Liposuction in Thailand

Liposuction in Thailand is priced by the area: the abdomen, the flanks, the back, the inner and outer thighs, the arms and the chin are each a line on the quote, and what hospitals in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya call full body liposuction or lipo 360 is several of those lines treated in one session, under general anaesthesia, with a night in hospital and a compression garment to take home. The package is priced in Thai baht and covers the surgeon, the anaesthetist, the theatre and the check-ups until you are cleared to fly.

Liposuction removes fat deposits that diet has not shifted; it is not a treatment for being overweight, it does not tighten loose skin, and the amount that can safely be removed in one session is capped by the hospital rather than chosen by the patient. This page explains what decides the price, what a package covers, how the techniques differ, why the volume limit matters more than the marketing, how to check a surgeon and a hospital, what the recovery looks like and what aftercare in Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom means, so the prices in the clinic listing below can be read properly.

• Compare what a quote covers, area by area

  Every clinic on this page shows its current price with a note of what it includes. A quote for the abdomen alone and a quote for abdomen, flanks and back under general anaesthesia with a night in hospital are different operations.

• Ask how much can come out in one session

  Reputable hospitals cap the volume removed per session and split large plans into two. A clinic that agrees to everything at once is the one to walk away from.

• 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.

• About a week before you fly

  Small areas under local anaesthetic clear sooner; several areas under general anaesthesia need a check-up and a week or so before a long flight, in the garment, walking every hour.

The price is a package in Thai baht built up area by area. Each clinic on this page shows its current price with a note of what it covers, and that is the figure to compare, because two quotes for full body liposuction can differ by the number of areas actually included, the technique, the anaesthetic and whether a night in hospital is inside the total.

• The number of areas. Abdomen, flanks, back, inner thighs, outer thighs, arms, chin and knees are priced separately; a package deal for several areas is usually less than the sum of the lines, and it still has a volume cap.
• The technique. Ultrasound-assisted liposuction such as VASER and laser-assisted systems are priced above standard tumescent liposuction; power-assisted liposuction sits between. The surgeon's skill matters more than the machine.
• The volume and the time. Large-volume sessions take longer, need more fluid management and an anaesthetist throughout, and are priced higher; very large plans are split into two sessions.
• Anaesthetic and nights. Local anaesthetic for one small area is done as a day case; several areas mean general anaesthesia or deep sedation and a night in hospital, which costs more and is the safer arrangement.
• What is combined with it. Fat transfer to the buttocks, a tummy tuck to remove loose skin, or skin-tightening treatments each add theatre time and a fee.
• 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 unevenness from a previous liposuction is slower and less predictable, and priced accordingly.

The comparison most Australian, New Zealand and British patients want is not a table of two numbers, because the numbers do not cover the same things. A quote at home is usually per area too, with the anaesthetist and the facility charged separately and follow-up in the same rooms for as long as it takes. A Thai quote is one package in baht that covers the hospital side and ends when you fly.

To compare them honestly, add to the Thai figure the flights, a week or more of hotel, a companion's costs if someone travels with you, travel insurance that will not cover the surgery itself and a reserve for aftercare at home, then ask what a revision would cost, because unevenness is the complication that brings liposuction patients back to a surgeon. The machines are the same in both places; what differs is who looks at the result when the swelling has gone, and how far away they are.

Thailand licenses doctors and facilities separately. The surgeon should hold a licence from the Medical Council of Thailand and the Thai Board of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the specialist qualification issued through the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand; membership of the Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons of Thailand or the Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons of Thailand is a further sign of a surgeon trained in the specialty. Liposuction is also offered by doctors who are not plastic surgeons, in Thailand as at home; the board certification is how you tell the difference.

The facility should hold a Ministry of Public Health licence for the anaesthetic it uses. A single small area under local anaesthetic can be done in a licensed clinic; several areas under general anaesthesia belong in a hospital with a physician anaesthetist, a recovery unit and a ward, and large-volume sessions belong nowhere else. Private hospitals in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya commonly carry Hospital Accreditation from Thailand's Healthcare Accreditation Institute, and several also hold Joint Commission International accreditation.

