karime

The best part of my trip by far was meeting the wonderful forumers here. My Seoul sisters Adora10, adoras roommate, ana-dancer, cjchen, fantasy-face, plastic-korea, snowstream, thiefcat and winterntht (haha, im such an teacher, my need to alphabetize it) it was their supportiveness, encouragements and their helpfulness that got me through this experience. Each had a uniqueness to them that made my experiences here extra memorable. I will never be able to truly express what they'd done for me and how being w them helped my healing but a great big hug n kisses to them all. Hope u guys like the new u!!

Nicole, i cant say enough great things about her!! She's just a super cool gal and i hope some of u will have the pleasure of meeting her, even if she is unavailable for translation services, she is still someone ud wanna meet. Kinda like, top 10 things we shud do while in korea. #1. Meet Nicole n Zoe

Thank you to all who have posted on this forum-past n present, who have helped me in my quest for PS, your experiences and research helped me make the decisions that i did. And to those brave enough to post ur b/a pics. a great amount of admiration to u guys!

Also, to those i have been pming, ktalking n emailing with, your humor, encouraging words, suggestions and answers have made the recovery process quite enjoyable and way less stressful.

To the rest of you. The best of luck!! Try to do as much research back home. Visit ur local ps and get their suggestions n explanations of what u might need. Formulate good questions. I had so many questions, i just forgot to bring them, but i think the question that helped me a lot was *what is the common complaints/concerns u hear from patients afterwards in regards to this type of surgery. It is an open-ended question so u will get more than an y/n answer. And of course, ask questions regarding what to look out for during post op so that if it does happen, u wont freak out. Of course, the doctor may not remember everything that cud happen, but it helps to know at least the most common ones.

Also dont forget pics of what u like and dont like. I mean ive had conversations w some of u n while u do an excellent job of explaining what u want done, i still cant visualize the look u want n we speak the same language. So pics do help! Winterntht had pics of what she loved, liked, disliked and hated. I thought that was brilliant! Plus make copies so that they can keep in your file bcuz the docs go through so much patients in a day to remember.

Much blessings to u all to those who have exchanged emails w me. I will keep u posted w my progress n please keep me posted on ur surgeries as well.

Sorry so long, thought id get as much as i cud in since it is my last

O n if u spend over 30,000 krw at a store, ask if ur purchases qualify for a tax refund. If they do, save ur receipts n dont forget to get the tax refund form.

 

This will be my last and final post bcuz as some of u might have figured, this thread can leave u wanting more. Plus, I think i overextended my posting allowance on this thread anyways. It will b in 2 parts since i over exceeded the maximum amount.

Tomorrow, i will say goodbye to Korea but head back to my family Seoul is an amazing city filled with great people and some overly tech bathrooms. I quickly learned which button never to push while using the bathroom in the subway. Nothing better than ringing the attendant to come check on u as u use the potty. i also learned to take the taxi, bus, and subway. Not a big deal to most, but i come from a place where everyone drives and speaks English, so for me it was a big accomplishment. Imo, i actually liked the bus better than the taxi. It was way cheaper and faster bcuz it had its own lane n it passed quite frequently.

During my trip, I was blessed with coming in contact w the most amazing people. From the kid who helped me find the subway station to the old lady who found someone to help me find a place to stay the first nite. Kinda bummed i didnt get to travel outside of Seoul, but my last minute fat grafting surgery kinda halted all my plans.

View
Overall, I loved this clinic! I always felt at ease and if this makes any sense, i never felt i was going in for surgery. it was a real walk in the park. Everyone from the office staff, shampoo girl, the nurses to the doctors were so amazing! N Ms Kim was by far the nicest lady ever!!! i must have seen dr lee 5x after surgery, in passing and during post op visits.

I know i read on the forum to be careful because consultants/doctors will push their services, but that never happened at View. In fact, i begged for fat graft during my stay here, but they really don't recommend it til 3 months after surgery. (I was so bummed, bcuz i knew i will not be returning to Korea for a long time, if not ever.) And, Dr Lee wont suggest anything he feels you don't need, so if you really want something, you need to ask them bout it if they don't suggest it. Then show pictures as to why you want it and the doctor or consultant can explain if it is even necessary to achieve that look.

