Sawasdee Khrup, CM TV friends,

 

This is an unsolicited post; I have no "special relationship" with either Dr.  Somboon, or Rajavej Hospital.

 

I want to join the many posters on this forum who have expressed satisfaction with Chiang Mai's renowned plastic surgeon, Dr. Somboon Chaisrisawasdisuk, M.D., RCST, and his surgical-reconstructive skills.

 

Saturday, 17th., AM had a squamous cell carcinoma [1] on the back of my neck removed at Rajavej Hospital by Dr. Somboon. The little demon was growing too fast, and the area that now needed excision to ensure complete removal, relatively wide.

 

I had the initial biopsy at Maharaj/Sriphat, and did see a plastic surgeon there, but, said surgeon did not inspire me with confidence on several different levels; I decided to seek a second opinion from Dr. Somboon at his private clinic on Thanon Samlarn:

 

Dr. Somboon's Clinic

 

near Buak Haad Park on Bumrung Buri Road, west of Chiang Mai Gate. Dr. Somboon did (quickly) make me confident, on every level, that he was the right doctor.

 

I had my choice of three hospitals for the (local anesthesia) procedure: CM Ram, Bangkok, and Rajavej. Rajavej was least expensive, and near where I live; evidently Dr. Somboon has arrangements there which allow him to quote a price inclusive of all charges (pre-op, OR, medication, post-op, etc,) ... something I so appreciated after my shock and surprise over the bill from CM Ram for surgery several years ago.

 

This was my first experience with Rajavej Hospital, and I found everything satisfactory, the staff friendly (probably helped that my  conversational Thai is fairly good).

 

After a somewhat comic interlude in the OR changing-room over whether or not I could keep my underwear on, with me asserting "the problem is in my neck, not my underwear" (pan haa yu nee caaw kong chan, mai yu nee kangkeng) ...

 

I was on the operating table for at least 90 minutes; the only pain was during the multiple injections of local anesthetic, and was not excruciating. Most of the time on the table, I believe, was spent in the complex art of closing/restoring the wound. The wound dressing (water-proof) is elaborate enough to escort an Egyptian Mummy in their after-life journey :)

 

Post-op one day: a little blood leakage in the first 8 hours out the dressing (likely given the wound size, and the rich blood supply to the area excised). No pain of any significance, no need, yet, to take any pain meds. I'm a little surprised that my range of motion of the neck is only limited if I try to bend my head down.

 

Summary: I highly recommend Dr. Somboon, and, to reduce expense, suggest you see him first at his private clinic, possibly opting for using Rajavej Hospital.

 

cheers, ~o:37;

 

[1] fyi: "squamous cell carcinoma" is a description of cancer cell morphology (as is "basal"); a squamous cell carcinoma on the skin is a "different beast" than a cancer of the same type located inside the body.

 

p.s. for those of you who may not already be aware of what a bargain quality medical care can be here:  Imagine the cost if, in the USA, you (as private payer) were to see the best plastic surgeon in your state, and be in an OR with the surgeon and a support team of four ...  getting surgerized for 90 minutes: the cost inclusive of all charges pre- and post- op, and after-care visits ... I bet it would be at least 8 times more than I paid here.

Thank you for the Tip. Wishing you a Speedy and Complete recovery

I would say that it would cost substantially more than 8 times what you paid if you had it done in the USA, orang37!

 

One time, in the USA, I had a strange thing appear on my forearm. It was a little painful and was getting bigger quickly. I went to the government hospital and the Professor of Dermatology came with about 10 interns to take a look. He said very confidently that it was a spider bite and nothing to worry about and it would go away over time. Cost: US $35.00. Over time it became more painful and got even bigger. I went to a private Dermatologist for another opinion. The doctor said "absolutely not a spider bite" and explained to me what it was. His recommendation was to remove it. His estimate to remove it (at his outpatient surgical clinic) was US $10,000.00, to which I replied "no thanks." As I was about to get up and walk out, the doctor said I should at least have a biopsy to be sure it was not malignant. He said he would do it for US $175.00 to which I agreed. Took about 15 minutes. A few days passed and I got a letter from the lab saying it was not malignant. Inside the envelope was a bill for US $85.00 lab fee which I reluctantly paid. Shortly thereafter I went to Europe. While there I went to the top dermatologist I could find who confirmed what the 2nd doctor in USA said and she referred me to a surgeon who a week later removed it. Took a good 30-40 minutes. Cost: 40 Euros....

Glad to hear that you were able to get the satisfactory results we all want. Here's wishing you a speedy recovery!

right on the money  0 37, Doc Somboon is top draw,had  melona cut out  of my right shoulder at RAM a few yrs back,and only recently he cut BCC out of my right lug at BKK hospital,both sucessfully and have retained my very handsome looks,

very happy that u have been given the same professional service,and that a full recovery is on the way

its a  U2 early evening to all

6 hours ago, orang37 said:

p.s. for those of you who may not already be aware of what a bargain quality medical care can be here:  Imagine the cost if, in the USA, you (as private payer) were to see the best plastic surgeon in your state, and be in an OR with the surgeon and a support team of four ...  getting surgerized for 90 minutes: the cost inclusive of all charges pre- and post- op, and after-care visits ... I bet it would be at least 8 times more than I paid here.

