The Study of Thailand’s Cosmetic Surgery Market and Attitudes of Surgeons and Foreign Patients towards Cosmetic Surgery in Thailand

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##

Maychaya Jaisuekul and Chaichana Teerasu

Abstract

Medical tourism in Thailand is a potentially valuable market, promoted and developed for national advantages. Today, Thai medical services, particularly cosmetic surgery gains foreigners’ reputation, and acquires international attention in world market. The objectives of this research were: 1) to identify factors that foreigners undergoing cosmetic surgery in Thailand for promoting medical tourism market; 2) to study the perspectives of the leading surgeons in cosmetic surgery in Thailand; 3) to study the perceptions of foreigners who had undergone cosmetic surgery in Thailand and; 4) to examine the conditions and practice of cosmetic surgery market in Thailand in relation to medical tourism in Thailand. This research is an exploratory descriptive study, using qualitative research method. Study population, which were obtained though snowballing technique, consisted of five actual Thai cosmetics surgeons in the five leading cosmetic surgery hospitals, including Bumrungrad Hospital, Yunhee Hospital, Samitivej Hospital, Bangkok Hospital and Lorlak Hospital, and 10 foreigners who had done cosmetic surgery in Thailand from the five leading cosmetic surgery hospitals. By using snowballing technique, five leading hospitals were first selected as a case study and then collected the data from interviews with the surgeons of the five leading hospitals. Then, the researcher asked the doctors to give referrals to the foreign patients who had undergone cosmetic surgery with them. The selected foreign patients then become part of a sample. In this research, three theories were applied as the theoretical model, including theory of diamond national advantage, marketing mix for service business (7Ps), and total perceived quality model. The major limitations of this research is related to the process data collection, which was difficult to make an appointment with the surgeons as well as contacting foreign patients for interviewing. The process was very time-consuming and some foreign patients were not willing to participate in the interviews. Another limitation would be ethical issues that the researcher had to treat them very carefully and all information provided by the participants had to be kept as highly confidential. As a result, some important information could not be revealed unless the participants allowed the researcher to do so. Research findings showed that Thailand still earned its place as the first mover in medical tourism, with strengths in factor and demand conditions. Nevertheless Thailand should improve in terms of firm’s rivalry and competition as well as make the related and supporting industry stronger. In terms of factors influencing foreigners to undergo cosmetic surgery in Thailand were mainly price and quality of cosmetic surgery and related services. Most of the leading surgeons perceived that cosmetic surgery in Thailand is currently growing among both the Thai and foreign patients. In addition, the majority of former foreign patients who had undergone cosmetic surgery in Thailand perceived that prices are relative cheap while they are able to receive good outcome after the surgery. Most of them were very satisfied with the surgery outcome and overall service of the hospitals where they had cosmetic surgery done. Overall situation of cosmetic surgery market in Thailand is currently in a growth period and has become a well-known destination for undergoing cosmetic surgery overseas. With competitive pricing comparing to other countries, there are still many rooms for growth and development as long as the hospitals are still focusing on improving their equipment, technologies, services and facilities while receiving good support from the government in terms of advertising and promotion and providing subsidiaries to the hospitals to ensure sustainable growth of the medical tourism industry.

References

Atiyeh, B. S., Rubeiz, M. T., & Hayek, S. N. (2008). Aesthetic/cosmetic surgery and ethical challenges. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 32(6), 829-839.

Banmuang.co.th. (2015). Thai cosmetic surgery market–more than 30 millions. Retrieved from http://www.banmuang.co.th/news/economy/12192

Biernacki, P., & Waldorf, D. (1981). Snowball Sampling Problems and Techniques of Chain Referral Sampling. Sociological Methods & Research, 10(2), 141-163.

Cindia, C. C. L., du Cros, H., & Vong, L. (2013). Macao’s cross-border medical tourism. A new way forward? In Hall, M.C. Medical Tourism: The Ethics, Regulation, and Marketing of Health Mobility. New York: Routledge.

Cohen, E. (2008). Medical Tourism in Thailand. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount. Retrieved from http://www.graduate.au.edu/gsbejournal/1V/Journal/Medical%20Tourism%20Dr%20Cohen.pdf

Connell, J. (2006). Medical tourism: Sea, sun, sand and...surgery. Tourism Management, 27, 1093-1100.

