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If you want to know my reasoning for going to Luho as well as other clinics I have consulted, please feel free to check out my other post. I have finally come back from Korea and thought I’d post my VERY detailed 2 week post op journey. I will check back in for a 3 month update, and hopefully 6 month and 1 year! Procedures Received - Eyes: Primary Incisional DES + Ptosis Correction (in-out line) - Nose: Primary rhinoplasty (silicone implant, alarplasty, tipplasty with ear and septal cartilage) - Forehead: Fat Grafting to forehead only - Etc: Masseter botox (got a bad clenching problem), Chin filler —> I only did the botox and filler at Luho because of convenience. There are cheaper clinics and clinics that only do filler and botox that you can check out instead! That being said, I’ve experienced no problems with the botox or the filler. T-1 Consultation There was no wait for the consultation! When I went in, I was so happy because I could tell it was going to go well. A lot of people say when you know, you know, and that’s the vibe I got with Dr. Kim. He was confident and really personable. He personally recommended a line that was higher than what I liked, so he grabbed another line the second go and it was exactly the style I liked. Both lines were in out, with the only difference being the height. He also can speak English so we spoke in a mix of English and Korean! He said anything besides ptosis correction and incisional DES seemed unnecessary for my eyes when I brought up possible lower cantho and epi. The line he grabbed for me matched the line I had brought in for photos. I said I wasn’t sure if I should go for the rhino and fg as my friends and family told me it seemed unnecessary (but I personally wanted to do both) and he recommended it, but emphasized multiple times that it’s ultimately my choice. He said we would use ear and septal, with max 4 mm implant but most likely 2-3 (he said he can’t tell me right now the exact number as it’s something that’s decided in the OR and after further assessment), with it being on the higher end (3-4) if I decide to do my forehead, and lower (1-2) if I don’t. My forehead is also sunken in so we did decide to go for the fg as one of my concerns was how flat my face is. After, I met with the consultant and confirmed date and time. We went over the warranty period, etc and that was that! After meeting with the doctor, I felt very confident that I made a good choice and my friend agreed! Day 0 (D-Day) I went to the clinic by myself and arrived literally a minute before my appointment haha, but had to wait around 20 minutes. There were SO many girls in the waiting room! Once they called me, I paid and had one last consultation with the doctor. We went over the surgeries we would do, and then I went to go wash my face and waited a little bit. In the OR, he went over my line one more time and got the line I wanted in one go. While making marks for my nose, he also suggested chin filler, which is something I was actually already considering as my chin is very short and round. He offered to just do it for free, so I just said yes LOL. He said he’ll do max 1cc, and with that we started the DES. It was very trippy, I think the music blended in with the bursts of color and I couldn’t tell if I was dreaming or not LOOL. Eventually it faded and I could feel/hear the fat burning. I felt some tugging when they were working on the stitches, and he let me know how much longer it would take when I said it was a bit uncomfortable. Personally, I always liked my left eye a lot more. It looks better with makeup, its bigger, etc. He took longer with my right eye and made me open and close my eyes multiple times. He’s super meticulous. He did tell me that I didn’t bleed at all on my left eye, but bled a little on my right so it led to my right eye being a bit more swollen than my left, but told me not to worry about it. Once the DES was finished I was off to take a mandatory pee break lol and came back. It was super cold in the OR and whatever they were applying on my legs for my fg made me shiver IT WAS SO COLD. But, I don’t even remember knocking out. To be honest, when I woke up, it was all done and it felt like I dreamt the walk to the recovery room because I was super loopy. I remember saying my throat is hella dry (in Korean) and the nurse who walked me to my room laughed at my wording and said it’s usually like that. The warm bed made me feel a lot better, and I asked her if I could use my phone, but she said no because I could end up dropping it on my face, so I tried resting. The doctor came in a bit later, and said my forehead looked really nice and showed me through the mirror but I was like i can’t seeeee LOL so he laughed and said alright and told me not to worry about my right eye being swollen and said the surgery came out really well. After some time, I got ready and the consultant went over all the aftercare. They provided a moisturizer, sheet masks, and eye mask/pack. I went to the pharmacy donwstairs to get my medication and pumpkin juice and went home! They didn’t give me cotton to put under my nose but I stared bleeding during dinner. I have a makeshift cotton gauze on right now, horrendous bruising on my thighs from the fg! TL;DR DES: felt a bit of tugging, right eye took longer since I bled and it’s naturally