• Ask for the surgeon's full name and licence number and look them up in the Medical Council of Thailand register before paying anything.
• Ask what the hospital's volume cap per session is and who sets it. The answer should come from the anaesthetist, and it should be lower for a day case than for an overnight stay.
• Ask for healed photographs at six months or a year, from several angles, of patients with your build and your skin, and look for smoothness rather than size.
• Ask who gives the anaesthetic and where you sleep the first night if more than one area is planned: a named physician anaesthetist and a ward bed.
• Ask about weight limits. Reputable hospitals defer patients above a certain body mass index and steer them to weight loss first; a clinic that declines nothing is telling you something.
• Ask what happens if the result is uneven or a seroma needs draining, who treats it, what it costs and whether the surgeon's fee is waived for a revision.

1. 1

   Online consultation with photographs

   Front, back and both sides of each area, standing, with your height, weight, weight history and whether the skin has been stretched by pregnancy or weight loss. The surgeon should reply with a list of areas, a technique, an estimate of whether one session is enough and a reason, not only a price.
2. 2

   Arrival and examination

   A day or two before surgery: examination with the skin pinched and the areas marked while you stand, blood tests, the anaesthetic assessment and a frank conversation about loose skin. This is where the plan, the number of areas and the price are confirmed.
3. 3

   The operation

   Local anaesthetic for a single small area; general anaesthesia or deep sedation for several. The areas are filled with wetting solution and suctioned, the small incisions are closed or left to drain, and the garment goes on in theatre. Multi-area sessions stay a night.
4. 4

   The first days

   Fluid leaks from the incisions, bruising spreads and then fades, the areas feel sore and numb. Walk every hour, wear the garment, keep the incisions dry, no baths and no pools. Most patients move to a hotel near the hospital after the first night.
5. 5

   Check-up and clearance to fly

   Around a week after a multi-area session the surgeon checks the incisions, looks for fluid collections and clears you to fly in the garment. Small local-anaesthetic areas clear sooner. A seroma means staying longer, which is why the return should be changeable.
6. 6

   Home and the long tail

   Swelling hides the result for weeks and settles over months; firmness and numbness fade in the same time. Wear the garment as long as instructed, keep your weight stable, send photographs at the agreed points, and see a doctor at home the same day for fever, spreading redness, a swelling that grows or calf pain.

The flight itself is rarely the problem once you are cleared; the problems are the ones that declare themselves later. A seroma can collect in the weeks after, an infection can start after you land, a clot can form in the days around a long flight, and unevenness only shows once the swelling has gone. Medicare, the New Zealand public system and the NHS will treat an emergency, an infection, a clot or a fluid collection 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 for the contour, your GP for fever, infection or calf pain. Take the English operative report with you, naming the areas, the technique, the volume removed and the anaesthetic used. Some surgeons at home decline to revise another surgeon's liposuction, so ask when you book the appointment, not after a problem appears.

1. Get to a stable weight first and decide which areas actually bother you; a shorter list gives a better result than a long one.
2. Compare the clinics on this page by what the price covers and for which areas, then shortlist two or three.
3. Send the same photographs and the same list of areas to each and judge the answers by whether they name a technique, a volume cap, a surgeon and a written list of inclusions.
4. Look up the surgeon and the hospital in the Medical Council of Thailand register and the accreditation lists before paying a deposit.
5. Ask your health fund in writing about complications, book changeable flights, a companion for a large session and a hotel near the hospital, and stop smoking and blood-thinning supplements well in advance as instructed.
6. Take the operative report home and book your first check-up at home before you fly out.

If you are weighing Thailand against Turkey, the liposuction in Turkey page describes a market built around European patients with shorter flights from the UK. The liposuction abroad page compares the destinations, and the plastic surgery in Thailand hub lists the procedures people combine with liposuction.