View is currently working on updating their English webpage I actually tried to help Ms Kim out, by making a quick form to give to those emailing her about surgical procedures, idk if she will use it. She now probably thinks i had too much time on my hands. Im telling you guys this because if she does choose to use it, i dont want people to start saying, o Karime (pronounced Kari Me, hahaha) is working for View. I am not, i m just anal like that. i even made a checklist for my bnb host to help other visitors staying at her place. So see, just retentive.

Sorry if i m restating this, idk if i posted it already or if i wrote it to someone in a pm, but i never had printed copies of pic of different girls i liked cuz my printer broke right before i left to Korea, so i just had pics on my ipad. But during my consult at View, Ms Kim asked me to tab pics i liked from their books to show Dr Lee. I only got to show him one pic n we talked a bit about my surgery. Well, after a nite of thinking whether i made the right surgery choices, i went back the next day to discuss it w Ms. Kim. she went to the back and brought out my folder. she had xeroxed all the pics i had tabbed and had typed out side comments on each of what i had told her, emphasizing natural looking, etc. then i saw a pic of my photo and dr lee had wrote extensively of my surgical plan, next to my face. I was so impressed and never had second thoughts again.

In regards to my vline n eye surgery, i cant really comment bout my overall outcome just yet bcuz i cant c past the swelling. But i think i will be one happy customer

As for the vline n sliding genio surgery. never had any pain after the first few hrs after surgery n the pain i did have was from the sliding genio n was a 3 on a scale of 1-10. w no pain meds. i had read here that some past forumers have experienced numbness in their face afterwards, but i never did, even right after post-op. Apparently, Dr. Lee is well-known for that and for minimal blood loss during surgery. i do have a bit of pressure against my lower teeth that is slowly subsiding. As of right now, i can only open my mouth about 2 fingers wide which makes eating a bit difficult. N from what i can remember these past 2 weeks, my smile was not really affected. When i saw Dr. Lee on day 7 post op, he told me "dont worry, no sagging." Ahhh, music to my ears, i just hope there isnt a loss of translation there. For me, the most difficult part about my face contouring surgery was not being able to brush my teeth for a week. Not bad right? Well depending who u ask i guess, luckily all the girls i hung out w had njs so they cudnt smell anyways.
O n i think PS clinics mite recognize each others work by their "signature headwraps" The girls who all had different facial contouring done had different headwraps. When snowstream n i were leaving one of the clinics she visited, the consultant asked her, where r u going now, to View? I cudnt figure y she'd say View until i realized my headwrap may have given it away. I cud totally b wrong, it was just an observation.

My eyes: i normally get keloids when i heal from a cut, so my eyes developed them as well. Mine are near the epi incision, so a bit noticeable. I think there was a loss in translation when i asked about it pre-surgery. Just know this is common and some of the other forumers here developed it with their incisional surgery, as well. It will disappear gradually over the next few months, but there is a scar cream that removes keloids/scars that u can pick up at various pharmacies. I know snowstream n adora10 got one, so u might wanna ask them about it. i also think j koh wrote about one in her blog. (i started to read about sg bloggers thanks to another forumer who pm'd me) View does not recommend any eye ointments during healing, so i havent been using anything. I will just have to improve my make-up skills til then. O n i bought super cute geeky frames to hide behind til my eyes deswells. As for my epi scar, my left eye is a bit red, but no one in the States will notice even wout makeup. Dr Lee and the nurse said that will disappear w time too. O n some of u may feel like your eyes belong on 2 different people in the beginning, dont worry, thats normal. i found if u turn ur head to your better side when talking to people, it will b less confusing for them to decide which eye to look at.

