Video Page

Phalloplasty in Thailand

I GOT my SRS done with Dr Sukit from Yanhee hospital in Bangkok, Thailand in 2004. I was looking for a surgeon in September 2003. I joined FTM Australia and Craig suggested I join the email group Transmen Asia as well, seeing as I am an Asian. It was from Transmen Asia that I found out that some guys there had their chest done by Dr. Sukit.

I next looked for a psychologist to get the assessment. He gave me the test and in two days I got the assessment. It was so easy for me to get the assessment even though I had not been on T at all. I married in Auckland (Anglican Church) two years before, so according to him I’ve been living as a male for two years before getting any surgery and I passed as a male without any surgery or T.

Two days after getting my assessment I flew straight away to Bangkok. At the beginning I only wanted to have my chest done. After meeting Dr. Sukit where he explained all his methods on SRS, I was so interested in getting them all done by him.

The first reason was the time frame; it was only one year maximum to get all the surgeries completed from mastectomy to phalloplasty. Second, the possibility of getting complications on his phalloplasty method is very minimal.

The next morning I was ready for chest surgery (key-hole) and total hysterectomy. Back then (October 2003) it only cost me about USD2700 for both surgeries and that included four days in hospital in a VIP room (or maybe one week I’ve forgotten). These days, the price for chest surgery is USD2200-2600. I don’t know about the price for hysterectomy. I’m guessing it’s around USD2000.

Dr. Amnat was the one that performed hysterectomy surgery for me. He then put me on Andriol (two weeks after surgery) for three months.

I stayed in the hospital for two weeks. I went out to shop around as well while I was recovering. It cost me THB1600 per day for one night in the hospital. I chose to stay in hospital at that time so that the nurses still could look after my wounds.

The other reason was I’d never been to Bangkok before so I did not know much about the city. The hospital is a very modern one and clean. The nurses are so kind and helpful. They have a PR nurse that can speak English well and she’s become my good friend since then. The room is VIP with shower room, TV, fridge, sofa for guests and small balcony. There is also PC with internet access on the plastic surgery floor.

I was blessed while I was there to meet another Vietnamese guy that was having his phallo done. I saw his phallus and I was so sure that I made the right decision to choose Dr. Sukit as my SRS surgeon. His phallus looks very natural.

I was discharged from hospital two weeks later and flew back to Auckland; it was around eleven hours flight. I used my Air NZ air points to go to Bangkok for all my surgeries, so I don’t know exactly how much the flight to Bangkok from Auckland is. I guess it won’t be much different with the flight to Indonesia being around NZD1900 (2007).

I came back to Bangkok three months later after my first stage to get my second stages which are vaginal closure, urethra lengthening, and urethra prefabrication. Here’s the procedure (I copied and pasted from the Yanhee website www.yanhee.net).

1. Vaginal Closure and urethral lengthening

This is the step where the path of the urinary tract is altered and the vagina is closed. The urinary tract has to be altered because the direction of the female urinary tract is facing downward while the male urinary tract is in front. Therefore, the surgeon needs to alter the direction of the urinary tract and completely close the vagina. The urethra is lengthened and prepared to join with the urethra made from the forearm in the last step. The surgeon will remove the wall of the vagina and fold it back outward (vaginal mucosa reflection) and remove tissues in the vagina and stitch them completely closed.

When this procedure is completed the patient will not have a vaginal opening and the patient can urinate at the front direction, like that of a male but without the penis yet. The healing process takes about 2-3 weeks; the patient is required to stay in the hospital for two days. A catheter will be inserted for about 7-10 days; it will be removed after the urinary tract is healed.

2. Urethral prefabrication

This is the preparation of urethra to the penis (using the forearm flap phalloplasty technique). In creating the penis at Yanhee Hospital, the surgeon uses the forearm fascia, skin; nerves and blood vessels are raised and transplanted by microsurgery techniques. To reduce the percentage of urine leakage the surgeon will create a urethra by wrapping the catheter with gluteal skin and bury into the forearm. After the grafted skin is healed, the result is a sturdy urethral tube. When this is used to create the penis, the percentage of urine leakage is minimal. The surgery is only one hour and the patient is required to stay in the hospital for two days.

After the surgery, the patient will have a catheter in the forearm and will be on a regular check up by the surgeon along with self-care procedures for three months until the urethra constructed in the forearm is ready for the next step.

The second stage was not painful just some discomfort. The itchiness was so irritating (healing process) and I always cleaned the area with warm water to reduce the itchiness. For a few days I carried the urine bag on my waist. I had some bleeding after the vaginal closure.

I stayed for one week in the hospital and another week in the hotel near hospital. That time I was able to walk around without any pain, so I went out with one of the nurses as my tourist guide to Patphong, temple etc. so it was a holiday for me as well. I had to clean the tunnel in my forearm everyday, by taking out the catheter inside the tunnel and fill the tunnel with warm water to clean it and put the catheter back in with KY gel. I did this for three months.

