Dr. Chokchai Amornsawadwattana

Dr. Chokchai Amornsawadwattana (Thai: นพ.โชคชัย อมรสวัสดิ์วัฒนา) practises plastic surgery at Yanhee International Hospital, which is privately run and sits in Bangkok's Bang Phlat district, with its address on Charansanitwong Road. On Yanhee's English doctor page his title is simply Plastic Surgeon, with Thai and English given as the languages he speaks. The Thai version of that page goes further and files him under four of the hospital's centres: plastic surgery, the transgender centre, breast reconstruction, and a centre set up to correct cosmetic operations that patients were unhappy with after having them at another clinic.

The most precisely worded role Yanhee gives him is at its Pride Center, the hospital's service for gender-affirming surgery. The centre's team page lists him on both of its teams. For trans women (MTF) he appears as “Plastic Surgeon | Expert in Breast Augmentation”; for trans men (FTM) as “Plastic Surgeon | Expert in Top Surgery (Mastectomy)”. Those labels are Yanhee's wording, not a judgement of ours. In practice they tie him to top surgery (chest masculinization) and to gender-affirming breast augmentation, which makes the chest the common thread of his gender-affirming work.

For cosmetic surgery there are two separate official sources. His Thai profile has a short list of treatment experience: breast removal, breast augmentation and breast lift, nose augmentation, liposuction, and facelift with neck lift. Yanhee's English service pages then add him to their lists of surgeons for rhinoplasty, augmentation rhinoplasty (implant or rib cartilage), chin augmentation, facial feminization surgery, Adam's apple shaving, buttock implants and thigh lift. Put together, 14 procedures on our site each rest on at least one Yanhee page that names him, and each has its own part in the practice-areas section below.

His medical degree is from Mahidol University, followed by Thai specialist diplomas first in surgery and then in plastic surgery, and in 2012 an honorary placement in head, neck and breast reconstruction at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia. Four professional bodies list him in their own records, starting with the Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons of Thailand, known as ThPRS, through a member page, ISAPS in its surgeon directory for Thailand, the member search of the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand, and, in a directory now offline but kept by the Internet Archive, the Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons of Thailand, known as ThSAPS.

If you would like to see him, send a consultation request for Dr. Chokchai to our patient team. We forward it to Yanhee, and nothing is booked until the hospital agrees a date and we let you know.

Yanhee's Thai-language profile sets out Dr. Chokchai's qualifications in this sequence:

• Doctor of Medicine, Mahidol University, 1996. The Thai wording is แพทยศาสตรบัณฑิต, dated B.E. 2539 in the Buddhist calendar.
• Diploma in surgery, 2004. Specialist certification in Thailand, recorded as วุฒิบัตร, in the field of surgery (ศัลยศาสตร์).
• Diploma in plastic surgery, 2006. A second วุฒิบัตร, in plastic surgery (ศัลยกรรมตกแต่ง). The profile does not say which body issued either diploma.
• Royal Melbourne Hospital, 2012. Honorary specialty training in head, neck and breast reconstruction in Melbourne, Victoria, which the profile links to a Weary Dunlop-Boonpong scholarship.

The sequence is that of a surgeon who completed general surgical training first and plastic surgery two years after it. His membership dates line up with this: Yanhee's English profile places his Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand membership in 2004, ThPRS in 2006 and ThSAPS in 2008. The Melbourne placement, focused partly on breast reconstruction, also matches his listing in Yanhee's breast reconstruction centre and his Pride Center role in chest surgery.

Why the English profile shows a different degree. Yanhee's English page records his medical degree as coming from another Thai university in 2005. That cannot be right as it stands: a 2005 medical degree would post-date his 2004 surgical diploma, and the same English page puts his Royal College of Surgeons membership in 2004. We therefore use the Mahidol University entry from the Thai profile, which is consistent with every other date we have. A lookup in the Medical Council's own register could settle it, but that site refused our request when we tried. If you need this settled before deciding, ask our patient team to raise it with Yanhee.

Publications. A PubMed search found nothing under his name. The papers indexed under the surname Amornsawadwattana are by a different doctor, a gastroenterologist.

The steps behind each check on this page (degree, diplomas, society lists and licence) are described in our provider research methodology.

Plastic surgeon at Yanhee International Hospital. Yanhee lists Dr. Chokchai among its current plastic surgeons. Neither profile says when he joined, and no official page we found places him at a second hospital today, so this profile shows Yanhee as his only place of practice.

