommendations.
We can also help you with booking of appointments for consultation with leading clinics in Phuket.

Collagen - Hylaform - Restylane injections
Procedure: Plump up creased, furrowed, or sunken facial skin; add fullness to lips.
Price: Restylane touch 8,000 THB - half syringe 12,000 THB
Aquamid starts at 16,000 THB

Dermabrasion
Procedure: Mechanical scraping of the top layers of skin using a high-speed rotary wheel. Softens sharp edges of surface irregularities, including acne and other scars and fine wrinkles, especially around the mouth.
Price: Diamond Micro dermabrasion starts at 2,000 THB

Botox
Procedure: Muscle relaxing injections to reduce lines and wrinkles. Lasting effect up to 6 months
Price: Crow feet 5,000 THB, Forehead 5,000 THB, Frown lines 5,000 THB

Thermage
Procedure: The new age of face lifting without surgery. Using radio frequensy energy to heats the collagen in the deeper layers of the skin causes your skin to tighten. Over 6 months time new and remodeled collagen is produced to further tighten your skin. The lasting effect is around 2 years.
Price: Face starts at 50,000 THB and face and neck starts at 70,000 THB

Derma roller
Procedure: Helps restoration of the skin and helps collagen. 200 micro pint needles creates microscopic channels in the out layers of the skin allowing active vitamins and enzymes to penetrate deeply into the skin.
Price: 8000 THB for the roller that you keep for further treatments. Treatment starts at 3000 THB

Cool glide
Cool glide vantage is a treatment to promote healthy looking skin by a laser. Can be used for blemish / acne scar, wrinkles, uneven pigmentation, sun damaged skin, large pore, facial blood vessels.
Price: starts at 7,000 THB

IPL
Procedure: Intense puls light that erases skin damages without disruption of the skin's surface. Can be used for treatment of acne scar, wrinkles, large pore, facial blood vessels.
Price start from 7,000 THB

Facial Spa
Price: 1500 THB

LASIK Surgery - price list

LASIK is a surgical procedure to correct  nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism that utilizes the microkeratome to create a corneal “flap” of about one-third of the total corneal thickness.  The excimer laser is then used to reshape the exposed middle layer of the cornea.  The flap is put back and re-fuses to the cornea.  It is the safest, most advanced and most accurate vision correction procedure available today.

Advantage of LASIK

• Quick surgery and rapid recovery.
• Quick return of usable vision.
• No injection, no suture.  Only numbing eye-drops.

Who is qualified for LASIK?

• At least 18 years of age and have had stable vision for at least 1 year.
• Encounter problems in using spectacles or contact lenses.
• Have no corneal diseases or other eye diseases.
• Not pregnant / no breast-feeding.
• Have a complete understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the surgery.
• Have a realistic expectation of the outcomes.

Price: Lasik both eyes 66,000 THB and Lasik with wavefront 75,000 THB
The check up before the treatment cost 1,500 THB

Dental treatments in Phuket Thailand - price list

Dental treatment is maybe the most easy way to enjoy the benefits of medical tourism. We all have to visit our dentist regularly. In Sweden you have pay around 500 Skr for a checkup and again 500 Skr for a cleaning. Together that is close to 5000 THB for a treatment you pay only 1000 THB for in Thailand. If you start to compare prices for dental work like bridges, crowns and veneers that you might need, and then compare with the price at home you might find that the difference pays for air travel and hotel in Thailand.

Cosmetic dentistry is one other growing area of medical tourism. Most people are dreaming of a white "Hollywood" smile. A home whitening kit with plastic trays cost 6000 THB, Laser whitening cost 12,000 THB and takes less than one hour at the clinic. Dental veneers in porcelain costs 9,000 THB per each. A full set of veneers is yours for less than 130,000 THB but be prepared to stay here for at least 10 days.

Price examples:
600 - 1500 THB Cleansing and polishing
800 - 1000 THB White filling one surface
9,000 -15,000 THB Porcelain veneers, inlay or onlay
10,000 THB All ceramic crown Empress
15,000 THB All ceramic crown Cercon
5,000 THB Root canal treatment (one root)
8,000 - 10,000 THB complete denture upper or lower
70,000 THB Dental implant

Contact RelaxU
E-MAIL: relax@relaxu.nu
You can ask questions and make appointment by e-mail
Call us in Sweden 08-559 21 307; International +66 89 652 1544; in Thailand 089 652 1544
Skype us: Call us free by Skype. You must first install Skype on your computer. www.skype.com
Call by Skype below.

All prices above are example prices for similar cases. Prices can change without further notice
For an price estimate for your case please send us an e-mail to relax@relaxu.nu