you need to have two psychiatric reports no matter where you go, private health and medicare covers the private hospital since no one knows how long you will be in hospital, you pay the surgeon fee's up front, and then insurance pays the hospital stuff so no one has to worry how long you are there.

Quote from: Serenation on July 29, 2016, 04:32:24 AM
you need to have two psychiatric reports no matter where you go, private health and medicare covers the private hospital since no one knows how long you will be in hospital, you pay the surgeon fee's up front, and then insurance pays the hospital stuff so no one has to worry how long you are there.

If she going to Thailand she can get over that by going to go to the two psyches in Thailand... Or so pai told me that


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Dont forget to factor in that Ives does penile inversion only, in it's most basic form. I don't think any Thai surgeons still use that technique. The combination technique used by most Thai surgeons appears to give a more aesthetically pleasing result.

Hey there..

With the PAI, I only need one letter...

How to make an appointment/surgery; (Only 1 letter)
1.       Letter from Psychiatrist doctor*   
2.       Hormone Therapist. In the letter, your local doctor should write you the letter to qualify for surgery.
3.       Plan your available date to be surgery and departure from Bangkok
4.       We will confirm you for surgery date
5.       You may start to book your airline ticket
6.       We will confirm you all detail and hotel booking, if require
7.       For transportation to be pick up from the airport, we need you to confirm your airline flight itinerary

Even if I do not have a letter when I go to Thailand....

- If you cannot find your local psychiatrist doctor there.  You may come to consult with our psychiatrist doctor here.  Doctor fee is USD50.  It is 1 hour consultation and if approve.  We can start surgery in the next day.

Its not a big deal in Thailand but I will still go with letters from a Psychiatrist, my Psychologist and Gender GP.. Apparently, I do not have to see a Psychiatrist that many times.. I just need to see them over the course of a year so they can write a letter..

I am sure it will all be OK.. I have decided not to bother with Australia for my SRS.. I am not taking out private health insurance just for SRS.. and I really do not feel Aus surgeons have the skills same as Thai surgeons.. They might provide an outcome but perhaps not the best one..

Tess..

Getting letters at home is going to involve less anxiety than getting them in Bangkok especially if don't have any sign-off at all.  I got 2 psychiatrist letters in Melbourne for Chet and as both are WPATH members I got immediate confirmation they were OK. One I had been seeing for about 18 months and the second was 2 visits.

I could have gone to Andy Ives and had a consultation with him. Nice guy and doing a very good job in a country with few surgical resources available for us. My issue was that I was very small and wanted someone experienced with grafts just in case.  Purely my feeling and I have no evidence to say Andy wouldn't have done a good job.  I needed a graft too as it happened.

Get as informed as you can right up to departure so that you understand what is going to happen and what the recovery process will be like.  Takes a lot of stress away and I found it was much easier to work things out for myself as things happened.

All the best.
Emma


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Quote from: Tess2016 on July 29, 2016, 05:14:40 AM
Hey there..

With the PAI, I only need one letter...

How to make an appointment/surgery; (Only 1 letter)
1.       Letter from Psychiatrist doctor*   
2.       Hormone Therapist. In the letter, your local doctor should write you the letter to qualify for surgery.
3.       Plan your available date to be surgery and departure from Bangkok
4.       We will confirm you for surgery date
5.       You may start to book your airline ticket
6.       We will confirm you all detail and hotel booking, if require
7.       For transportation to be pick up from the airport, we need you to confirm your airline flight itinerary

Even if I do not have a letter when I go to Thailand....

- If you cannot find your local psychiatrist doctor there.  You may come to consult with our psychiatrist doctor here.  Doctor fee is USD50.  It is 1 hour consultation and if approve.  We can start surgery in the next day.

Its not a big deal in Thailand but I will still go with letters from a Psychiatrist, my Psychologist and Gender GP.. Apparently, I do not have to see a Psychiatrist that many times.. I just need to see them over the course of a year so they can write a letter..

I am sure it will all be OK.. I have decided not to bother with Australia for my SRS.. I am not taking out private health insurance just for SRS.. and I really do not feel Aus surgeons have the skills same as Thai surgeons.. They might provide an outcome but perhaps not the best one..

Tess..

Is Suporn like that too?

So you could just get a letter in Thailand rather than go through 12 months RLE and tick all the other boxes at home...