One of the Pride Center's surgeons. When Yanhee announced the Pride Center in an English news item in May 2025, it named him in the centre's medical team, spelling the surname “Amornsawatwattana”. The team page splits transition surgery between specialists. His two roles cover the chest. Gender reassignment surgery for trans women (MTF) is assigned to Dr. Worapon Ratanalert and for trans men (FTM) to Dr. Sukit Warathamrong; facial feminization goes to Dr. Suthat Koonnawarote; voice change to the ENT specialist Dr. Ornouma Sriwanishvipat; and hysterectomy to the cosmetic gynaecologist Dr. Boonchai Thanyalakpark. So for a trans man planning several stages at Yanhee, Dr. Chokchai is the surgeon attached to the first, chest stage. Beyond surgery, the Pride Center says it provides psychiatric consultation and hormone therapy, and it names surgical planning and aftercare as part of its work too.

Talks recorded by Yanhee. Two official Yanhee news items name him as a speaker. In 2020 he presented at a Yanhee seminar for people considering transition (ก้าวสู่ทรานสอย่างมั่นใจ), speaking about mastectomy for trans men. His second recorded talk came on 26 August 2025, when the Ramathibodi Annual Symposium of Plastic Surgery, in its 19th edition (RASP 2025), had him speak about how the perineal area is prepared before a new phallus is constructed. That was the subject of a talk: none of Yanhee's pages lists him as a surgeon who performs phalloplasty.

Professional memberships. We keep two lists apart: bodies whose own records show him, and bodies that only Yanhee's profile mentions.

Confirmed in the organisation's own records:

• ThPRS, the national plastic and reconstructive surgery society: the society's website has a member page for him, which also shows his licence number. Yanhee's English profile says he joined in 2006.
• ThSAPS, the aesthetic plastic surgery society: his entry sat in the society's surgeon directory at surgery.or.th. That site no longer resolves, so we checked an Internet Archive capture from 2019 that shows his record with Yanhee Hospital. Yanhee gives 2008 as his joining year.
• Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand: a search of the College's members returns him, with surgery as his field. Yanhee dates the membership to 2004.
• ISAPS (International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery): its online surgeon finder, filtered to Thailand, returns his name with Yanhee Hospital given as his practice.

Mentioned on Yanhee's Thai profile only, not yet seen on the bodies' own lists: the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the Rhinoplasty Society of Asia, the Medical Council of Thailand, the Association of General Surgeons of Thailand, and three Thai groups named only in Thai that deal with wound healing, vascular disease and burns.

For every procedure in this section, at least one Yanhee source names Dr. Chokchai: his Thai profile's list of treatment experience, the Pride Center team page, or an English service page with his name under “These plastic surgeons at Yanhee perform…”. The general notes come from our procedure guides; they explain each operation as it is usually done and say nothing about his personal outcomes. Suitability for any of them depends on an examination and a medical assessment. A practical point for every procedure: Yanhee's English service pages say the operating surgeon is only fixed at the consultation stage. Anyone set on Dr. Chokchai, rather than whichever Yanhee surgeon has time, should say so in the request.

Top surgery (chest masculinization) for trans men

Of all his procedures, this one has the most official sources behind it. As well as the Pride Center's FTM listing, Yanhee's Thai page on the first stage of female-to-male surgery credits him with mastectomy cases it labels “U-scar” and “I-scar”, and breast removal appears in his Thai treatment experience. Yanhee organises FTM surgery in stages: the chest comes first, then hysterectomy and oophorectomy, and finally phalloplasty or metoidioplasty.

In general, top surgery takes away breast tissue and excess skin, resizes or repositions the nipples and shapes a flatter chest, often with liposuction along the sides. Our guide sets out three main approaches. Double incision with free nipple grafts is generally used for medium and larger chests, while the periareolar and keyhole methods are reserved for smaller chests with firm skin and may carry higher revision rates. Yanhee's U-scar and I-scar labels are not the terms our guide uses, so ask Dr. Chokchai to mark on your own chest where the scars would run and how the nipples would be managed. Possible complications include bleeding, fluid collections, infection, loss of nipple grafts and changes in sensation. Our guide says international patients commonly stay 10–14 days, which allows drains to come out and the nipples to be checked before the flight home. WPATH SOC-8, which many surgeons follow, does not require testosterone before chest masculinization, although an assessment confirming the decision and your fitness for surgery is usually needed; the Pride Center may have its own requirements, so ask what it expects from you.