Continuing on, during my stay in Korea, i couldnt get fat-grating out of my head. This is what i originally came for, but the doctors here suggested vline before fat grafting. After several last minute email exchanges and verbal requests, View finally said if i really wanted to, i could get fat grafting-yay! but that the only opening they had wouldnt be until after i left Korea-boo. The way Ms Kim explained the surgery dates, made it seem like View may do certain types of surgeries on certain days, but i am not 100%. I asked her which doctor wud perform the surgery and she said both Dr Lee and the fat graft specialist wud work together on me if there was an opening but there wasnt

So, at day 12 post op, i ended up booking fat grafting at Migo. Kinda pricey compared to View, but the lady ps was sooo sweet!! I really liked her n it was kinda refreshing to c a lady ps. Overall, the fat grafting of my forehead helped balance out my entire face, but im currently back to stage 1, like 60% swollen, n now, a pillow face. For a cpl days, my eyes burned/teared from the grafting and i was a bit worried bcuz i read ppl can go blind. Shudda asked the dr bout it before, but snowstream had gone there and had great results, so i didnt. The tightness of my eye socket though did give me pretty bad headaches. i almost never get headaches, so i really just tried to nurse myself. Maybe thats y View was against it so soon. the fat grafting dr told me most common complaints w this surgery 1. Rate of reabsorption 2. Possible asymmetry for 2-4 weeks. 3. Acne. I personally wud add plastic pillow face to this list. I think b4 fat grafting i cudda got away the excuse of weight gain in my face from the vline/sliding genio, but fat grafting added the element of plasticness to my face.
On a side note, after speaking to MiaAnn, she told me her translator told her it is better to do lower eyes as well if u r gonna do fat grafting, i agree cuz my lower eye bags are more noticeable, but i am so over any more PS that i m okay w using concealer.

 

Hi

Thanks so much for asking. I m slowly coming along. i m 14 days post op from eyes n vline and 2 days post op from fat grafting. I will post a longer account in a bit

 

Lol i get ya. I came across this asian doc on the web/youtube in dallas, not sure if thats close to you, who seems pretty skilled in facial rejuvenation using fat graft and fillers. He might b worth checking out and doing research on if u need touch ups later.

Good luck to ya!!

 

Lol, yes we do! Thats y i cant give any recommendations as to which clinic is better bcuz after talking to the girls here, i realized my natural might b their plastic.

 

I know what u mean about being not proportional. i have pretty flat cheeks too, so for me, any thing is better than what it was. It kinda breaks up the longness in my mid-face. I think it will give me just a little more definition/fullness which is what i want. i dont wanna have this pillow face forever. I didn't know they cud do fat grafting on cheeks, my biggest thing was my forehead.

I thought i was going to b okay without fat grafting my forehead, but it was that and my eyes that were the primary reason for this trip. Then after seeing MiaAnns naturally full forehead in an after pic and how balanced she looked, i realized if i wanted my face to b more proportionate, then i needed to do the fat grafting. If i had all the $ in the world, i wudda waited the 3 months like View suggested, but this trip (travel, accommodations, food, etc) made a huge dent in my wallet, so i went for it. Wudda costed more in the States and to go and look for a doctor all over again. I was like no. Just do it now.

 

Ahaha! I asked the same question. Shes like mid-20s.

 

O wow, i feel btr bout the price then. I have that pillow face look right now, but once it subsides i think i will like it. The forehead graft really helped complete my new jawline.

Migo said overall, 60% is average for their patients' fat survival rate. They gave me a range, but 60% seemed to b the average. Like the other doctors who i consulted w said, whatever amount survives, will remain forever. They did recommend if i wanted to to come back for a second visit i cud, but the b/a pics i saw of patients who went back at a much later post op visit, still looked fine.

 

I felt like they did try their best to accommodate my initial surgery. I had to wait 2 days though after my consultation because that was the only opening. Im not sure how many days after consult winterntht waited.
With me wanting fat grafting, it was so last minute and not really recommended, so the urgency wasn't as great. Hence, i didnt get a slot.

 

O, the last girl used to work for View til she got married.

 

I think View may charge a bit more for more areas, but im not 100% sure. I might b mistaken, but that was what they quoted me for forehead and nasiofold. I didnt pay to close attn to the areas after they told me that i cudnt even do it this trip. I just remembered 1.5 mil

Yeah, ive only heard now 4 ppl speak english at view. Ms kim, dr lee, the shampoo girl and one of the nurses. I didnt meet the other 2 doctors, so i couldnt tell u if they did or not.