The cost for stage 2 is USD4200, (urethral lengthening and vaginal closure – USD2,700, urethral prefabrication – USD1500) in 2007. Three months later I came back to Yanhee for my final stage which cost me USD5000 in 2004.

3. Phalloplasty

This is the construction of the male genital organ. As the patient reaches this stage, the external physical features of the patient is almost that of a male – flat chest, no ovaries or uterus, able to void at standing position but without the male organ to control the direction and flow of urine. The surgeon creates the male organ by transferring the forearm flap and joins the structures through a microsurgery technique. A phallus, between 4-6 inches in length is possible, depending on the length of the flesh taken from the patients’ forearm. On the average, length is about five inches.

The surgeon separates the blood vessels and nerves of the forearm to connect with the blood vessels and nerves in the pubic area and then creates a scrotal sac from the tissues of the labia. This scrotal sac consists of fat and pigmented skin of the labia, but without testicles inside. External appearance is similar to the male scrotal sac.

All patients that complete these stages have the reconstructed penis and all the physical changes from female-to-male without any residual female sex organs. No serious complications such as flap failure, infection, serious wound complications and urination leakage have been found. Patients all recover from the surgery fast because each stage consumes a short time period without the need to correct the serious complications. All of them can urinate through the end of the neo-penis and the external appearance is similar to that of the genetic male sexual organ and it also has sensation.

I stayed in the hospital for two weeks; the first week was like in hell , they put me on the pain-killer drip machine (it can be adjusted depending how much pain I felt).

However, it made me feel dizzy and I wanted to vomit every time I opened my eyes, so I asked them to take me off the drip. Now I had only pills to reduce the pain. I guess to have someone to look after you is necessary, as for the first week you aren’t able to do much in bed. I thank God I was with my dad at that time. Most of my friends who were there were always accompanied by their family.

Dr. Sukit then took out the catheter two weeks after surgery and I started urinating standing. I did not have much problem at that time, only I had to still put the catheter on the tip only due to the swelling, so that the tip will not close. There are no stitches along the urethra so there will not be any problem such as fistula or stricture along the urethra. If there is a stricture, it will be on the joining only where the new and native urethra is joined.

I was discharged from the hospital and stayed in the small hotel at Khaosan Road area (where the tourist market is) for another two weeks as Dr. Sukit also needed us to see him one month after surgery for check up. I also had one friend that had just finished his phallo (his surgery was one week after mine) and we were staying at the same hotel. It cost us around THB550 (NZD21) per day at that time for one room with two beds, tv, fridge, shower room. The name of the hotel is THAI COZY HOUSE.

We could go out but not much due to the swelling on our scrotum. When I was sitting, I felt like sitting on hard balls. It was very uncomfortable. The swelling was gone slightly and was completely soft after about one month after surgery.

I went back to Auckland and back to normal life. One month after, it felt like my stream became narrower and narrower. I had urinary tract infection. I went to an urologist in Auckland (Dr. Roger) and he told me that the scar in the joining area was still hard and my tip was still swollen. He dilated me at that time and gave me a suggestion to get another surgery to replace the urethra using skin inside my mouth. I was not sure, so I talked to a friend of mine that had his phallo done in NZ long time ago. He lent me his balloon catheter to try. This helped and my stream was back to normal.

I saw my urologist again to ask him to give me the balloon catheter. This urologist was the one that did my friend’s phallo in the 90′s. It was around NZD250 for the catheter. I’ve been using it since then. On the first month I put the catheter in 30 minutes every day, then once every week until the scar become soft, then once every month. Once every two months only when I have a shower, I put the catheter in just to maintain the hole. Now I have not used my catheter since May 2007, so it has been four months without any narrowing.

I started to feel my penis two months after surgery on the base, when I pinched the penis and then six months I could feel it to the tip. It took me sometime before I felt at one with my penis, especially when I still could not feel it. Then the feeling was getting stronger and stronger. Now I feel like my penis skin is very thin as the feeling is very strong. It’s like a big clitoris. In other words, I’m very satisfied with the result of the microsurgery.

I have not had the erectile implant done yet. I’m still not sure what type of implant or the doctor who can do it for me. Dr. Sukit only suggested I use a bendable rod but I don’t feel it’s right for me. The other reason is, I’m afraid of loosing the erotic sensation if I have another surgery. I have not yet used it for penetration. I’m thinking of using tape or buying a sleeve from Mango for sex. One of my friends told me he can feel the sensation using sleeve even though is not that strong. I don’t think of getting testicular implants, as I don’t feel they are useful.

I’m quite happy with what I have now – the feeling and the look of the penis. The most important thing is I did not have any major complication so I did not have to go back to Bangkok. Unfortunately my skin is not good, so I got keloid scars. However, I will not have a shower naked in public places so I do not bother with it. The main reason for getting all the surgery done for me is accomplished, so I do not mind having scars or keloids for the price of it.

Cost wise, I guess, one should save about USD20,000 for all surgeries and plan for three flights to Bangkok (3 stages) plus the accommodation for hotel and food around NZD5000 for all three stages.

Corbin, New Zealand