Now, I really do not believe there are ANY respectable FFS surgeons out there who would put pictures of their patients online without their consent. This is not only usually prohibited by law (patient confidelaty and also the copyright or pictures of oneself), but also would be hugely damaging for the surgeons reputation as most trans women do not want to be public. I personally would refuse, but i know some are very open about being trans and even put out youtube videos themselves or post their pictures online elsewhere, so if they want to share in the context of a surgeon website, its great and I am happy some people exist who are like that, even though I am taking the profit and not delivering much back in that respect, as I just do not want to be out there with my face.
My impression about the pricetag difference between US and EU/Thai surgeons and others is that a big part of it simply is the health costs in those countries. The US has the highest health costs of the world , apparently. Generally. In the US, OTC pharmaceuticals are dead cheap but anything that requires a trained medical person to participate is very expensive. I broke a leg there once - the hospital bills were unbelievable - knowing what the rates are here in Germany. For example look at this:
So more money does not necessarily mean that a surgeon is better, although that can play into it as well as obviously his own share in the overall price would be higher in the US too and a good surgeon may not be willing to work for a lower wage. but especially Thai surgeons can be cheaper since everything is much cheaper in Thailand compared to the US - nurses, rent, supplies and also costs for living.
On the upside, the US has the advantage of having a system for controlling health care that has a good reputation - although I cannot comment on how good it really is, they have all kinds of certifications and such.
The biggest plus to improve the quality of surgical work IMO is specialization. A surgeon who can afford to only do FFS and mot much else will be better at FFS than if he also has to do a dozen other types of surgeries - in Germany this is quite apparent - trans related surgeries are usually less than 10% of the work of a surgeon, often it is less than 2% with just a couple of surgeries done per year - how can one expect them to get really world class good if they cannot gain the experience and routine. US surgeons can do this , apparently, or at least they specialize in surgeries closely related to the trans related surgeries. But I believe someone like van der Dussen or Facialteam can do the same.
OMG, I am ranting! All I wanted to say is that price should not be a consideration - spend more if the surgeon is better, but also do not think a less expensive surgeon has to be worse - just think about quality and not about money
