ladybugz

I could use any reviews, travel tips, experiences. It's Dr. Ting Wang's clinic, though I won't be having him as a doctor (too expensive...).

 

I'm sorry that you didn't have a good experience, but I could not have had a better experience with them. (To be fair, I also had a good experience with Wonjin the second time around, as well as Hanabi even though I didn't end up going there, so maybe I've just been lucky and have never had a "bad" in-person experience in Korea. ) Uvom went above and beyond in helping me get from place to place, since I don't speak Korean, and in doing very detailed consultation that definitely included the risks and tradeoffs. For example, because I am in my 30s, they took a lot of time in explaining the options to prevent sagging and we ultimately decided to go for a more natural result.

I think they do ask literally everyone to post reviews, even those who didn't get that 30% off deal that was going on (I was there earlier than you were, during a different promotion), and I agree that their "non-sale" prices are fairly high. I did save money over the other clinics' quotes in the end, but I agree that it wasn't substantial at all -- I saved maybe like $800 at the end of the day. I was told that the reason they are aggressively soliciting reviews is because they have almost no presence among foreigners, and obviously they would like to change that. You can clearly see that their B/As are not photoshopped, and I can say as a former patient that they exert absolutely no control over the reviews (unlike a certain other liposuction clinic I've complained about and reported, because I was so outraged by a white "American" girl's review that was written in clearly broken English).

That said, I want to emphasize that the staff at Uvom absolutely does not ask for or require good reviews. In fact, when it was time for me to turn in before/after pics to use (as I agreed to prior), I told them that because we agreed to a more natural look, there wasn't going to be a huge difference. I checked later on to see if they'd photoshopped the pictures; they did not (which impressed me in terms of integrity). They asked me to post a review, and I told them that I was not going to be able to say that a huge difference occurred. The English translator literally wrote back, "That is OK, the point is to have an honest review." Anyone can feel free to PM me for a screenshot of my Facebook conversation regarding this very topic. Thus, I do not think it is fair to conflate requesting a review with demanding a positive review.

 

Agree with the previous poster. If you want dolly, I wouldn't go Hanabi. They have great customer service and a skilled surgeon at a great cost, but their style absolutely skews natural.

 

I like your nose job! I went there too and agree 100% with what you said. Amazing customer service. I felt the results were not super-dramatic (nor did they photoshop their photos, which I appreciated), but I could not get dramatic results to begin with (I work at a hospital and my colleagues would know instantly if I did anything too crazy).

 

I had a good result from Wonjin; however, I agree w/ the above poster about Photoshop. It's nowhere as dramatic as these photos seem; however, my eyes are 1000x better than before.

 

I don’t think your results are as bad as you think. They are on par with plastic surgery in general. IMO, plastic surgery will always err on the side of “too obvious” vs “not enough of a difference.” It’s really hard if not impossible to have a perfect result of dramatic change + undetectable errors. You look good; try not to worry too much!

 

I think the most frustrating part of the experience is definitely the language barrier. If you need to go somewhere by cab, it’s incredibly difficult to hail a cab unless you know the language. At least, that was my experience.

 

Great results! I have heard The View have pretty good turnouts when it comes to rhinoplasty.

 

I would keep trying, depending on whether you just dislike the results or if you were truly botched. In cases where the doctor truly botched the patient, they sometimes do give refunds to prevent bad publicity. You can threaten to go to forums as well as the press. However, if it’s just a case of not liking the style, you probably don’t have a whole lot of leverage.

 

I work at a hospital and am currently in law school part-time, so I'll take a stab at this question.

When you say "sue," do you mean sue for the refund of your money, for them to re-do your surgery free of charge, or for millions (like you see on TV)?

If you just want to re-do your surgery for free, nearly all practices will agree to that. They don't want bad publicity. Wonjin fixed my eyes for free 5+ years after my initial surgery, even though they didn't have to (as the original terms stated free revisions would be given out for only two years from the surgery date). It was great customer service and they knew they would have a loyal customer for life. I still say a lot of good things on this forum about them despite claims of "blacklisting" from other forumers, just because I know they stand by their work, take care of their patients, and did a great job the second time around.

If you want a refund, that's harder, but possible. If you are in such a situation, I would start with a demand letter, along with evidence (photos, hospital admissions, etc.) of the harm you suffered as a result of the "botched" surgery. If they refuse, then you can threaten a lawsuit or go to the press, etc. They will usually give you a refund at that point.

As for those big lawsuits you see in the media, in most legal systems, you cannot recover without proving harm. Simply not liking your nose because it's too thin or not thin enough or whatever would not entitle you to money. You have to show that you suffered objectively (i.e. now you cannot breathe, or ended up hospitalized and lost out on work, etc.), and the harm has to be significant.

 

My fat isn’t where bucccal fat is stored, so it wouldn’t work on me. I’m kind of giving up on the skinny face idea. Two rounds of lipo and the fat comes back the second I gain weight!!

 

I would also caution anyone against being unrealistic with expectations re: any sort of plastic surgery, esp. with difficult things like undereye pigmentation.

I have had undereye fat repositioning. It's still not perfect, but a much better improvement than before (and is no longer visible in photographs). I don't have eye bags anymore. HOWEVER, the dark circles are absolutely still there and I still need concealer to change the pigment.

