Why do so many women go out of the country for GRS?  There seem to be a decent supply of local surgeons who specialize in it, why add the extra expense of a trip to Thailand or Korea for an extended stay on top of everything else?

I believe it is cheaper even with the airfare.

That's a moderately terrifying statement about the US medical system.  I'll definitely take that into account when I start looking for myself in a few years.  Thanks for the info hon!

There is no such thing as a stupid question perhaps ignorant, but not stupid.

I will give my opinion on your question and than answer why I went to Thailand for my surgery.

1.reaso : price -currently the most economical surgeon in the usa are Reed, and Mcginn, but there are surgeons in Thailand that blow their cost out of the water including cost of flight and motel are they as good, some perhaps and others no.
simply put there are a lot of trans people who are barely scraping by and having to have therapist letters and HRT doctors etc just crimps their financial ability to afford a more reputable doctor so they chose Thailand
2. But there are surgeons in Thailand that are equal to and some that are more expensive than American surgeons, and some people end  up going to these surgeons now I am sure your asking yourself why would someone do this, well its the same reason why someone would choose Meltzer over Reed and that is preference either because of some email connection, some results they seen it can be a multitude of things this is typically a situation where cost isn't an issue.
Now for why I went the Thailand, well cost played a lil part in it but I could of went to Reed or Mcginn for what I paid in flight, hotel, and surgery +everything else. And while I didn't discover McGinn and her marvelous result  till very close to my deadline to go, I still went with my choice because A. non-inversion technique, B. I liked the result I saw, C. email correspondence and the way business was handled (even with a couple minor issues), and D. the biggest reason, I wanted to travel as I had never been outside the U.S. and I felt I may never again after I return.. I thought about Bowers but I didn't like her latest results, and the cost associated with it and that cost was way high but that's to be expected from a California Hollywood Dr. but this is my opinion so I don't want to offend anyone who had srs by her.
So there is my input, if you have any personal questions feel free to pm me.

I'm fortunate that I had the money to go to anyone I wanted, and still I went to Thailand, Dr Suporn in particular. I was impressed with his technique, which at the time, in which he seemed to be a running expert and one of the only people doing it that way, if not the only person. Before anyone chimes in about Dr Chet, for instance, I also flew to see him before deciding, and no, he was suggesting a standard penile inversion. Anyway, some of the Thai surgeons are world class, every bit as much if not more so than US or EU surgeons, according to my personal (however biased/limited/etc that might be) research.

I've been following the thread on the Suporn Voice Feminization Surgery, I might end up opting for them myself given that they seem to be absolutely spectacular in the field o.o

I stayed here in the U.S. because the two Thai surgeons I applied to turned me down due to age and health issues.  I am a Bowers' girl, and San Mateo CA is only 300 miles north of me in an area I love to visit and would have gone to for just plain fun. Thus my money to stay there came out of my vacation fund and not my surgery fund. 

Bower's uses a single surgery technique that is not strictly penile inversion, that has produced very good and very natural looking results, although so far that is only for me and my doctors to appreciate.  I was a little too heavy for McGinn, and over 2000 miles to the southwest of her, however her prices were within dollars of what I paid.  I had met all of the major known U.S. surgeons, and made a decision on the closest, so here I am, 7 months post and happy as I should be.

I'm in germany, and basically i researched the surgeons that we have here and i got really really scared. Maybe people just are more negative here, but the impression i got was that surgery goes wrong way too often for me to want to risk it. And if surgery would have gone well the results still wouldn't have been too great. It's been a while now since i researched, but that's what i remember and why i decided for Thailand.

Those sound like excellent reasons to look abroad. I know I'll be conducting extensive research myself before I go under anyone's knife.

You should choose your SRS-surgeon depending on trust and confidence, not on prices and fees. You get your vagina once in a lifetime. A 'cheap' surgeon might mess up your new vagina. A messed up neovagina can 'destroy' your life forever.

I'm never sure if I count in these conversations, as I left the USA but only for Canada.

For me, it was that Brassard was not only cheaper but offered the fantastic aftercare residence for a whole week, which was a huge relief in terms of peace of mind. Travel expenses probably came in under $1000 (including gas and a place for my wife to stay), which made the total cost *still* cheaper than most US surgeons; I might have reconsidered if we'd had to pay top dollar for airline tickets or something, but we're within easy driving distance. Plus, from what I could determine in my research, there'd be zero sacrifice in quality - honestly, he was in the top 2 for quality in terms of what I wanted out of results anyway.

I hadn't even considered Canada. That's definitely something to think about.  I'm getting frustrated with the fact that any doctors I've approached refuse to discuss anything except face to face, as though a cross country or intercontinental trip were something I should be able to manage on a moment's notice. Ugh.

Quote from: Layn on August 24, 2013, 05:20:46 PM
I'm in germany, and basically i researched the surgeons that we have here and i got really really scared. Maybe people just are more negative here, but the impression i got was that surgery goes wrong way too often for me to want to risk it. And if surgery would have gone well the results still wouldn't have been too great. It's been a while now since i researched, but that's what i remember and why i decided for Thailand.

Hello fellow citizen
Yes I had the impression as well back in 2000 when it was my time. There were about 4 surgeons who could do that, one was described as a butcher by many people I met, two were described as decent but with less experience than desired and one was described as good, but she only took private patients. Me being poor and having only a public health insurance had little choice at that time to go to Thailand or that famous woman in Germany, so I had to go to one of the other ones and indeed things did not really go well at all. Story is elsewhere in the forum. If I would have been smarter, I might somehow have tricked the system, getting a private insurance before any treatments so they do not exclude that and then a year or two later "discover" that I am trans and need to go to Thailand or whatever. I was not going to work hard for several years to save up enough money to afford the surgery myself in thailand though. It would have taken me 10 years for sure as I was still a student and did not really see a job that I could earn enough. So it was the best choice I could make at that time, I do not really regret it, but it was not pleasant and I wish it would have been different for sure. If I had had the money, I would still not have gone to Thailand with a very good surgeon inland who in my eyes had only the problem that she was way too expensive and she hand picked their candidates (I am not sure I would have passed her judgement, but looking back probably I would have)