Rezum Water Vapour Therapy in Thailand Your guide to cost, top specialists & hospitals

Rezum is offered by the larger Bangkok hospitals with established urology departments rather than being available everywhere. Those centres also hold the equipment for resection and laser surgery, which matters, because a department that offers the full range has less reason to steer you towards the treatment it happens to own.

Our partner urologists are board-certified, and many hold subspecialty training in endourology. For a device treatment like this, ask how many cases they have done rather than how long they have been a urologist, and ask what their threshold is for recommending surgery instead.

The single best sign is a urologist who tells you when you are not a good candidate. Prostate size, the presence of a middle lobe and how well your bladder empties should all be discussed before a date is offered. A department that measures first and books second is one worth using.

A stronger and more continuous stream, fewer night-time trips, and less urgency during the day. Most men who respond well describe it as getting back several years of function rather than returning to how things were at thirty. Some men gain a great deal, some gain modestly, and a minority gain too little to be worth it. Results vary, and no honest account of this treatment says otherwise.

For many men the improvement holds for years. The prostate is not removed, however, and benign enlargement is a progressive condition, so symptoms can return over time and a proportion of men go on to have a resection or laser procedure later. Stopping daily prostate medication is often part of the benefit, and whether you can is a decision for your own doctor once the result has settled.

The figure above is our partner hospital's published fly-in package rate for water vapour therapy, quoted in Thai baht and valid to 31 December 2026. It covers the treatment and one night in hospital. This is one hospital's published price, not a Thai market rate, and other Thai hospitals price the same treatment differently.

The package excludes pre-operative medical clearance, specialist consultant fees, laboratory and imaging work, pathology and pathologist charges, medication for other conditions you already take, and intensive care beyond the night stated. For this treatment the practical ones are the prostate ultrasound and PSA that decide whether you are suitable at all. Ask us for those figures in writing alongside the package. Flights, accommodation and travel insurance sit outside entirely.

Less than you might assume, and it is fairer to say so. Rezum is a short treatment rather than a major operation, so the price gap between Thailand and private care in the UK or Australia is narrow, and in some markets there is barely a gap at all. Against United States private pricing the difference is more meaningful. For most men the reasons to have it here are a fixed price agreed in advance, no waiting list, and combining it with other care rather than a headline discount.

The package price does not change with prostate size or the number of steam injections used. What changes a real bill is the workup, the ultrasound, PSA, flow studies and any additional consultant input, together with anything needed for other medical conditions you have. If the assessment concludes that steam is not the right treatment for your prostate, the cost of that assessment still stands, which is a reason to send existing results ahead.

Almost everyone starts with medication, and it is right that they do. Alpha blockers ease the flow within days and finasteride or dutasteride shrink the gland over months, and between them they control symptoms well for a great many men. The reasons men look further are usually one of two. Either the tablets have stopped holding the symptoms, or the side effects have become the problem, with dizziness, tiredness and loss of ejaculation the ones most often cited. Neither reason means an operation is the automatic next step.

At the other end, prostate surgery removes the obstructing tissue outright, whether by resection with an electrical loop or by laser. It produces the biggest, quickest and most durable improvement in flow, and it is the correct answer where the prostate is very large, where the bladder is no longer emptying, or where retention and infections have already started. The price is a real chance of retrograde ejaculation, where semen passes back into the bladder, and a longer recovery than steam involves.

Rezum sits deliberately between the two. Compared with tablets it does something structural rather than managing symptoms, and it stops the daily medication. Compared with surgery it is gentler, preserves ejaculation in the great majority of men, and can often be done without stopping blood thinners. What it gives up is size and speed of effect. The improvement is more modest than surgery delivers, it takes two to three months to arrive, and a proportion of men come back for a further procedure years later³. If normal ejaculation matters to you and your prostate is within the right size range, that is a trade many men make willingly. If your bladder is already failing to empty, it is usually the wrong trade.

Plan on seven to ten days in Thailand so the catheter can come out and be checked before you leave. Flying with a catheter in place is possible but genuinely awkward on a long-haul flight, and it is better avoided if the schedule allows. Once the catheter is out and you are passing urine normally, flying is straightforward. Drink water and walk the cabin as you would after any procedure.

Most men are back to desk work within a few days of the catheter coming out, and many manage light duties before then. Avoid cycling, heavy lifting and vigorous exercise for two weeks, since the prostate is inflamed and bleeding is more likely. Driving is fine once you are off sedating medication and comfortable, which is usually the day after treatment.

Around three months. Some men notice a change in the second or third week, but the treated tissue is absorbed gradually and flow keeps improving well beyond the first month. Symptoms can be worse than baseline for the first fortnight. Judge the result at three months with a repeat symptom score, not at three weeks on impression.

Rezum is done under sedation or a light general anaesthetic, so you are either deeply relaxed and unaware or fully asleep for the few minutes the treatment takes. Some centres offer it under local anaesthetic with a prostatic block, though most patients travelling from abroad prefer sedation, and it is what the package assumes. A consultant anaesthetist is present throughout and monitors your breathing, heart and blood pressure, which is standard at the accredited hospitals we work with.

The pre-treatment assessment is lighter than for an operation but not skipped. Expect blood tests, a PSA result reviewed properly, a prostate ultrasound to measure the gland, and a review of your medications. One practical advantage of steam over surgery is that blood thinners often do not need the same pause window, though whether yours can continue is a decision for your urologist and the doctor who prescribes them, not an assumption to make in advance.

You feel nothing during the treatment. Afterwards the sensations are burning, urgency and a feeling of pressure rather than pain, made more noticeable by the catheter. Simple painkillers are usually enough, and an anticholinergic medicine can be added if bladder spasms are troublesome. Tell the nursing team if the catheter itself is causing pain rather than nuisance, since that is worth checking rather than tolerating.

Our partner hospitals are JCI-accredited with dedicated urology departments and the equipment and consumables come from the same manufacturer used everywhere else. Rezum has been assessed by NICE in the UK, which published guidance on its use for lower urinary tract symptoms caused by benign prostate enlargement¹. The variables that matter are the urologist's experience with the device and honest patient selection.

Have your prostate measured and your PSA reviewed before you commit to travel, because suitability is decided by those two results more than by anything else. Be candid about how much your bladder is or is not emptying. Ask directly whether your prostate size and shape are within the range where this treatment works well, and be prepared for the answer to be no.

If flow has not improved adequately by three months, or if symptoms return after some years, the usual next step is a resection or laser procedure. This is not a rare outcome and it is not a failure of the treatment, it is the recognised trade for a gentler procedure that preserves ejaculation. Having steam first does not prevent surgery later.

Seven to ten days. The first day or two cover consultation, prostate ultrasound and blood work, then the treatment with one night in hospital, then the catheter period of three to seven days, and a follow-up visit for catheter removal and a check that you are passing urine properly before you fly. Leaving with the catheter still in is possible but not comfortable on a long flight.

A recent PSA result, any prostate ultrasound or MRI you have had, a note of which prostate medications you have tried and how you got on with them, and a full medication list including blood thinners. Suitability turns on prostate size and shape, so sending imaging in advance is how you avoid flying for an assessment that concludes with a no.

Stay in Bangkok until the catheter is out. You need to be within easy reach of the department for removal and for the small chance that it needs replacing if you cannot pass urine straight away. After that, and with your urologist's agreement, there is nothing stopping a few quieter days elsewhere before you fly.