A very close friend is presently looking for an SRS surgeon and I found this place and shared it with her. She felt that there was an overwhelming amount of positive feedback about Suporn vs. other surgeons so I thought I would put my own personal insights into the mix.
I have a unique perspective, because I have had fairly major surgeries with multiple doctors who treat the transgender population, and then others who do not. Within the TS community, I have had surgical dealings with Suporn, Meltzer, and Ousterhaut for different procedures. I will not go into too much detail other than to say that I had FFS originally with Suporn, and redone by Ousterhaut. I had my SRS with Meltzer.
First, when I went to Suporn, cost was my primary factor. I had a great deal of work done for a very reasonable price. Suffice it to say that it was full FFS and also some body modifications. All of that work was redone by other surgeons later on... except for my forehead / hairline.
General experience: I really have mixed reactions about Suporn/Thailand. The good: Almost immediately after surgery, I was getting a huge amount of positive male attention, and very positive attention from the local TS community who were astounded by my result. I was also very pleased. I entered the US virtually unclockable and actually shocked the flirty passport official when I re-entered the US. All of that was good.
The bad: I was provided with double doses of medication, the hospital and suporns office did not communicate and I was given two sets of pain killers, anti-biotics, etc. They were provided in plastic baggies with no detail as to what they were, only dosing amounts. I had an episode in the hotel and felt my face was coming off. We found out about the double dosing a few days later but it was a really rough series of days before that was found out. When I went, the language barrier was high. I have heard this is not so much the case anymore. In the hospital, I had a very serious disagreement with the nursing staff. When they changed by IV, a huge air bubble was coming down the line... HUGE. I kept pointing and telling the nurse "bubble" but she had no idea what I was talking about. My obvious concern was air in the veins can cause cardiac arrest. I ended up pulling out my IV much to the chagrin of the nurse... Their lack of speaking english really caused issues for me.
Again, initially the result was positive. However, my nose grew and grew and grew after the surgery. By the time I was back in the US, it was quite bulbous and unattractive in my personal opinion. My breasts dropped and my nipples ended up on top of the implant.... well not exactly on top, but close. I had both my breasts and nose redone by excellent surgeons state-side who had not previously worked on TS patients with very favorable results. The surgeon who worked on my 2nd nose job told me that there was a massive amount of scar tissue unlike anything he had ever seen before. Still, to this day, I am very very pleased with Suporns forehead work. The scar is tiny, the hairline is excellent. It was not overdone. Thailand was a nice place and the people were quite friendly, food was fine. It was a great experience from the traveling abroad perspective.
I later went to Ousterhaut to have my chin redone (implant removed), along with jawline surgery. I had the opportunity to stay in Cocoon house with a GG patient, and a couple TS girls. Obviously the care was stellar. The house was totally stocked with food and the lady who worked with him at the time (not sure if she is still there) visited several times to check on us and restock it. As far as the quality of work, fantastic. I was very pleased. Even though it was subtle, it was a welcome change which softened my face. As far as Ousterhaut, he is very self confident and opinionated, perhaps righteously so. However, I don't always agree with his opinions on aesthetics. I would stand by his work as some of the absolute best. Oh, he did tell me after surgery that he took too much bone off one side and grafted some back on somehow. I have never noticed and haven't had complications.
Finally Meltzer... I wrapped up everything with SRS. I was extremely pleased with the professionalism of the staff and the quality of work. I was put off a bit by some of the obvious instructions that they apparently give all TS women about how to wipe to prevent UTI's. "Front to back, clean to dirty..." It was offensive. I imagine they do get some interesting patients who would need basic hygienic instruction, but it was a little insulting. I also got C-DIF while under the hospital's care. Not pleasant. It basically made me taboo for the care staff who had to enter the room with full masks, gloves, etc for the rest of my visit.
For the vagina, it looks great. It looked good within weeks of the surgery... or at least acceptable. I kept getting told that many of their patients choose not to have the revision. I can see why really... From just walking around or even close inspection, I feel it would be extremely difficult if not impossible to tell. No visible scars at all. The clitoris is sensitive and gets hard just from kissing my husband. I achieved 6.5" of dilation with a #4 and then, because of irresponsible dilation, I have obviously affected this. I guess once every two weeks isn't really sufficient.
My impressions of other SRS surgeons are not nearly as favorable from my research. I think Suporns seem to function the best from a depth perspective. However, I am a bit concerned with aesthetics there. I have read that they made a web site take off pictures of his work. I don't really feel that he has made his typical results transparent. I have also heard about possible odor issues. I have no way of validating that one way or the other. I have also heard that Suporn has greatly improved the staff and facilities quality since my experience. A friend recently asked me about having Suporn for the initial procedure and Meltzer for revisions... I would be interested in hearing other's opinions of that.
Oh and for those who wonder about laser being the best for hair removal, I absolutely stand by this as an exceptional method of facial hair removal, and it is permanent. When I was going there was a lot of debate in the TS forums about whether it would be permanent. After 14 years, I can say that it absolutely is permanent.
If anyone is interested, or have questions, I am happy to share more about my experiences.
