KARR

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP):

The suspect in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey visited a clinic to have facial hair permanently removed in preparation for a sex-change operation, a doctor said Monday.

John Mark Karr, 41, had his sideburns and hair under his chin removed with lasers at the Siam Swan Cosmetic Clinic and its branches in downtown Bangkok during four sessions from March to July, said Dr. Setthakarn Attakonpan.

"He wanted to prepare himself to do a sex-change operation," said Setthakarn, a dermatologist who saw Karr during the first session.

Karr also had a consultation at the Pratunam Polyclinic in downtown Bangkok, said Dr. Thep Vechavisit, a doctor who specialises in sex-change surgery. He declined to provide additional details, but confirmed Sunday that Karr was "one of my patients."

The clinic, which co-sponsors a popular trans-sexual beauty contest, advertises a large menu of plastic surgery procedures in the English-language Bangkok Post. Breast implants go for US$1,125 (euro879) , liposuction costs US$625 (euro488) and sex-change surgery is US$1,625 (euro1,269) - a bargain compared to U.S. prices, where male-to-female reassignment surgery typically runs in the tens of thousands of dollars.