Quote from: Ellement_of_Freedom on July 29, 2016, 06:48:20 AM
Is Suporn like that too?

So you could just get a letter in Thailand rather than go through 12 months RLE and tick all the other boxes at home...

Suporns requirements are on his website and are very detailed. You don't strictly need 12 months RLE, depending on various factors. The wait list is over 12 months though. He does ask for 1 foreign letter and will arrange the other for you when you get there. I think you'd need to contact them if you wanted to get both in Thailand, but I'd expect it's possible.

For this reason and others, is why I will pass on Ives... Sounds great to get my SRS done in Australia but...  I really want more than can be offered in Australia.. I did more research on that Assoc Prof Peter Haertsch, who is very very very expensive. I could not believe he only provided me with a Note on his pricing.. with no details at all. Apparently a friend of a friend mine went to see him last year, but was not impressed at his knowledge of SRS.. She needed questions answered, which we all need to hear from our chosen surgeon, but he seemed to not be able to answer her questions. So she had it done in Thailand at the Yanhee.. Far cheaper and no regrets.. Thats a nice outcome. My friend is arranging a meet with her friend to have a chat.. 

Tess...

Quote from: Lauren O on July 29, 2016, 04:55:39 AM
Dont forget to factor in that Ives does penile inversion only, in it's most basic form. I don't think any Thai surgeons still use that technique. The combination technique used by most Thai surgeons appears to give a more aesthetically pleasing result.

Quote from: Lauren O on July 29, 2016, 04:55:39 AM
Dont forget to factor in that Ives does penile inversion only, in it's most basic form. I don't think any Thai surgeons still use that technique. The combination technique used by most Thai surgeons appears to give a more aesthetically pleasing result.

wrong on multiple counts.

Andrew does optional scrotal grafts, not mandatory like chett and suporn all three are cowpers gland self lubing with penile skin inner labia. no one else in thai is doing mandatory scrotal though I'm sure every surgeon can do scrotal grafts these days, the difference is in the ratios. chett can build the vagina canal out of 3 different skin types. Different surgeons emphasise different aesthetic you don't just go to the 18th best surgeon in thailand and expect it to look like suporn did it.

When I had a consultation with Ives a year ago he said he did penile inversion only and then couldn't show me any pictures of the work he has done despite multiple requests.

Quote from: Tess2016 on July 23, 2016, 01:50:19 AM
Yes, I have seen some by searching but the PAI provided stages as the vagina heals.

I have sent an email request for info to Andrew Ives...

Tess...

Re. PAI, yes indeed. There was a peer reviewed academic paper that I linked to a few weeks back. The abstract contains no "nudity." But there's a button top right to take you through to very graphic descriptions of how one of PAI's fairly typical procedures looks. Here's the non-nude abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25356769

As I say that's a peer reviewed paper so less anecdotal than most blogs etc, though I'm certainly not dissing qualititative write ups by those who have gone through the surgery: I did one myself on here earlier today.

IN 2008 when I went I wanted Dr. Suporn but his price at that time was not far off of Bowers in the USA. I ignored him since I am not going to fly 24 hours and pay the same price as the USA.

I did find a doctor you mentioned and his price at the time was 7500.

Well worth the money.

In fact, I could fly to the USA and get my SRS done for about the same price as flying to Thailand for Suporn.. Its not just his price. He might be a good surgeon but his technic is unproven and I also find it strange that no one else has adopted his method despite the fact he lectures on it. Another issue I have.. Apparently it takes a very long time to recover after his surgery method.. Also the fact he is way outside of Bangkok. To me he does not tick any of my boxes.. But he must be appealing to Transgenders since he is apparently booked up.. 

Tess..

Quote from: Katie on August 02, 2016, 07:49:13 AM
IN 2008 when I went I wanted Dr. Suporn but his price at that time was not far off of Bowers in the USA. I ignored him since I am not going to fly 24 hours and pay the same price as the USA.

I did find a doctor you mentioned and his price at the time was 7500.

Well worth the money.

Quote from: Tess2016 on August 03, 2016, 12:47:07 AM
In fact, I could fly to the USA and get my SRS done for about the same price as flying to Thailand for Suporn.. Its not just his price. He might be a good surgeon but his technic is unproven and I also find it strange that no one else has adopted his method despite the fact he lectures on it. Another issue I have.. Apparently it takes a very long time to recover after his surgery method.. Also the fact he is way outside of Bangkok. To me he does not tick any of my boxes.. But he must be appealing to Transgenders since he is apparently booked up.. 

