Medical vacations

First class...

... the way flying was meant to be!

Our flight from Bangkok to Phuket was just great. Somehow when we bought our tickets on Thai Air, I missed that they were first-class tickets -- they were cheaper than any of the other tickets we were seeing, so we bought them. We got on the plane, showed the flight attendant our ticket and she pointed that we needed to hang a left into first class. Uh, ok. So we flew first class in a Boeing 777 -- you can see the pictures of us below. I know we should “act like we’ve been there,” you know, act like we were used to flying first class, but these seats were too sweet to not take pictures of. If only wish we could be able to work first-class tickets on our flight back to the States… The girls enjoyed all of their space to play/color in first class, so I (Tim) took the chance to read the newspaper.

After reading about Microsoft's bid for Yahoo, I read an interesting article in the business section about “medical vacations.” Medical vacations are trips people take to beautiful areas of the world, but where medical care is relatively inexpensive, so the “vacation” is paid for by the difference in price of the medical procedures. The most popular procedures are laser-related since they’re close to “dummy proof” – the procedures are performed by the same “smart” equipment as in the U.S. or in Europe, but the labor is much less expensive and that’s where the savings is. The most popular procedures for medical vacations are laser eye surgery, dental work (teeth whitening, porcelain caps, etc) and laser hair removal.

The article mentioned that Thailand was one of the most popular destinations for those procedures. We arrived in Phuket and we were blown away by the number of clinics we saw in the taxi ride to our hotel that offered these various services. I had mentioned to Morgan a couple of weeks ago after taking a picture with Adayla and Tally how I wished my teeth were white like they used to be, how I can tell how non-white (ok, yellow) my teeth had become in pictures next to them. So I thought I’d inform myself about teeth whitening procedures in Phuket. I didn’t want to do a procedure unless it was an accepted method back in the States. I found a procedure called Zoom! that is featured on the TV show Extreme Makeover. It is a popular method, seemed “relatively non-harmful” to teeth, and I figured if the TV show picked it, it must either mean that it’s a good procedure and/or the company has money to buy the promotion on the TV show. The other things I read supported that Zoom! was indeed a very good procedure, so I Googled and found a Zoom! office in Phuket. The average cost of the Zoom! procedure in the States is $1000+, here in Phuket it’s $300. I went ahead and had it done, and we’ve included before and after pics for you to see. I have to say that I’m happy with the results. My fear was that my teeth would either be uneven in color or blotchy, or become unnaturally white. Fortunately neither happened, they turned out just right. I’m writing this not to tell people that I got my teeth whitened, I’m mean really, who cares? I’m writing to let friends know of some other options when they may need/want to do some of these things. For example, if someone back in the States wanted to have this procedure done, they could apply the difference, $700+ in this case, to airfare and hotel expenses and have a great time in Phuket, while getting the same procedure done. We have two American friends back in Shanghai who have had their eyes “lasered” in Shanghai because it is half the price of the same procedure back in the States. Who says doctors and dentists can’t be outsourced? It’s a global economy, and every occupation needs to face that reality – but that’s a different topic for another day. I’ve done my blogging for the day while my girls have slept, now it’s time to go out and have some more fun here! Here are the pics…

before...

...and after