 

View: 1.5 mil
Migo: 2.8 mil, altho snowstream got hers for 1.5 at Migo but im guessing cuz of multiple surgeries.

I got forehead, cheeks n smile lines. The doctor didnt discuss the smile lines w me, but i noticed i had a cpl of bandages there. So sweet, she spared telling me i needed more work done on my face n just did it for me

 

Hi
I went to dr lee sang woo at View for double eyelids, epi n ptosis, vline w sliding genio.
A cpl days ago i went to Migo for fat grafting. I wudda gone to View for that as i trust them and they r much cheaper. They were just booked so i cudnt get an appt time. But i liked the ps there. she was sweei and it was a nice change to c a lady ps.

I have a splitting headache n my eyes r so sore from the fat grafting tho. Hope it goes away soon.

 

My bnb host has been out of town while ive been here so im not sure if thats normal for her. I booked 1 room from her 3 bdrm apartment and have been by myself until today. I got 2 roommates who r just so sweet.

 

O good luck to u!! U will b joined by some wonderful gals soon!! Have fun

 

Wow
I thought it looked really nice n clean. Hahaha, but i have np staying in hostels.

 

Hey!

Hmm, hard question cuz I really liked the skill of both doctors. both forumers look amazing and i think they both got the look they wanted. Imo, i think all the doctors all did a good job getting the noses that fit each one of the forumers faces.i guess if u tell me what celebrity nose u like, i can tell u which forumers' looks similar to that and then you can ask them for the details.

In regards to your nose procedure question, i didnt do any research on noses, i only know what i stumbled across on this forum and what i learned in conversation from the girls, but the girls here wud know. I mean between the ones i met, there were so many procedures done w different types of cartilage and implants. There was bone shaving done. There was bridge building. Pushing the bones together. Tip building, tip lifting and alar base reduction. Ask away and im sure someone will answer. Sometimes pming is btr cuz im not sure if they go back n read the pages. This thread grows so fast n it is hard to keep up.

 

Hahaha ritch!
I was wondering y i didnt hear back from u dude!

 

Hey
To b honest, i didnt pay too much attn to detail while i was looking through their b/a book. I thought the noses in the book looked good though, but thats the style that i liked. Ie someone posted a pic of the girl from view on pg 6,7 or 9 on this thread n thats kind of the look i like o n someone just posted another pic of a girl from view a cpl pgs back and i liked the 2nd girls nose.

Since being in korea and reading the forum, i noticed everyone has their different opinions of what they consider beautiful. Each girl i met here went to a different clinic for their nose and each one came out perfect for their face. I think the benefit of checking out different clinics is you get to see what their staff looks like (some, not all had work done, and some had work done at other clinics, so keep that in mind) and you get to see the doctors b/a pics to determine if thats the look u like. He cud b a great doctor, but it is more about finding the doctor that does ur taste best.

Good luck!!

 

Hey!
Not sure how i missed this post.
O i wish we cudda met up too! I told nicole it wudda been alright for her to give u my ktalk id. I leave on monday if u r still here n available to meet the others.

 

Omg really? What did u hear? I thought it was really nice, but i didnt actually stay there. I only visited Thiefcat.

 

Hi!
Im so sorry, im not sure what u mean. After my xrays n pictures, i met with the doctor and i told him what my intentions were and he gave me suggestions of what i what i should do n not do. Then i met w the beauty advisor consultant and she told me which of those options were even doable this trip. I feel View does a good job at looking at the best interest of their patients.
Hope i answered ur question.

 

Some do n some dont, but dont worry people r so willing to help. I know absolutely zero Korean, but i was able to figure out how to use their bus system which i think harder to use than their subway system which btw is really easy to use even for a car driving gal like myself. Ordering food is easy too. most cashiers know some english or if not, just point to the pictures. Ppl here r great! U will b fine! Best of luck to ya

 

O ur welcome

O n i apologize to those who i promised the last pgs of the thread too. It got so hectic, i didnt have time to finish typing it out before i left the States. then i thought id do it on the plane over here, but it didnt happen. Sorry.

 

yea, i remember seeing that when I was doing research, they shud change that pic.