by Dr. Iain
Corness
The plastic and cosmetic surgeon at the Bangkok-Pattaya
Hospital is a slightly built man with long and artistic fingers. This is
very apt for a man who has shaped the appearances of many people over the
past decade. In his outpatients office there was more evidence of his
craft - a full-length mirror on the back of the door, and a hand mirror on
the desk. This is a man who deals in appearances!
Dr. Kampanart was born in Petchabun. His father was a
Chinese immigrant, working as a trader, who married a Thai lady, and
between them they had five children, with Dr. Kampanart being the
youngest. His schooling was originally in Petchabun, but later he went to
school in Bangkok when it became obvious that he was a clever and
dedicated student. He finished top of his class, excelling at mathematics
and science.
With that scholastic result to build on, he chose his
future career to be one in medicine, even though he also had a leaning
towards engineering. “I felt I should strive for one of the top
professions, but one of my elder brothers was a doctor, so that influenced
me as well.”
He went to Chulalongkorn University to begin his 6-year
course of medical studies. He was no bookworm, however, continuing his
school days interest in all sports and even represented Chulalongkorn
University in badminton, a sport he still plays today.
When young doctors graduate, most have not decided on
their final direction within the medical field, but develop the interest
in a specialty later in their career. So it was for Dr. Kampanart, who
went to work in the government hospital in Chumpon for the next five
years. He chose Chumpon, as after six years in the nation’s capital he
had a yearning for the sea and sunshine. “Bangkok is the best place for
learning, but not for living.”
In the hospital in Chumpon, gradually he began leaning
first towards general surgery and then became interested in reconstructive
surgery. He did indicate that the hospital used to receive much road
trauma cases, especially motorcycle riders, as helmets were never worn.
This gave him ample opportunity to see the reconstructive surgery that was
required. Lots!
Specialization in medicine is even more exacting than
the primary degree, and having decided on plastic and reconstructive
surgery as being his field, he returned to Chulalongkorn University for
another three years of intensive study, graduating with the specialist
diploma from the Thai Board of Plastic Surgery.
Then he returned to Chumpon, to continue the work in
which he had first shown an interest. He became very well known in the
region for his work with facial reconstructions, as ever the result of the
carnage on the roads and the lack of facial protection. During the next
ten years in Chumpon, his on-going work required him to encompass the new
techniques in cosmetic, as well as reconstructive surgery, with Dr.
Kampanart taking himself off to many training courses and seminars on the
specialty in both America and Japan. “I enjoy designing and producing
cosmetic results. It is a challenge,” he said quietly, and it was
obvious from his hand movements just how he saw this as an art.
During those ten Chumpon years, Dr. Kampanart continued
to develop his own surgical interests as well, and found himself becoming
more and more involved in the cosmetic aspect. The overseas training in
the new techniques eventually meant that he had to leave Chumpon, so that
he could pursue this type of surgery even more, there not being enough
patients wanting cosmetic surgery in the southern province. This prompted
an interest in Pattaya. “There was more work for me here. The cosmetic
surgery market is going up, and overseas groups are looking at combining
holidays and cosmetic surgery.”
The most common operations he performs are quite
different between the Thai residents and the foreigners, both tourists or
residents. This is related to how the two groups see different needs. The
Thais want a ‘farang style’ nose and after that a breast augmentation,
while the foreigners are more into body sculpturing with liposuction and
other cosmetic surgical techniques. There is also a difference in the skin
types between the two groups, with the Thais healing much more quickly, a
fact produced by the different type of collagen possessed by the local
people.
One reason that Dr. Kampanart enjoys his cosmetic work
is the response from the patients themselves. “You can see just how much
they enjoy the final result. Women become more confident when they are
happy with how they look,” he said.
Dr. Kampanart is married and has three children aged
13, 9 and 7. I asked him if he hoped that one of them might follow in the
family footsteps, but he replied, “I wouldn’t force any of them to be
a doctor. It is important to let them choose their own direction in
life.”
As regards personal ambition, he comes across as a very
contented man. “What I have for me is enough. My ambitions are only for
my children.” I then asked him if he would contemplate having cosmetic
surgery done on himself, a face-lift perhaps? “I don’t socialize too
much, so I don’t think so - but maybe I would get my eyelids done,” he
said as an afterthought.
Dr. Kampanart is undoubtedly a successful man who has found his own
niche and is comfortable in it. I spoke to one of his patients who
confirmed his gentle caring nature and said that her lasting memory of her
cosmetic surgery was just Dr. Kampanart saying, “Don’t worry,
everything will be alright,” and it was.
