Dr. Sanguan Kunaporn

Dr. Sanguan Kunaporn (Thai: นพ. สงวน คุณาพร) is a Phuket plastic surgeon and the Director of Phuket Plastic Surgery Institute (PPSI). The institute does not have a hospital building of its own: it sits inside Bangkok Hospital Siriroj and is administered by that hospital, which belongs to Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS). Bangkok Hospital Siriroj also carries a profile for him in its doctor directory, filed under plastic surgery at the PPSI centre, so whichever official listing you start from, it leads to the same hospital in Mueang Phuket. Our Phuket city guide covers the island itself.

The PPSI profile groups his surgical work under two headings:

• Gender-affirming surgery, male-to-female. This means feminising genital surgery, or vaginoplasty. PPSI's page on this surgery describes a penile inversion approach combined with a skin graft and names Dr. Sanguan as one of its surgeons for it. His own profile states that he continues to carry out male-to-female reassignment surgery.
• Aesthetic surgery of the breast. Enlargement, mastopexy or breast lift, reduction, and corrective operations that the profile describes as revision “of all kinds”, which our site files under breast implant revision.

Two further interests appear on that profile: challenging and complex cases, and teaching younger surgeons in PPSI's fellowship programme. On the society side, ThPRS, which represents plastic and reconstructive surgeons across Thailand, includes him among its online member entries, and the ISAPS surgeon finder (ISAPS is the international society for aesthetic plastic surgery) shows him as active at Bangkok Hospital Siriroj.

PPSI's other surgeons offer facial, body-contouring and female genital operations, but none of these appear on Dr. Sanguan's own profile, so we leave them off his page. If your question concerns genital gender-affirming surgery or an operation on the breasts, you can request a consultation with Dr. Sanguan Kunaporn; our patient team sends the request to PPSI and comes back to you with what the institute can offer.

Dr. Sanguan's training is recorded on two official profiles, and the dates they give are consistent with each other.

• Doctor of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, 1984. Source: his Bangkok Hospital Siriroj profile.
• Plastic surgery residency, Chulalongkorn University, 1991. Source: the same Bangkok Hospital Siriroj profile.
• Thai Board certification in plastic and reconstructive surgery, 1991. Source: his PPSI profile.

The PPSI profile also records that in 1991 the Department of Surgery at Chulalongkorn University recognised him as an outstanding resident in surgery. No fellowship, Thai or overseas, is mentioned on either profile, and none is assumed here. Put simply, he qualified in medicine and completed his plastic surgery residency at the same Bangkok university, and his first posts in Phuket date from 1991, the year of his board certificate.

His licence number, and checking it yourself. The licence number PPSI publishes for him, issued by the Medical Council of Thailand, is 12287, and his ThPRS member entry, posted in 2019, carries the same number. The licence can be looked up on the Medical Council of Thailand's public register at checkmd.tmc.or.th, and our patient team can help you confirm it before you travel. Until that check succeeds, 12287 should be read as the number PPSI and ThPRS publish, not a register-confirmed entry. A quick search of the register before you book travel is a sensible step with any Thai surgeon. For how facts on surgeon profiles are gathered, sourced and dated, see our research methodology.

Working in Phuket from 1991. The PPSI profile dates his first Phuket posts to 1991: plastic surgeon at Vachira Phuket General Hospital (to 1999) and at Phuket International Hospital (to 2006). On the Thai-language profile, that second hospital appears as Siriroj Hospital, Phuket, and PPSI's history describes Phuket International Hospital and Siriroj International Hospital as former names of what is now Bangkok Hospital Siriroj. In other words, he has worked at the same Mueang Phuket hospital, under its changing names, since the start of his career on the island. Between 2006 and 2015 he headed the Phuket International Aesthetic Center (PIAC) based there.