Dragan, I. M., & Isaic-Maniu, A. (2012). Snowball Sampling Developments used in Marketing Research. International Journal of Arts and Commerce, 1(6), 98-102.

Ehrbeck, T., Guevara, C., & Mango, P. D. (2008). Mapping the Market for Medical Travel. The McKinsey Quarterly. Retrieved from https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Mapping_the_market_for_travel_2134

Lau, Y. Y. (2007). An application of the Porter’s diamond framework: the case of Hong Kong airfreight industry. Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. Retrieved from http://www.icms.polyu.edu.hk/Papers/IFSPA09-Papers/2_A001.pdf

Link, K. (2013). The World's Top 10 Cities for Plastic Surgery. Plastic Surgery Portal. Retrieved from: http://www.plasticsurgeryportal.com/articles/worlds-top-ten-plastic-surgery-cities/322

Losken, A., Burke, R., Elliott, L. F. I., & Carlson, G. W. (2005). Infonomics and Breast Reconstruction: Are Patients Using the Internet?. Annals of Plastic Surgery, 54, 247-250.

Lunt, N., Exworthy, M., Green, S., Horsfall, D., Mannion, R., & Smith, R. (2011). Medical Tourism: Treatments, Markets and Health System Implications: A Scoping Review. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

MacReady, N. (2007). Developing countries court medical tourists. The Lancet, 369, 1849-1850.

Pocock, N. S., & Phua, K. H. (2011). Medical tourism and policy implications for health systems: a conceptual framework from a comparative study of Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Retrieved from http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/7/1/12

Porter, M. E. (2004). Building the microeconomic foundations of prosperity: findings from the business competitiveness index, In Sala-i-Martin, X. (Ed.) The Global Competitiveness Report 2003–2004. Oxford University Press: New York.

Postjung.com. (2016). Thailand: The center of cosmetic surgery in Asia. Retrieved from: http://board.postjung.com/814541.html

Ramírez de Arellano, A. B. (2007). Patients without borders: the emergence of medical tourism. International Journal of Health Services, 37, 93-198.

Ryan, R. (2014). Plastic surgery and medical procedures in Thailand: Why more of us are doing it?. Retrieved from http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-advice/plastic-surgery-and-medical-procedures-in-thailand-why-more-of-us-are-doing-it/story-e6frfqg0-1227051273255

Salehahmadi, Z., & Rafie, S. R. (2012). Factors Affecting Patients Undergoing Cosmetic Surgery in Bushehr, Southern Iran. World J Plast Surg, 1(2), 99–106.

Saniotis, A. (2007). International Ethics: Changing ethics in medical practice: a Thai perspective. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 4(1), 113.

Sarnsamak, P. (2012). Beauty obsession [The Nation]. Retrieved from http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Beauty-obsession-30188662.html

Sinhaneti, K., & Pullawan, J. (2008). Thailand, A beauty hub for everyone? Internationalizing Thai aesthetic surgery. Retrieved from http://www.divaportal.org/smash/get/diva2:126565/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Schutt. (2008). Chapter 5: Sampling. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/24480_Ch5.pdf

Stockhaus, K. (2012). Polish aesthetic medicine market in the context of Swede's beauty tourism: High-quality, low-cost services towards demanding Swedish patients. Magister-uppsats, Södertörns högskola/Institutionen för livsvetenskaper. Södertörn University | School of Business Studies Master’s Dissertation 30 ECTS | Spring semester 2012.

Keywords
Cosmetic Surgery, Cosmetic Surgery Market, Attitudes of Foreign Patients and Surgeons, Thailand
Section
Research Articles

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##

How to Cite
AND CHAICHANA TEERASU, Maychaya Jaisuekul. The Study of Thailand’s Cosmetic Surgery Market and Attitudes of Surgeons and Foreign Patients towards Cosmetic Surgery in Thailand. Journal of Community Development Research (Humanities and Social Sciences), [S.l.], v. 10, n. 1, p. 16-26, mar. 2017. ISSN 2985-0231. Available at: <https://www.journal.nu.ac.th/JCDR/article/view/1717>. Date accessed: 29 mar. 2024.