Hi Tess,

while I can't say I've been to Suporn I am bit of fan and I think I can answer some of that.

I believe his technique is well proven, he's done more than 2000 SRS and I believe most of its using using his technique (he started with penile inversion). There's been so many posts about Suporn over the years you can tell if its good or not. Dr Chettawut has copied at least some of his technique, and I keep hearing that other Thai surgeons are also doing the same, but I've no idea how true that is.

Recovery is definitely longer that for other surgeons, and he says himself its double that of penile inversion. Its one of the major downsides of his technique if it matters to you (eg getting back to work). I'm not sure but I think its also more involved and has a higher incidence of requiring early post-op revisions (he does do a lot of them). As a result he basically requires patients to stay 30 days post-op in Thailand at the hotel next to the clinic so they can look after you. Can you imagine what that would cost in a 1st world western country? Its a big reason why they wouldn't' adopt this technique - they can't.

And its not like western surgeons are short of patients, for whatever reason, so why should they change?

He doesn't really lecture. He did a presentation at a conference in 2004 (I think that's the date) and none since. He was co-author on an academic paper this year, which quite surprised me.

Its an hour from the airport, two from Bangkok, and Chonburi is not very nice. But so what? I'd only be there for Suporn. I'd put up with just about anything for that.

Price is personal I guess. If pay for someone who does what I value, assuming I had the money.

I guess we all have our favourite surgeons or those we trust to do our SRS.. Its a good topic here since so many points of view have been stated.. Its a big thing to have SRS, and most of us have been saving up for a long time or even waiting for a long time, so its important we choose wisely, and to go into it with open eyes and realise we have researched and determined the best options as individuals. There are some surgeons I would not choose but its not suggesting they are not good at what they do, but rather it is a personal choice, for what ever reason.. My ETA for SRS is December 2017.. There is still time to choose but my list is getting shorter.. For me, at this time, Suporn and Chettawut are not on it..

Tess..

I don't know enough about other surgeons, but if I couldn't go to Suporn or Chettawut I'd take a serious look at PAI. That's mainly based on what Warlockmaker has written. Normally that's not nearly enough, but I'm very impressed by the way she researched it. I'd probably want to visit them first.

I'm a bit confused why pai is not more popular to be honest ... Is it because the teacher (preecha) is not doing the surgeries ?


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PAI don't seem to market themselves towards Western patients, and its very difficult to find any independent information about them. I've never seen any independent post-op results from PAI, but I've seen many for other surgeons.

Another possible issue is that all the other surgeons are known by name, but who's the surgeon at PAI? Its not Preecha and it appears to change over time, so you don't feel a lot of confidence in what you're getting. Unlike Bowers, McGinn, Brassard, Suporn, Chettawut, etc. Perhaps its a branding problem.

For all of that I'd never consider them except for Warlockmaker. She's very smart, and I have a certain amount of trust in her opinion.

Hi.. Not so sure it is a branding issue.. I feel it might be due to geographic reference since while doing searching from Australia, Bowers and McGinn are not given much mention on web searches.. As for Brassard, I have never heard of that surgeon. I have read a few bad reviews about McGinn. There are many SRS surgeons around the world but not many seem to promote themselves. This is the case in Australia. Thailand seems to be the best known out of all SRS surgeons, in particular Chettawut who promotes himself on the Thai media... I have Thai friend who tell me to avoid this surgeon.. He is very well known in Thailand, for not all the right reasons. One concerning review about Support is his "Live Time Guarantee".. I must admit I was swayed towards Suporn for this option despite his high prices. But, a few reviews suggest his guarantee is not worth anything.. He basically ignores you.. I do not know if any of that is true but I have read more than one comment about that. Regarding the PAI, their surgeons take extra study to be Board Registered. Dr. Burin Wangjiraniran MD. FRCS is a highly skilled surgeon and I have asked that Dr Preecha be present during my SRS, even though he is not doing the actual surgery... I like the fact that the PAI does it all, including Voice.. I have not seen the PAI surgeons change during the past 2 years so not sure how often they move on..

Tess...

We are still trying to figure out what they do for voice surgery. The current view based on little information is that they do CTA which isn't a good option unless combined with VFS. Should you learn more about the procedure they use, we would be interested in knowing about in the voice section.