I have also had both facial lipo and chin lipo (I did the chin lipo in America). Liposuction looks amazing the first few months, but the fat comes back unless you're on a diet for life. For me, it didn't even come back in "different areas," as I've read here as well as in scientific studies. I literally have a double-chin again just 2 years after doing it! I am not fat at all -- I'm in the low 130 normally (though I fluctuate to the mid/high 130s on occasion). I just had facial lipo with some really good results in January. I went out to eat 3 days in a row last week for work purposes. Weight went up to 136 instantly, and well, guess what -- my face is pretty freaking fat again (again, not as bad as before, and still a noticeable improvement, but there's definitely fat). Very frustrating!!! I HATE how I put on weight on my face and nowhere else.

 

That's true in like, every situation, though... I got a discount with both clinics I've been to by promising my before/afters... I could have disappeared. Wonjin did make me sign a legal contract back in 2013 saying that they would sue me if I didn't hand over my "afters," but honestly, what were they going to do? I don't even live in Korea and they're not going to come over to the U.S. to sue me for a $1000 discount LOL.

My only guess is that they want to see your pics first. Many of the clinics I contacted refused to cut me a discount without seeing me in person. They are not prob. interested in using your pic as advertisement if you're already gorgeous and just wanted a slight tweak.

 

Pretty much any clinic can make them more even (i.e. turning both into a double-eyelid), though you'll never get perfect symmetry. It's impossible for anyone's face to be completely even/symmetrical. I think a lot of people into plastic surgery don't want to acknowledge this, and then are really angry/depressed afterwards. If you do get surgery, just be prepared that it's never going to look 100% the same.

 

I deposited beforehand.

 

On my own. The English translators are awesome; you definitely don't need an agency.

 

Your screenshot indicates "ITEMPS." This thread is on Uvom. Those are two different clinics...

 

Yeah they agreed to it, though I'm not sure if I actually got a better or worse deal than their other promos/discounts. Every clinic I spoke to agreed to it other than Hanabi and VIP (however, Hanabi's prices are EXTREMELY low as it is for rib rhinoplasty, so I can see why they would refuse to lower it.) VIP was expensive AND wouldn't cut me a deal. Oh, well.

 

Wonjin. Tons of foreigners (like myself) when I was there. A lot of people on this forum are down on them but I've had only good experiences with them. They did an eyelid surgery revision for me for free years after the expiration period. (It wasn't a botch job; I was just really young and inexperienced and did not advocate for myself enough and got talked into a more natural result than I'd wanted by the doctor -- who strongly preferred a natural look; and over time the ptosis got worse). The same doctor fixed the problem and did a great job.

 

Are you Korean/did you communicate in Korean? The person I consulted with is the only English translator on staff. She discussed the prices with me fully over Facebook... I have no idea what the secrecy is. I asked for the price and she gave it to me; no games/shadiness. I asked for an even lower amount and offered my photo (as I had done for Wonjin years ago). They agreed. Most clinics will give you like 10-20% off if you bargain hard enough, and like 25%-30% off if you offer the use of your photos.

My review is on this thread:

https://beautyhacker.com/forums/topic/1005293-facial-liposuction-at-uvom/

 

Like $2500, I think? Significantly cheaper than the U.S., because they didn't just do lipo, they also used the fat to reposition in areas that were needed (under my eyes, and into my nasalabial fold). You can negotiate the cost. Most places cut you a discount if you allow release of your photos. Banobaji originally offered me 30% discount to use my photos publicly; they went back on their word and tried to lower it to 20%. I did not end up going with them. As I said in another post, the integrity of the consultants, translators, and management is important to me because if they're being sketchy, I don't want to have to deal with them again if the surgery goes wrong.

A lot of people are down on Wonjin on this website, but they gave me a free revision YEARS after my original one even though it was against their contract (the revision period was only supposed to be 1-2 years). This stuff is really important, esp. in the world of PS, as there are never any guarantees that you'll be happy with the results.

 

There's only one person (she is the translator/the person you message on Facebook). I actually forgot her English name. The previous person (the shady chick, apparently) left in November/December.

Yes, I did.

 

That is shady. For the record, she no longer works there (and I would not have gone with them if she had). I would definitely be willing to speak to the integrity of the current marketing coordinator/translator at Uvom. I was there January 11th and she had only been there for two weeks. She helped me a LOT, from arranging cabs for me (since my internet wasn't working at all in Korea and I had a hard -- well, impossible -- time hailing a cab) the entire week, walking me through the entire process, etc. I have 200+ posts on this website dating to 2013 and she never once asked me to alter, inflate, or otherwise change my honest opinion of the clinic.

I've been to Wonjin, Uvom, and Hanabi (though I didn't end up getting surgery at Hanabi). I thought the marketing people had really high integrity at all of those places. Ina at Wonjin, in particular, is a really good person to work with and definitely trustworthy.

Like I said, I'm ok with giving out my before/afters to marketing. I will write reviews using my honest opinion. However, writing an actual review for someone is not OK in my book (i.e. Fresh, as well as a few other places).

 

Thanks! It took about 4 weeks to fully subside, but you'll be public-ready in about a week.

 

Absolutely not. I looked like a total freak afterwards. I did have more swelling than usual, but facial lipo causes a lot of swelling and you will definitely not be able to go in public in that short of a timeframe. I would plan to take an entire week off at minimum.