Breast augmentation for trans women

The Pride Center's MTF team names Dr. Chokchai for breast augmentation, and Yanhee's male-to-female overview lists breast augmentation among the MTF operations it offers. Our own guide to gender-affirming breast augmentation is not finished yet; for now it suggests 7–10 days in Thailand. Until it is complete, the sections on implant types, incisions, placement and long-term follow-up in our breast augmentation guide are the closest reference. The Pride Center also runs hormone therapy and psychiatric consultations, so ask whether it wants you seen by either service first, and how the breast growth you already have from hormones would shape the implant size and pocket he proposes.

Breast augmentation and breast lift

On his Thai profile, enlarging the breasts (เสริมหน้าอก) and lifting or tightening them (กระชับหน้าอก) appear side by side, but they do different jobs. Breast augmentation makes the breasts larger, using either an implant or a transfer of your own fat; it cannot raise a breast that has dropped. Our breast lift guide explains that a lift is usually needed once the nipple has settled at or below the crease beneath the breast, and that a lift and an implant can be done in one operation or in stages. Doing both together is more complex and more often needs revision than either on its own. An implant is a device with a finite life: at some point it may need replacing or removing. Our guide also flags BIA-ALCL, an uncommon lymphoma linked mainly to textured implant surfaces, so ask Dr. Chokchai which implant surface he recommends for you and why. For planning, our guides suggest about 7–10 days in Thailand after augmentation and 10–14 days after a lift. Before you fly home, collect the implant card that records the brand, size, type and lot numbers.

Nose augmentation and rhinoplasty

Nose augmentation (เสริมจมูก) is in his Thai treatment experience, and Yanhee's English pages name him in three more places: among the augmentation rhinoplasty surgeons on both the nose implant page and the rib-cartilage page, and among the rhinoplasty surgeons on the nose reshaping page. According to Yanhee's nose implant page, the options there include three synthetic implant materials (silicone, Gore-Tex and Medpor) as well as cartilage harvested from your own ear or rib. His Thai profile also mentions membership of the Rhinoplasty Society of Asia, which we have not seen confirmed by the society.

In general, patients in Thailand come with one of two aims: raising a low bridge or giving the tip more projection (Asian or augmentation rhinoplasty), or reducing and refining the nose (rhinoplasty). Synthetic implants and rib cartilage differ in texture under the skin, in their risk of infection and in their stability over the years, and our guide notes that implants occasionally shift, become infected or work their way out and have to be removed. Ask Dr. Chokchai to explain the material he favours for your nose, and the reasons behind that choice. Our rhinoplasty guide suggests 7–10 days in Thailand, which normally covers removal of the external splint and a check-up. Much of the visible swelling subsides within 2–3 weeks, but the tip keeps settling for 12 months or longer. Our Asian rhinoplasty guide is still being written.

Chin augmentation

Yanhee's page on chin advancement and chin implants lists him among the surgeons who perform chin augmentation. Our chin augmentation guide is not finished yet and currently suggests 5–7 days in Thailand. Yanhee's page covers both an implant and moving the chin bone forward, so ask Dr. Chokchai which he would advise for your profile, and whether he would plan any nose work in the same operation.

Facelift and neck lift

The Thai profile lists two related operations here: ดึงหน้า (facelift) and ดึงคอ (neck lift). The target of a facelift is the lower face and jawline, where deeper tissue is tightened and repositioned and loose skin is trimmed. It leaves the brow area, the eyelids and fine lines on the skin's surface unchanged, which is why brow, eyelid or skin treatments are sometimes added. A neck lift tightens slack skin and visible muscle bands in the neck and is frequently paired with a facelift. Our guide describes SMAS, deep plane and mini variants; ask Dr. Chokchai which one he would use on your face and what makes it the right fit. Bleeding under the skin (a haematoma) is the complication our guide lists as the most common serious one, and it may need draining. Smokers are more prone to wound-healing problems, so stopping nicotine well before and after surgery matters. Our facelift and neck lift guides both suggest 10–14 days in Thailand, enough time for stitches to be removed in stages and the wounds to be reviewed.

Facial feminization surgery and Adam's apple reduction

Yanhee's facial feminization surgery page and its Adam's apple shaving page both place him among the surgeons who perform them. The Pride Center, however, names Dr. Suthat Koonnawarote for facial feminization, so ask which parts of a facial plan Dr. Chokchai would carry out himself and which a colleague would. In general, facial feminization surgery is a group of operations on features such as the brow ridge, hairline, nose, jaw and chin, often planned with a CT scan; very long combined operations raise the risk, so some surgeons stage them. Our guide says international patients commonly stay 10–14 days. A tracheal shave reduces the Adam's apple and can be planned by itself or as part of a wider facial plan; that guide is still in progress and for now suggests 5–7 days in Thailand.

