The Face Doctor
February 5th, 2009That’s what the boys call him, but I suppose he’s actually a Dermatologist.
If you have a boy living with you that suffers from acne, I know of a doctor here in BKK that can clear it up. I’ve sent two boys to this guy, and in relatively short order he got their faces back to normal. Each boy is different, but the typical turn around time is between 2 and 3 months of once a week visits. The doctor uses a combination of injections, oral medications, cleansing soap and ointments to get the acne under control. The cost of treatment, during this stage of the process, ranges between 600 and 1300 baht per visit. The total bill varies each week depending on how many injections are required. Once under control, the doctor puts the boys on a less expensive maintenance program that consists of oral medication, cleansing soap and ointments. I think this gets it down to around 600 baht a month.
The doctor can also remove any scaring (the boys call it black) or pitting of the skin caused by old acne breakouts. The boys I took care of didn’t have any pitting, but did have black scaring. From what I gather, he has three different methods for removing the black skin, something the boys are definitely going to want done. The fastest method is basically a chemical peal that is very unsightly for about a week, and not popular with the boys. He also has a cream that slowly removes the black, but the more attractive and most expensive procedure involves weekly scrubbings. This process takes about two months and bumps the weekly cost back up to between 800 and 1000 per visit.
There are probably other doctors offering the same service, but this is the only one I know about. He has one office right next to the BTS Ari station, on the second floor of the coop building. His hours are between 5 and 8 on select evenings of the week, so I assume he has other offices scattered around BKK. None of the staff speaks English, but the doctor does. The first visit requires a walk in. After that the boy can call earlier in the day and get a queue number.
I have no doubt any boy you do this for is going to love you for it, but there are some considerations to be made. While the cost of treatment is low, by western standards, this is a lot of money being spent in the eyes of a poor Thai boy. Money boy or not, he’s going to see this as an exorbitant expenditure on him resulting in one of two scenarios. He will either be frustrated that you are spending this much on his face when it could better be used to pay his rent and other bills, or he will assume you are good for other money requests if willing to spend this much on his appearance. Do with that information as you wish, but I think this is best done for a boy that is living with you long-term and already receiving the other monetary benefits.
Here are two phone numbers I have for the doctor:
02-279-2260
02-619-9977
February 7th, 2009 at 9:01 am
> That’s what the boys call him, but I suppose he’s actually a Dermatologist.
He may well be. But Thailand has more than its fair share of quacks and charlatans. He may just be a trumped up beauty therapist who can get access to drugs easily, as you or I could too in Thailand.
The cosmetic therapy business is badly regulated in many parts of the world, and Thailand is worse than most.
This guy sounds like he may do a good job, although at considerable cost. I had my acne fixed in my country by a board-certified dermatologist for less than that. The injections sound particularly dubious.
February 7th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I used average turn around times quoted by the doctor, because everyone is different. To compare that with a specific case seems a bit biased. Of the two specific cases I was involved with, one boy took about 6 weeks and the other about 3. A friend of mine was helping another boy who took much longer, but also had an extreme acne problem.
There is nothing dubious about the injections. In America at least, cortisone injection therapy is common practice.