Breast lift in Thailand

A breast lift, or mastopexy, raises a breast that has dropped after pregnancy, breastfeeding, weight loss or simply time: the nipple is moved up, the surplus skin is removed and the tissue is reshaped. It does not add volume. Many patients who ask for a lift in Thailand have it combined with implants, or with a reduction, or with a tummy tuck as part of a so-called mummy makeover, and the package price in Thai baht depends on which of those it is.

Thai plastic surgery hospitals place far more implants than they do lifts, because the patients they see most have small breasts and little sagging, so the question to settle first is how many lifts on breasts like yours the surgeon does in a year. This page explains what decides the price, what a package covers, how the scar patterns differ and why the surgeon chooses one over another, what a lift with implants adds in cost and in risk, how the trip runs and what aftercare in Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom looks like, so the prices in the clinic listing below can be read properly.

• Compare what a quote covers

  Every clinic on this page shows its current price with a note of what it includes. A lift alone, a lift with implants and a lift with a reduction are three different operations, and the note says which one is priced.

• Ask for lifts on breasts like yours

  Thai surgeons do many augmentations and fewer lifts. Ask how many mastopexies the surgeon does a year and to see healed results at a year on post-pregnancy or post-weight-loss breasts.

• Board, licence, accreditation

  Thai Board of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery for the surgeon, a Ministry of Public Health licence for the facility, and hospital accreditation you can verify.

• A week or more before you fly

  Stay until the surgeon has checked the incisions, removed any drains and cleared you to fly, usually about a week after surgery and longer if a tummy tuck is combined.

The price is a package in Thai baht, and it moves with what is actually done. Each clinic on this page shows its current price with a note of what it covers, and that is the figure to compare, because a quote for a lift alone and a quote for a lift with implants are not quotes for the same operation.

• Lift alone, lift with implants or lift with reduction. A lift alone is the shortest of the three. Adding implants adds the implant cost and theatre time; combining a reduction adds time and a longer stay.
• The scar pattern. A periareolar lift is a shorter operation than a vertical lift, and an anchor lift, which treats the most sagging, is the longest.
• The implant brand, if implants are added. Motiva implants are priced above standard round silicone implants; Mentor sits between.
• Anaesthetic and nights. General anaesthesia with a night in hospital costs more than sedation with same-day discharge; for a lift, the former is the usual and safer arrangement.
• Hospital or clinic, and which city. A large Bangkok hospital with an international department charges more than a clinic; Phuket often sits between the two.
• Primary or revision. Correcting a previous lift, or a lift after implants have been removed, costs more than a first operation.
• The surgeon. Surgeons who do lifts and lift-with-implant cases every week charge more, and for this operation that is usually money well spent.

A lift moves the nipple up to the level of the breast fold or above it, removes the skin that has stretched and tightens the tissue underneath so the breast sits higher and looks firmer. It suits breasts that have dropped and, if anything, makes them slightly smaller, because skin is removed and nothing is added. It does not fill the top of the breast, and it does not enlarge the breast. Patients who want fullness as well as height need implants or fat transfer with the lift; patients whose breasts are large and heavy as well as dropped need a lift with a reduction.

Surgeons judge how much lift is needed by where the nipple sits relative to the fold: level with it, a little below it, or well below it and pointing down. That grade, together with skin quality and breast size, decides the scar pattern, and the scar pattern decides most of what the operation costs and how it heals.

• Periareolar lift. A scar around the areola only. For the mildest sagging, or to raise the nipple a little when implants are placed at the same time. It cannot lift very far and can widen the areola.
• Vertical lift. A scar around the areola and straight down to the fold, the lollipop pattern. For moderate sagging; it reshapes the breast well and avoids the scar along the fold.
• Anchor lift. Around the areola, down to the fold and along it, the inverted T. For marked sagging, large breasts and lifts combined with a reduction. The longest scar and the most reshaping.
• Lift with implants. Any pattern plus an implant, usually under the muscle, in one operation or in two stages when the lift is large. Fullness and height together, at the cost of more revisions than either operation alone.

The combination pages describe the implant options in detail: breast lift with round implants and breast lift with teardrop implants. The central pedicle breast lift page covers one technique for keeping the nipple's blood supply, and the breast reduction in Thailand page is the right one if the breasts are heavy as well as dropped. For fullness without an implant, breast fat transfer can be added to a lift, and breast implants in Thailand covers implants on their own.

Bangkok has the large private hospitals with international departments and most of the surgeons with overseas fellowships, which matters for a lift with implants or a lift with a reduction. Phuket has a plastic surgery hospital of its own and general hospitals long used to Australian and New Zealand patients, with direct flights from several Australian cities. Pattaya has a large hospital used to international breast patients, and Chiang Mai a handful of serious surgeons.

Wherever you go, the recovery is not a beach holiday. Sun on a fresh scar darkens it for good, and the scars of a lift are long; heat prolongs swelling; salt water and pools are off limits until the surgeon says otherwise; and the arms stay below the shoulders for the first days. Plan the sightseeing for the days before surgery.

The flight itself is rarely the problem once you are cleared; the problems are the ones that declare themselves in the weeks after. The scar junction under the breast can open and need dressings for weeks, a seroma or haematoma can appear, an infection can start after you land, and the scars need a year of care. Medicare, the New Zealand public system and the NHS will treat an emergency, an infection or a bleed like any other patient's. They will not correct a cosmetic result, and private health funds normally exclude complications of elective surgery overseas. Ask your fund in writing before you book.

Arrange the doctor who will see you before you leave: a specialist plastic surgeon or breast surgeon for the breasts, your GP for fever or infection, and a practice nurse who can dress a wound if the junction opens. Take the English operative report with you, naming the pattern, the pedicle, any implants with their serial numbers and the sutures used. Some surgeons at home decline to revise another surgeon's lift, so ask when you book the appointment, not after a problem appears.

1. Compare the clinics on this page by what the price covers and which operation it is for, then shortlist two or three.
2. Send the same photographs and questions to each and judge the answers by whether they name a scar pattern, a surgeon and a written list of inclusions.
3. Look up the surgeon and the hospital in the Medical Council of Thailand register and the accreditation lists before paying a deposit.
4. Ask your health fund and your GP at home, in writing, what happens if you come back with an open wound or a complication, and who will see you.
5. Book changeable flights, a companion for the first days and a hotel near the hospital, and stop smoking and blood-thinning supplements well in advance as instructed.
6. Take the operative report and, if implants were placed, the implant card home, and book your first check-up at home before you fly out.

If you are weighing Thailand against Turkey, the breast lift in Turkey page describes a market built around European patients with shorter flights from the UK. The breast lift abroad page compares the destinations, the tummy tuck in Thailand page covers the operation most often combined with a lift, and the plastic surgery in Thailand hub lists the rest.