Liposuction

ดูดไขมัน (liposuction) is in his Thai treatment experience, and Yanhee's own liposuction page names the two methods the hospital uses: tumescent liposuction and Vaser, which loosens fat with ultrasound first. Liposuction is for contouring areas where fat resists diet and exercise. It does not bring your weight down in any meaningful way, and loose skin stays loose afterwards. Our guide warns that taking a large volume in a single session makes fluid shifts, bleeding and clots more likely. Plan on wearing compression for several weeks and to see the final shape emerge over 3–6 months as the swelling goes down. For time in Thailand, our guide suggests about 7–10 days, more if the treatment is extensive or combined with other surgery. Ask Dr. Chokchai how much he would remove at once and what he advises to prevent clots on the long flight home.

Buttock implants and thigh lift

Yanhee's buttock augmentation page and its thigh lift page both include him among the surgeons for those operations. Our guides to buttock implants and thigh lift are still being written; the buttock implants guide does not yet give a typical stay, and the thigh lift guide suggests 10–14 days. In general, a thigh lift is for excess skin on the thighs, something liposuction alone cannot tighten. For buttock implants, ask what type of implant he uses and in which layer it sits, which positions you must avoid while healing and for how long, and what would happen if the implant ever had to be replaced or taken out.

Gaps in his official pages

• Genital surgery. The Pride Center page counts him among the doctors available for gender affirmation surgery, yet no Yanhee page says he performs vaginoplasty, phalloplasty or metoidioplasty. Those operations are assigned to Dr. Worapon (MTF) and Dr. Sukit (FTM).
• Eyelid surgery. It is missing from both of his profiles, and Yanhee's eyelid surgery page does not include him in its list of surgeons.
• Which corrections. The Thai profile puts him in Yanhee's centre for fixing unsatisfactory surgery done elsewhere but does not specify which operations he corrects. When you are asking about a correction, explain what was done, where and when.
• Case numbers and years. Both of his Yanhee profiles quote case numbers and years of experience. Nothing outside Yanhee backs those numbers up, so we have not reproduced them. If his experience with your operation matters to you, put the question to him at consultation.

You can begin with an online consultation or see Dr. Chokchai in person at Yanhee in Bang Phlat. A plan drawn up from photos is only an outline: in general, a surgeon settles the details after examining you in Bangkok, so any remote plan or quote should be treated as provisional. Before you travel, you can send details for Yanhee's free online pre-assessment, which an international coordinator looks over.

On clinic days, his English profile says he sees patients from 10:00 to 17:00 on Sundays and from Tuesday to Saturday. Mondays are off, and so are the first, third and fifth Saturdays of each month. Timetables change, so the actual date is always confirmed through our team with the hospital.

Questions for any procedure

• Will you personally perform every part of the operation, and who will give the anaesthetic?
• What does Yanhee's package include (surgeon's fee, medicines, room, nursing, operating theatre), and what would a revision cost?
• How many days after surgery should I stay in Bangkok, and when can I fly?
• How is follow-up handled by email and photos once I am home?

Top surgery

• Which incision pattern would you use on my chest, and why?
• Will my nipples be grafted, and how will you decide their size and position?
• Will I have drains, and how long should I wear a binder?
• What does the Pride Center need from me before surgery, and how does chest surgery fit with a later hysterectomy at Yanhee?

Breast augmentation or breast lift, cosmetic or gender-affirming

• Which implant would you pick for me (silicone or saline filling, a round or teardrop shape, a smooth or textured shell), and why?
• Which incision, and which placement (in front of the muscle or partly behind it), would suit me?
• Do I also need a lift, and would you do it in one stage or two?
• How should I monitor the implants over the years, and which symptoms should send me to a doctor?

Nose and chin

• An implant or my own ear or rib cartilage: which do you recommend for my nose, and why?
• An open or a closed approach?
• Should the chin be treated at the same time?
• After earlier nose surgery, what would a revision involve in my case?

Facelift, neck lift and facial feminization

• Which facelift technique (SMAS, deep plane or mini) do you use, and why for me?
• What steps do you take against a haematoma, and how many weeks before surgery should I give up smoking?
• For FFS or a tracheal shave, which parts would you do, which would another Yanhee surgeon do, and do I need a CT scan?