Directing PPSI. PPSI was formed by joining PIAC with a second centre, BPICS (Bangkok Phuket Institute of Cosmetic Surgery), which had been based at Bangkok Hospital Phuket; the institute dates its founding to 21 March 2016. Dr. Sanguan is named as its Director. His profile gives 2005 as the start of that directorship and lists him as founder of Phuket Plastic Surgery Center from 1991. Both dates are earlier than the institute's own founding year and appear to refer to the centres that came before it; we reproduce them as published rather than adjust them. PPSI also lists him on its RM Surgical Committee, the group that deals with surgical risk management.

Society and congress roles. Between his PPSI profile and the society history pages on thprs.org, the following are recorded:

• ThPRS: former Vice President, and a seat on the executive committee in charge of international relations (the society's page gives no term).
• ThSAPS (aesthetic plastic surgeons' society of Thailand): former Secretary General, a post the Thai profile renders as secretary.
• ISAPS, according to the ThSAPS history page: Thailand National Secretary 2010–2016; member of the Educational Council 2014–2016; member of the Membership Committee and the Patient Safety Committee 2016–2018; Course Director of the 1st ISAPS Symposium Vietnam in 2017.
• Meeting coordinator for two ISAPS symposia hosted by ThSAPS: one in 2014 alongside the 14th International Congress of OSAPS in Pattaya, and one in Bangkok in 2017 alongside the 18th ASEAN Congress of Plastic Surgery.
• Local chairperson in Phuket for the 6th APC-ICPRS in 1996 and for a Thailand–Singapore–Taiwan plastic surgery meeting in 2010.

The evidence for each membership differs. We found him ourselves on the ThPRS member register and in the ISAPS surgeon directory. ThSAPS publishes no list of members, so his ThSAPS membership is as stated on the PPSI profile only. Away from surgery, the profile also records a term as Rotary District Governor in 2013–14.

Published work. PubMed holds two records that give his PPSI and Bangkok Hospital Siriroj affiliation. He is one of the co-authors of “Free Jejunal Graft Vaginoplasty in Gender Affirmation Surgery: A Novel Technique” (Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2026) and the sole author of “Invited Discussion on: 360 Genital Fat Transfer” (Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2021).

Every operation in this section is tied to Dr. Sanguan by an official page that names him. Where we add information on recovery and risk, it is summarised from our own procedure guides and describes the operation in general. He sets your technique and timetable after examining you, and whether you are suitable for surgery at all is part of that assessment.

Male-to-female vaginoplasty at PPSI

PPSI's gender-affirming surgery page describes its standard method as inverting penile skin to line the new canal and adding a full-thickness skin graft during the same operation, and it lists Dr. Sanguan under its surgeons for male-to-female surgery. For that reason penile inversion vaginoplasty is the technique we can most directly connect to him. The same page says colon transposition is used when more depth is needed but does not say which surgeon performs it, so we have not linked him to colon vaginoplasty.

The institute also presents a “GRS Phuket Technique”, in which a free segment of jejunum (small bowel) is transplanted to form the lining of the neovagina. PPSI names Dr. Sanguan and his colleague Dr. Singto Siriwiroj as the surgeons behind it, and the 2026 paper he co-authored describes it. Since the paper's own title calls it a novel technique, it is fair to ask him which patients it is meant for, what taking a bowel segment involves, and how long the patients treated so far have been followed.

Seen in general terms, as our vaginoplasty guide sets out, this is major surgery. The ward stay is commonly about a week, the time in Thailand three to four weeks in all, and dilation carries on long after you go home to preserve the canal's depth and width. Many people are back at a desk job somewhere between six and eight weeks after surgery. Among the possible complications the guide lists are bleeding, infection, delayed wound healing, a spraying or narrowed urine stream, a canal that tightens or loses depth, changes in sensation and, in rare cases, an abnormal passage from the bowel into the neovagina, known as a rectovaginal fistula. For preparation, PPSI's own conditions for foreign patients are a GP's or psychologist's recommendation letter, a health check-up no more than three months before the operation, and a halt to hormone treatment ahead of surgery.

