PATTAYA, Thailand – It was a busy morning at the Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) meeting on Wednesday, January 10. First up was the primary speaker Dr. Natnicha (Nicha) Loichuen, MD, who operates several Nicha Clinics specializing in dermatology services to combat the signs of ageing and to rejuvenate skin. She was followed by the next speaker Gloria Jones, Editor of the Pattaya Trader-Discover Pattaya magazine. Attending the meeting was Tom Carden, American International Tax Advisers, who gave a presentation to the Club on November 1, 2023 about Thai Revenue Department’s taxing of income brought into Thailand effective January 1, 2024. He was invited on stage to give a brief update to his previous talk.
Dr. Natnicha (Nicha) Loichuen, MD, whose topic was “Defying Aging,” gave an interesting talk about how you can improve your health with proper nutrition and the benefits of Thermage to remove the signs of aging. Nicha Clinic has become one of the top providers of cosmetic dermatology in Pattaya, offering holistic services that include everything from vitamin facials to body firming treatments using FDA approved materials.
She is a medical graduate of Bangkok’s Rangsit University. She has undertaken further training to specialize in beauty and cosmetic dermatology, and is certificated in anti-ageing treatments, thermage, Botox, cell therapy and many more. She is a member of the American Board of Aesthetic Medicine and the American Board of Nutrition. Known to many in Pattaya, Dr Nicha was part of the management at the cosmetic department in Bangkok Pattaya Hospital before becoming involved full time for the past 10 years with her own clinics, here and in Bangkok.
She emphasized that “Aging Force” comes from an unhealthy lifestyle, thus changes along with proper nutrition can slow the effects of aging. She noted that underlying Pathogenesis (the process by which a disease or disorder develops) of Age-Related Illness is Chronic Inflammation caused by Cancer, Cardiovascular, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, neurological disease, autoimmune disease, arthritis, and pulmonary diseases.
Your Immune system is first line of defense. Dr Nicha mentioned that she prefers the use of nutritional supplements rather than medicine to enhance this system followed by several diagrams showing the types of nutritional supplements one should take, their benefits, as well as what and when they should be used. She also noted that certain blood tests may be needed to determine what types of supplements you should take and whether it is better for IV infusion than oral tablets.
Dr Nicha recommended a NAD+ therapy as it is essential for mitochondria, the part of cells that turns the nutrients from food into energy to function properly. Again using charts and diagrams, she described what is involved and explained the benefits that can be achieved. By increasing NAD levels in the body, signs of aging can be reduced and even reversed as NAD can help return your cells to the state they were in when you were young.
Another area one should test is for food allergies. She said the tests should include Immediate as well as Delayed Food Allergy followed by a description of the types of tests usually performed. Dr Nicha said these tests can be very beneficial if done while young as they can tell you what foods to avoid as you grow older. She also mentioned gastrointestinal issues such as “Gut Leaking” and what to you can do about them.
For lifestyle changes, Dr Nicha mentioned several areas including limiting the use of cellular phones, periodically changing your environment, eating more organic vegetable, avoiding processed foods, and cutting down on sugar. To rejuvenate your own Stem Cells, she mentioned Nutrition, Exercise. Stress management, Detoxification, and other methods.
In conclusion, she spoke about the benefits of Thermage for a US FDA approved non-invasive treatment of wrinkles and rhytids, including the upper and lower eyelids, and to the temporary improvement in the appearance of cellulite. Dr Nicha showed several before and after photos showing the results of this treatment.
After Dr Nicha’s presentation, MC Ren Lexander introduced Gloria Jones, Editor of the Pattaya Trader-Discover Pattaya magazine who arranged for Dr Nicha to be the PCEC’s primary speaker. Gloria gave a brief presentation on “How the Pattaya Trader became the Discover Pattaya magazine.” She also brought along some free copies for the audience.
The Pattaya Trader began some 24 years ago and primarily was a magazine filled with classified ads. She initially became involved as a writer. She pointed out that today, The Pattaya Trader is a more informative publication which is also available online. Further, it now provides more information about what is going on in Pattaya, thus her emphasis on “Discover Pattaya” as its primary function. To visit their website, go to https://www.pattayatrader.com/.
MC Ren Lexander then noted that Thomas Carden from American International Tax Advisers who had previously spoke to the Club about the Thailand Revenue Department’s announcement that income transferred into Thailand would be subject to Thai Income Tax beginning January 1, 2024, was in the audience. Ren invited Thomas to give a brief update on the current status.
He noted that the Thai government has still not issued any guidance whatsoever. However, the good news was that they have confirmed that they will abide by their dual tax treaties with other countries. For US taxpayers, this means that no part of Social Security payments will be taxable in Thailand. Since there are several such treaties (61 per his previous talk), there may be similar provisions, but he has not as yet had times to research those for the UK, Australia, and other English speaking countries.
To view Dr Nicha’s presentation visit the PCEC’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8D1MJgdw78 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxgS8PewZw4&t=1021s previous presentation and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhUKwyIVSB0 for Thomas Carden’s update.
After the presentations, MC Ren Lexander brought everyone up to date on upcoming events and called on George Wilson to conduct the Open Forum portion of the meeting where the audience can ask questions or make comments about Expat living in Thailand, especially Pattaya. To learn more about the PCEC, visit their website at https:/pcec.club.