Liposuction, buttock implants and thigh lift

• How many areas would you treat in a single operation, and where would you stop for safety?
• Tumescent or Vaser liposuction: does it matter for my areas?
• How long will I wear compression, and what should I do to lower the risk of clots on the flight home?

Every official record of Dr. Chokchai points to a single workplace, Yanhee International Hospital. Give a taxi driver or hotel this address: 454 Charansanitwong Road (Soi 90), Bang-O sub-district, Bang Phlat, Bangkok 10700. Yanhee traces its start to 1984, when it opened as an outpatient polyclinic, and today states a capacity of 400 beds. Joint Commission International's own directory shows the hospital as accredited under JCI's Hospital Program, and the JCI certificate that Yanhee displays on its website is valid from 13 March 2026 until 12 March 2029.

Support for overseas patients falls into three stages, as the hospital describes it.

Before you travel. Yanhee reviews a free online pre-assessment, handled by an international coordinator. For a fee, Yanhee's staff can organise car transfers linking the airport, your accommodation and Yanhee. If you book accommodation inside a Yanhee package, its partner hotels offer reduced rates.

On arrival and during your stay. International patients register at a dedicated first-floor counter. From arrival, an interpreter goes with you through registration and from one department to the next; Yanhee states that interpretation carries no extra charge. English-speaking coordinators and staff are stationed at strategic points in the building. Inpatients get a daily visit from the international liaison team, and the hospital can help with a visa extension if treatment keeps you in Thailand longer than planned.

Paying, leaving and follow-up. Bills can be settled in cash (major currencies are accepted), by credit or debit card, or by transfer from your bank. Your discharge paperwork should include three documents: a medical certificate, a certificate saying you are fit to fly, and a summary of your stay and treatment. Once you are home, follow-up is handled by email, with photo updates passed on to the doctor.

On cost, Yanhee says that for most cosmetic operations its package price normally covers the surgeon's fee, medicines, the room, nursing, meals and the operating theatre. Get Dr. Chokchai's package in writing before you book flights, and ask what it does not cover.

Language should not be a barrier for English speakers: Yanhee's profile gives Thai and English for Dr. Chokchai. Interpreters are available, according to the hospital, for whichever languages its overseas patients most often need, yet English is the only one it names, so check before travelling if you need a different language.

For booking flights and a hotel near the hospital, these are the typical times in Thailand given in our procedure guides: 10–14 days for top surgery, a breast lift, a facelift or neck lift, a thigh lift and facial feminization surgery; 7–10 days for breast augmentation (cosmetic or gender-affirming), rhinoplasty and liposuction; 5–7 days for chin augmentation and a tracheal shave. Several operations on one trip can extend this. It is Dr. Chokchai, not a guide, who decides when you are well enough to fly, so choose a ticket you can change without heavy penalties.

Three details are enough for a first message: which operation, roughly when you could travel, and whether you would rather talk online or meet at Yanhee. The items below become useful once Yanhee's team asks for them, and having them ready makes your first conversation with Dr. Chokchai more productive.

For every procedure

• any long-term illness, the medicines and supplements you take (particularly blood thinners or anything else that affects bleeding) and any allergies
• smoking, vaping or other nicotine use
• earlier surgery, with the operation notes if it was on the same area
• a written list of your questions

Top surgery

• your hormone history, if any: which testosterone preparation, the dose and when you started
• any assessment or support letter you already hold, and what the Pride Center has asked you for
• any earlier chest surgery, and whether you are also planning a hysterectomy or later stages at Yanhee
• photos of your chest from the front and each side, only if the team asks

Breast augmentation, gender-affirming breast augmentation or breast lift

• the bra size you wear now and the size or shape you would like; a few reference pictures help
• for gender-affirming augmentation, how long you have taken oestrogen and your current dose
• details of any existing implants: your implant card, the date and where the surgery was done
• recent breast ultrasound or mammogram reports, if you have them
• whether you plan a pregnancy or breastfeeding, since surgery can affect breastfeeding in some cases

Nose and chin

• if requested, nose photos taken straight on, in profile and from underneath, in soft even light
• any earlier nose surgery, injury, filler or implant, and any breathing problems or allergies

Facelift, neck lift or facial feminization

• front and both side photos, if asked
• earlier facial surgery, fillers or threads
• a CT scan of the face, if you already have one

Liposuction, buttock implants or thigh lift

• which parts of the body you want changed, plus your height, current weight and any large recent weight changes
• any previous body-contouring surgery

Keep medical information and pictures within our booking form or our WhatsApp line; please do not post them anywhere else.