 

Always amuses me how amazed Americans are at this.. When Europeans would have no direct bill at all. 

Orang37, may I ask what the total cost of this surgery was?

2 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

 

Always amuses me how amazed Americans are at this.. When Europeans would have no direct bill at all. 

 

fyi: the "typical" American would have some form of health insurance; my comment was qualified by the term "private payer;" that refers to someone who pays the entire amount, usually because they do not have insurance.

1 hour ago, BarnicaleBob said:

Orang37, may I ask what the total cost of this surgery was?

 

I do not wish to say because cost, and modality, of treatment will depend on a host of individual factors, type of cancer, stage of cancer, lymph node involvement, location, your age, personal and family history, current health, etc. 

 

It's possible the good doctor sensed that an Orang soul-mind co-habits with the human in this body, and may have given me a discount based on that.

 

cheers. ~o:37;

Orang37, many thanks for sharing. And the good doctor deserves the compliments. Wish you a speedy recovery.


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I find it funny how people are not allowed to describe their bad experience with Dr Somboon.  He had done exactly the opposite of what I had agreed, I made a thread on this forum, and then it was deleted.

Also some people should have to freedom of speech should they not !?

Lets see what happens to this one !  Then we shall see who made the mistake !  Amazing what you can do if you can control thousands of different IP addresses !!!

8 hours ago, Wandering Roller said:

I find it funny how people are not allowed to describe their bad experience with Dr Somboon.  He had done exactly the opposite of what I had agreed, I made a thread on this forum, and then it was deleted.

Also some people should have to freedom of speech should they not !?

Lets see what happens to this one !  Then we shall see who made the mistake !  Amazing what you can do if you can control thousands of different IP addresses !!!

Dude, this is a privately owned forum and thus no freedom of speech guaranteed.  You're right, though, and they should really make it clear that Thaivisa is heavily censored.

A few days ago at his private clinic, Dr Somboon quoted me the aforementioned “all-in” price for elective plastic surgery - which I found more odd than comforting…  He added that because Rajewej Hospital has become such a hub for Medical Tourism, he would require payment up front in US dollars because the hospital no longer takes Thai Baht.  Has anyone else been made aware of this fascinating development?

28 minutes ago, MamaSan said:

A few days ago at his private clinic, Dr Somboon quoted me the aforementioned “all-in” price for elective plastic surgery - which I found more odd than comforting…  He added that because Rajewej Hospital has become such a hub for Medical Tourism, he would require payment up front in US dollars because the hospital no longer takes Thai Baht.  Has anyone else been made aware of this fascinating development?

Some kind of misunderstanding?

 

Difficult to swallow that the hospital no longer takes Thai Baht.  Can anybody really choke that down?

5 hours ago, MamaSan said:

A few days ago at his private clinic, Dr Somboon quoted me the aforementioned “all-in” price for elective plastic surgery - which I found more odd than comforting…  He added that because Rajewej Hospital has become such a hub for Medical Tourism, he would require payment up front in US dollars because the hospital no longer takes Thai Baht.  Has anyone else been made aware of this fascinating development?

Definitely a misunderstanding. 100%.

The Doctor was getting rid of an unwanted patient.

Medical Tourism?  555

Better to go to Kuala Lumpur. 

 

So far, I have not been that impressed with medical care here and I am not able to freely share my experience(s).

A lot of functional incompetence.

 

My experiences with dental care has been wonderful.

 

 

 

 
 

Careful with the good doctor. He chopped a chunk out of my cheek and before and after had a lot of words on minimizing the scar which he did well. Not a word about the result that the flesh on the sides of the scar make an easily noticeable step, one side higher than the other. Not the result I expected from CM's top plastic cutter.


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On 8/21/2017 at 11:15 PM, Wandering Roller said:

I find it funny how people are not allowed to describe their bad experience with Dr Somboon.  He had done exactly the opposite of what I had agreed, I made a thread on this forum, and then it was deleted.

Also some people shoucld have to freedom of speech should they not !?

Lets see what happens to this one !  Then we shall see who made the mistake !  Amazing what you can do if you can control thousands of different IP addresses !!!

 

Part of the reality here is, TVF has to deal with Thailand's fairly harsh libel and defamation laws, which can be criminal offenses and under which telling the factual truth is not necessarily a legal defense. So it's OK to praise things, but start talking bad publicly about a person or business, and you could end up with a police summons.

 

Under the circumstances, if I wanted to express such an opinion and not have it deleted, I'd probably simply say I had used such and such person/service, wasn't satisfied, and wouldn't use them again. That, I think, is a reasonably safe statement than can be made publicly.

 

 

 

Whoa! Reading this thread, such  are the problems of conflicting pesonal opinions about physicians and hospitals!!

 

WHAT is this business about payment only in foreign currency??!!