Breast augmentation

PPSI's profile states that Dr. Sanguan specialises in breast augmentation. Our guide explains that, in general, enlargement is done mostly with silicone or saline implants and occasionally with fat taken from elsewhere on the body, usually under general anaesthesia, and that overseas patients usually allow about 7–10 days in Thailand so the wounds can be checked before the flight. Implants have a limited lifespan, and a further operation at a later stage is common. Useful points to raise with him: the implant type, surface and size he suggests, where the pocket should sit, and which incision he would use: inframammary (beneath the breast), periareolar (along the areola's lower border) or transaxillary (through the armpit). Keep your implant card and details with your medical records.

Breast lift, with or without an implant

PPSI attributes to Dr. Sanguan a breast lift method it calls auto-augmentation, in which the lifted breast is given fullness from the patient's own glandular tissue rather than from an implant. A mastopexy in general tightens the skin envelope and moves the nipple and areola higher. Depending on how much lift is needed, the scar may circle the areola only, continue down the front of the breast, or also follow the fold beneath it. Our guide suggests allowing about 10–14 days in Thailand. Adding an implant to a lift makes the operation more complex and, in general, leads to more revisions than either procedure done alone, so ask him whether your own tissue is enough to reach the shape you want, and whether he would work in one stage or two.

Breast reduction

His profile names breast reduction among his four breast procedures. In general, a reduction removes glandular tissue, fat and excess skin, then reshapes and raises what remains. Larger reductions usually need an anchor-shaped scar that includes the breast fold, and scars fade gradually over 12–18 months. Our guide suggests planning around 10–14 days in Thailand. Breastfeeding may not be possible after a reduction, so tell him if a future pregnancy is part of your plans.

Breast revision surgery

The profile's phrase revision “of all kinds” covers corrective operations after earlier breast surgery, which we group under breast implant revision. Common reasons, which our augmentation guide lists among its possible complications, include a hardened capsule of scar around the implant (capsular contracture), a ruptured shell, visible rippling or uneven breasts; some people simply want different implants. A revision plan depends on what was done the first time, so your earlier operation records matter. PPSI separately offers breast implant removal; if you want implants out without new ones, ask whether Dr. Sanguan or another of the institute's surgeons would take the case.

At the consultation Dr. Sanguan examines you, tells you what he thinks can and cannot be achieved, and proposes a technique. Bringing written questions helps you keep track of his answers and weigh them against a second opinion if you seek one. The questions below follow the procedures on his profile.

Vaginoplasty questions

• For my anatomy, would you use penile inversion with a full-thickness graft, or the jejunal graft technique, and what decides it?
• What depth, appearance and sensation are realistic in my case?
• How much permanent hair removal should I finish first, and on which area? (Our vaginoplasty guide notes that this can take several months.)
• What form should the GP or psychologist letter take, where should the health check-up be done, and when do I stop and restart hormones?
• How long is the hospital stay, when does dilation begin, and what is the earliest day I could fly?
• If something worries me after I get home, who at PPSI should I tell, and how is the concern handled?

Breast surgery questions

• Is a lift, an implant, a combination or a reduction the right operation for me?
• Could an auto-augmentation lift using my own tissue give me the result I want?
• If an implant is needed, which type, surface, size and pocket do you suggest, and through which incision?
• Where will my scars be, and what scar care do you recommend?
• For revision: what went wrong after the first operation, and what can realistically change?
• Would you combine procedures in one operation or stage them?

Arrangements to confirm

• Will you personally perform the whole operation? PPSI says each patient receives one-to-one care from an anaesthesiologist; ask who yours will be.
• Which items does the price include (tests, nights in hospital, garments, follow-up visits, medicines), and which are billed separately?
• How would PPSI's surgical promise work for my operation? Under that policy, a problem or dissatisfaction raised within 12 months goes first to the operating surgeon. Complex cases pass to a review committee, which PPSI says includes a hospital risk-management doctor and no fewer than two senior plastic surgeons, and which decides case by case who is responsible for any corrective surgery.

PPSI can also produce Crisalix 3D simulations from your photos. These are a practical way to talk through size and shape with him, but the image is an example of what might be possible and not a forecast of your outcome.