smaller. Rhino: Looks super natural so far, am extremely swollen so can’t tell for tip. FG: My forehead actually mildly hurt a little (like a tension headahce), which im assuming is due to the fg. It doesn’t look unnaturally swollen at all; it looks so nice and natural. I finally understand what people say about your skin looking glowy when u get fg! im really glad I did it. Chin filler: It looks really good! My friend even asked me if i did anything because my face looked much more v shaped. It looks really natural! Day 1 Post OP Woke up multiple times throughout the night as my nose kept bleeding. Finally got to sleep consistently later in the morning and my face was extremely swollen. After icing my face, the swelling went down but the most effective was definitely going out. I went shopping and my face (especially my eyes) were considerably less swollen. I drank pumpkin juice 3x a day but haven’t noticed any difference from the juice directly, but it’s something light and easy to eat when you need to take your meds. All the pharmacies around me were closed due to it being a Sunday, but luckily the ones in Myeongdong were open. I bought gauze and tape and the bleeding became much easier to handle. Obsessed with my forehead but hate having to constantly readjust my hat to make sure it’s not pressing down! Day 2 Post OP I woke up in the middle of the night as the gauze fell off. I retaped the gauze and went back to sleep LOL but kept waking up as I noticed I slid down more than I did the first night. At one point I just wanted to completely lie down and sleep, but sucked it up and kept readjusting myself. First thing I noticed was that I was incredibly swollen, more than yesterday for sure. I drank some pumpkin juice with my meds, and taped up more gauze and got ready to head to the clinic. Once I got there, they finally took the cotton out of my nose and cleaned up my stitches. The doctor came in and checked in on me and said I’m healing well and not to worry about the slight uneven swelling. He told me my silicone implant was 4 mm, and told me to come back in two days. The whole process took literally 10 minutes and I regretted not putting new gauze under my nose as I was really sniffly. I powered through and headed home and cleaned my room until it was time to get my hair washed. After getting it washed, I felt so much cleaner and happier and noticed that the swelling has gone down a lot too. However, my smile is incredibly wonky right now. Day 3 Post OP Face, especially my cheeks, are extremely swollen and I slid off in my sleep once again. Will plan on adding more pillows to prop myself up better tonight. Don’t know if pumpkin juice is doing anything, but I do feel better eating something in the morning. Feel shitty having to wear my bucket hat and constantly adjust it as it makes my hair sweaty as well, but it’s fine. Worst part is the constant sneezing, apparently it’s caused by the nose hairs growing back? Trying my best to sneeze with my mouth open but it’s gross and I’m paranoid every time I feel my nose scrunch as I try to sneeze. Walked around again today and it seems like my swelling after walking around seems ends up going back down to around day 2 post op. After icing my cheeks, my face deswelled a lot. FG bruises are still gnarly and hurt a little when sitting down. They’ve gone from red to a deep purple, and I think walking, using a hot pack and time has helped it start change colors. My nose has gotten noticeably smaller since taking out the cotton, but it still feels stuffy since I have so much crusties stuck. I ate spicy food for dinner and my face has clearly doubled in size. Regretting my choices only partially because it was so good; going to chug some water to flush out the salt as much as possible. Day 4 Post OP I had a relatively easier time waking up this morning, and looked less swollen than i have other mornings. I probably would've been even less swollen if I didn’t eat anything spicy, but hopefully walking around today will help. I drank two cans of pineapple juice last night and don’t know if that helped LOL. I noticed some light yellow bruises on the lower half of my cheeks, so I will start putting a warm compress to help. Bruises on fg are either red or deep purple, so I’ve been putting hot compresses on them to help them fade so that I can wear other clothes. Chin filler site has a little lump, though the dr says its due to the fact that a harder filler was used, and double checked it for me, and after our appointment the lump went away LOL. I will continue to keep an eye out! He also informed me that my septal was used for my columella and my ear was used for tip support. I got my nose and ear and eyes cleaned and it felt sooo good. I got deswelling laser treatment and I briefly fell asleep during it LOL. They told me to come back in 3 days for cast removal! I have no idea how long the laser treatment was for, but iI do feel like it helped..?! I drank more pumpkin juice and pineapple juice. pretty sure the pineapple juice isn't doing anything since it’s just a juice, but it’s good and i need to get rid of it anyways. My eyes are noticeably more evenly deswelling and friends and family have also pointed out that i look a lot better. the change is really drastic! Forehead fg has definitely gone down, which im a bit sad about. He doesn’t overfill so it already looked