The address. PPSI's contact page places it within Bangkok Hospital Siriroj; the street address is 44 Chalermprakiat Rama 9 Road, Phuket 83000. The hospital stands in Wichit, one of the subdistricts of Mueang Phuket. Most overseas patients arrive through Phuket International Airport (HKT) at the island's northern end, and our Phuket guide puts the domestic flight from Bangkok at roughly an hour and a half.

Accreditation of the host hospital. Joint Commission International (JCI) keeps a public directory of the organisations it accredits. Our look at it on 27 September 2026 found Bangkok Hospital Siriroj under the Hospital Program with accredited status since 15 December 2012, according to the listing, which shows no end date. That status belongs to the hospital; PPSI is not separately accredited as an organisation of its own. PPSI adds that its operating theatres use positive-pressure systems.

Language. Thai is the only language on Dr. Sanguan's Bangkok Hospital Siriroj profile, and neither official profile lists English for him. PPSI says its international coordinators work in English, Chinese and French, so if you need interpreting, ask for a coordinator to sit in on the consultation.

What PPSI publishes for overseas patients

• Transport: PPSI's own drivers and vehicles meet patients at the airport and run hotel-to-hospital trips. These are free once the procedure is above a certain value and charged otherwise. The threshold is inconsistent on PPSI's FAQ page, which says 100,000 baht in one place and 10,000 THB elsewhere; confirm the current figure with the coordinator.
• Accommodation: staff can recommend hotels.
• Remote consultation: after a video call, a PPSI plastic surgeon gives a surgical recommendation and a price.
• Aftercare: PPSI plans check-ins for month one, month three, month six and month twelve after surgery; if a complication appears after you have flown home, the coordinator arranges an online consultation.
• Payment: PPSI takes cash and credit cards, as well as Australian or other overseas bank deposits, and expects to be paid in full before you are admitted.
• Garments: PPSI does not supply compression garments or support bras but helps patients find them, so breast patients should budget for a support bra.

Length of stay. As general guidance, our procedure pages suggest the following. For breast augmentation it is about 7–10 days; for a lift or a reduction, 10–14 days; for vaginoplasty, three to four weeks. Dr. Sanguan confirms your own fit-to-fly date at your final check. Phuket's beaches are never far away, but swimming in the sea or a hotel pool normally has to wait until your surgeon is satisfied the wounds have closed, and new scars need protection from strong sun for several months.

Share medical information and photos with us only through the request form or this site's WhatsApp line, and send only what PPSI's team actually asks for. Having these details ready means the institute's first reply can address your case rather than ask for basics.

Useful for any procedure

• Which operation you are asking about and the change you are hoping for.
• Your possible travel window, and which you would prefer first: a video call, or a visit to PPSI in person.
• Your medical history: conditions, current medicines, allergies and earlier operations.

If you are asking about vaginoplasty

• Your hormone therapy: the medicines, doses if you know them, and when you began.
• The GP or psychologist recommendation letter PPSI asks overseas patients for; if you do not have one yet, say so and we will ask what PPSI will accept.
• Results of any recent health check-up. Because PPSI wants the check-up done within three months of surgery, ask whether to arrange it at home or after arrival in Phuket.
• Details of past genital operations (an orchiectomy, for instance) and your progress with hair removal.

If you are asking about augmentation, a lift or a reduction

• Your height and weight, your present bra size, and the cup size or shape you would like.
• Any plans for future pregnancy or breastfeeding, as these can change the operation he recommends.
• If you want a reduction, describe the physical problems it causes, for example neck, shoulder or back pain.
• Front and side photos of the chest, but only once PPSI's team asks for them; the same photos can be used for a Crisalix simulation.

If you are asking about revision

• The operation report from your previous surgery, with the date and the name of the hospital.
• Implant details from your implant card: manufacturer, size, type and lot numbers.
• Any scan or imaging reports, plus a brief note of what has changed and when you first noticed it.