really good from the first day, but it’s definitely still an improvement. id honestly be happy as long as SOME fat still stays, but I’ll just hold onto the thought that i’ll probably have to get a top up. Day 5 Post OP I'm looking pretty similar to day 4, but swelling has moved further down. Checked my legs after putting a warm compress, and the bruises have yellowed a LOT so I'll be more diligent about it. More yellow bruising on the face. Staying inside for the most part for today and hopefully getting some exercise later so that I can deswell. I'm having a harder time not sliding down in my sleep; my neck pillow is really saving me right now. I put a warm compress on my leg basically throughout the entire day and it’s gotten so much better, though there’s a patch of dark purple bruising that’s being a bit more stubborn. While icing my face, I lightly bumped my the pack against my nose tip and freaked out, but I’m hoping it’s okay (it was VERY light, my nose just does not feel like a nose right now). Nose has gotten noticeably smaller (in a great way), and family specifically commented that my nose is coming along nicely! Chin filler is looking great too. Day 6 Post OP I noticeably deswelled a LOT today, especially after walking around. My nose is straight up disgusting though; I can see the sebum seeping out. Nose tip is really round, but I suspect it’s just partially inevitable as I had such a bulbous nose and also swelling. It’s gotten a lot smaller and it’s super cute, so I’m happy. Most of my facial swelling has gone down a lot, but my yellow bruising is still there and my right eye is still not evenly deswelling. Chin filler and forehead fat graft is looking good! The fat graft bruises look a lot more yellow, but I still can’t walk around in shorts or dresses. Got some stares today but find myself caring less and less as time goes on, especially with CAST OFF BEING TOMORROW! Can’t believe it’s already been a whole week since my procedures. Day 7 Post OP TOOK OFF MY CAST! Knew that the front profile would look swollen, but didn’t realize how swollen that would be. However, I really like my side profile and my eyes started deswelling a lot faster after taking out the stitches. After walking around nearly every day for a week with a cast on my face (and some days with gauze and tape), even though I was still swollen, I felt more comfortable taking off my hat at some points. It has a perfect, natural looking curve and fits my face so well. My tip is looking really round, but I had a really bulbous nose and I also know that it’s swelling, so I don’t really mind. My main concern is just the eyes still being really unevenly swollen. If they were deswelling evenly, I would stop wearing a hat, but the unevenness still makes me hesitate. After walking around today and receiving deswelling laser, my nose got a lot less swollen especially at the radix and I can tell it’s slimmed down. The yellow bruising has faded as well, but it’s definitely still there. I got less blackheads than I thought I would, but my main issue was my nose feeling super prickly. I bought BHA exfoliating pads and gently used them around my face and made sure to slowly ease back into my skincare routine, which helped with the prickly feeling a lot. I also managed to wash my hair on my own! I was still careful to not let my face get touched by water (paranoid), and wrapped a shower cap on my ear. The doctor came in to see my progress again (I’ve seen him every appointment so far), and said everything’s looking good. He said I would also get a shot to help with the deswelling, but I didn’t get it, so I’ll bring it up when I go in for my last check up. Day 10 It was supposed to be my last check up, but at the checkup they noticed that the wound behind my ear opened up a little when I accidentally got (very little) water on it in the shower. they gave me local anesthesia to restitch it, and told me to come back in 5 days :(. I'm paranoid now, and my ear was tender the whole day and the mask didn’t help. I got another round of deswelling treatments, and saw the doctor again (he stitched up my ear and also came in to check in on everything). I also have to take more rounds of antibiotics just in case for 3 days starting tomorrow. It sucks, but this is obviously entirely my fault. The swelling on the right eye has gone down, but there’s a bruise that hasn’t gone away at all. yellow bruising around the nose has gone down as well, and the bridge is starting to form nicely. tip is still swollen, but that’s the part that will deswell the latest so i’m okay. They took out my fg stitches, and i’ve continued to put silicone tape on them. scarring on nose is also VERRRRRY faint, it’s really not that dark at all, which i’m really pleased about. The bruises on fg site are fading away at a fast pace, and the deep purple ones are finally starting to yellow!! Day 11 I got deswelling treatment at a different clinic (specializes in filler/botox/facials etc) through an event they had on Gangnam Unni. I didn’t tell them I was a foreigner until I came in for my consultation/appointment, and they didn’t really care LOL but I spoke in full Korean. They gave me a nice facial and a light lymph draining massage, and there was some kind of buzzing device? that they said would help with the bruising (this was an add-on) and some other stuff. I got more deswelling laser and then a deswelling shot! It was a nice way to treat myself, and I did notice that the swelling went down significantly, but I wouldn’t say it’s a completely necessary thing to do. It was definitely relaxing though and the clinic smelled really good LMAO. Took a little over an hour and my face was super soft at the end of it! Day 16 Finally, my actual last check up! Stitches were removed (no issues, thank god) and doctor came in for one last check up. He thanked me for the letter and small gift i gave him my previous check up (loool) and told me to visit the clinic next time i come back to Korea. so sweet! I didn't get any deswelling treatment, and I was a bit puffy today, though it could be since it hasn't been long since i woke up. it still clearly looks like i got surgery, but i no longer can bring myself to care and have gone out hatless since day 14. Eyes are evening out a bit, but the right eye is still noticeably more swollen, but the doctor also stated it’s looking good. I mentioned my nose being VERY slightly pink occasionally with no pain or heat, and he said it’ll be like that on and off for roughly 2-3 months as my body heals. My bruise on my eye is still there :(, and the stubborn fg bruises are still there as well, but they’re yellowing and once again, i can no longer bring myself to care and they peek out just a tiny bit when i wear dresses. Once the nurse heard that i would be leaving korea, she put a fresh bandaid on the stitch behind my ear and told me to remove it within 2-3 days so that I’m more careful when I shower. Just in case, I got one last hair wash at a Juno Hair nearby, and that concluded my journey!! Closing Thoughts Overall, I had a very pleasant experience with Luho. Of course I definitely had an easier time since I was able to speak Korean, but the doctor and I spoke primarily in English. He was extremely friendly to me throughout this entire process and it really alleviated my nerves. My consultant always replied within the day (usually within 1-2 hours) and everyone was super friendly and didn’t push me to do anything. I think the longest I had to wait was on the day of my surgery (~20 min), but besides that I had no wait at all. As a heads up, I will not be disclosing any B&A photos, but I can try to give some similar photos and describe in as much detail as possible LOL. Prices were previously disclosed in my consultation journey post, and they matched it exactly. I did not bother negotiating further as I felt that the prices were more than fair for me personally. Additionally, as previously mentioned, Luho does not have an English support team but I do believe they have a chinese and japanese team, so if you can speak those languages, you may try consulting! I do not think you need a translator when talking to the Dr, but you should probably get one when discussing everything with the consultants as they do not speak English. Luho is also very popular with locals. The building it’s in hosts 9 plastic surgery clinics (I counted), and half the elevator would always get off for Luho each time I would go. I really liked Luho for their fair pricing, nonpushy consultants and dr (I think the most pushy they were was when they suggested putting down a deposit. As Luho was my first choice for DES, I didn’t really mind doing so, but I know others may be turned off by this!), how accessible they were, and also how I saw my doctor at every check up. I know a lot of clinics you rarely see the doctor or you don’t see them at every check up, but I saw him each time and it was very sweet.1 point
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Hi Amy, After meticulous hours of research, I, too, found an interest in Cocoline. Everyone who got their rhinoplasty done at Cocoline mentioned Dr. Kim. I got into contact with Cocoline via Kakaotalk, and asked for an online consultation with Dr. Kim. Unfortunately, they told me that he has since left Cocoline to open his own clinic. You can reach out to Dr. Kim directly on LINE. His LINE app ID is iatros99. His clinic site is www.1stbutton.com He got back to me within minutes to discuss my photos and what I wanted. He’s super nice, but he didn’t seem too confident in being able to give me the results I wanted, even when I asked for a slightly taller tip. I think he goes for a really natural look, using autologous cartilage only. My concern was that I wasn’t looking to lift my bridge at all, just tip-plasty, and I sent him two photos lowering my tip from the original desired result using a photo editor. The results he wanted to give me were barely noticeable. So, keep that in mind. If you want a super natural look, I think Dr. Kim would be the perfect doctor. I personally want a more noticeable change because I’m willing to travel across the globe and spend money and time. I want people to say I look very different (in a good way). Pricing through Dr. Kim is pretty reasonable. Here is his direct quote to me: “A Rhinoplasty costs about 3000-3500USD, a fat graft costs about 1500USD.” I also asked Cocoline after they told me that Dr. Kim left if the Before & After photos on their website was done by a doctor that’s still currently there. They read my message and never got back to me. That seemed a little sketchy. That’s all the advice I can give you from what I’ve gotten back from both Cocoline and Dr. Kim. I hope this helps!!1 point