let-me-out

Hi there,

These questions are the most commonly asked around here and they have been answered many times before. You should spend time reading through all of the posts and you will find the information you seek.

 

You certainly don't want to be clueless before going to Seoul--it's your face and money. I know it's been repeated ad nauseam on these boards but please research the procedures, clinics, and surgeons before going under the knife. Use these forums, Realself, and google. It would also be prudent to get opinions from maxillofacial and plastic surgeons in the UK. Educating yourself is time well spent.

Once you have done some research you can try sending emails to your shortlisted clinics to get a quote. I would expect a chin implant to cost 3-5 million won and genioplasty 5-6 million. ASO around 7 million but then you have to consider braces post surgery.

For jaw surgery you must stay in Korea for one month to recover.

 

The area under your lips is excessive because of your protruding mouth (both jaws are too far forward). To correct this you will need to either have jaw surgery to push both upper and lower jaws back or have anterior segmental osteotomy (ASO aka protruding mouth surgery). Jaw surgery can correct mild cases of protrusion with a maximum of 4-5 mm of posterior movement. ASO is for severe cases of protrusion and often performed in conjunction with jaw surgery. For ASO the surgeon will extract 4 premolars, cut out the accompanying gum, and push your front teeth back. When performed alone it is much less intensive than jaw surgery with a much shorter recovery time. The problem with ASO is that there will still be some space left from where the teeth were extracted which requires braces to close. If your teeth and bite are already correct as you say then jaw surgery might be more suitable because braces aren't needed.

As I already mentioned you would really benefit from either sliding genioplasty or a chin implant. Either procedure will bring balance to your face as you have a weak chin. Genioplasty is more suitable if you want to shorten your lower face because the surgeon can cut out excessive bone. But in your case you shouldn't shorten the chin.

 

How is your bite now? And have you consulted with any plastic or maxillofacial surgeons in the UK?

By looking at your pics I think you could benefit from two jaw surgery and either sliding genioplasty or a chin implant. This would reduce your mouth protrusion, correct asymmetry, and balance your features. I would wait to see how you look after jaw surgery before going ahead with a lip reduction. If your jaws are pushed back then your lips will get smaller. If you want to achieve a more manly look with a square jaw then I'm afraid Korea is not the place to have your surgery. You would need jaw implants to achieve a square jawline and none of the surgeons in Korea perform that sort of procedure. Best to look for surgeons in the UK or USA.

If you're desperate to avoid jaw surgery then you could try lip reduction + genioplasty/chin implant. But doing so would only be a band-aid and ignore the underlying problem (your bone structure). In my opinion it's best to address the bone structure before going ahead with any tissue altering procedures.

 

Dr. Lee from DA specializes in facial contouring, breast, and eyes. Some other forumers here might know better, but I believe the rhinoplasty specialist at DA is Dr. Jung Yeon Woo. You might want to consider consulting with him when you visit.

 

Can Kenacort be used to treat scars more than a few days old? I have two large (about 5cm long) incision scars from a non-PS procedure that are still lingering. The scars are nearly a year old now and I would like to do something about them sooner rather than later. Or do you think there are more suitable options?

 

Yes, I previously made a cash deposit for 10% of the total surgery cost.

 

EverM does jaw surgery (one & two jaw), vline, genioplasty, and zygoma reduction. They are also a dental clinic so they do all of the normal things for your teeth.

 

Some clinics allow you to pay on surgery day, so check with them. I ended up paying literally 5 minutes before I went into the op room and went under GA lol. So much more efficient than in the USA!

 

It's not as simple as that. Koreans can quite easily tell if you are a native speaker or not by your accent. Even if you are a foreign-born Korean who is fluent, you are treated as an outsider. I'm afraid Korean culture and society is quite xenophobic, so the locals have no problem with treating foreigners differently.

 

Which is precisely what I implied in my original post if daybyday22 read carefully. Some people here need to do more reading before they clutter the forums with nonsensical and redundant posts.

 

Yes, there's two different size simcards available at Incheon airport and I believe nano is one of them. As soon as you exit the arrivals area you can find the simcards in the convenience store. You can't miss it as it's always the busiest shop.

 

As others have already mentioned, EverM has a laminated list of "fixed" prices to prevent the idea that they charge foreigners more than locals. The prices on this list are by no means final. You can certainly bargain during your consultation, and, depending on how many procedures you are doing, can expect a discount. To give you an idea the list prices I recall are:

Two jaw surgery: 18.5 million won
ASO (protruding mouth correction): 4.5 million won (for upper or lower jaw); 9 million (both jaws)
Genioplasty: 5.5 million won

For my surgeries, the combined list price was 33 million won. I managed to negotiate the price down to 17.5 million won (cash). So as you can see, my discount was just about 50%! If you are doing only 1 procedure you can maybe bargain 20-30% off the listed price, but no more. Be clear what your maximum budget is and stick to it. If your figure is reasonable they will probably agree.

Sorry I don't have EverM's v-line or one jaw surgery price. Maybe another forumer can help.

 

Gahee, the Chinese translator, can speak English, but she is by no means fluent. She might be able to help translate some of your concerns and requests to Dr. Yoon.

Remember that your consultation(s) with Dr. Yoon is your only chance to discuss your concerns and surgery goals. If there is any misunderstanding due to Gahee's less than perfect English then you risk having a less than satisfactory result. Remember you only have one face. Do yourself a favor and bring someone who will be able to precisely translate everything you want to talk about.

EverM is not one of those clinics that will raise the price because you brought along a translator. Just be firm in your bargaining and you will get a very fair price, translator or not.

 

No...The Line is about 5 minutes walking distance from Sinsa station Exit 8 at the top of the hill. It's on Dosan-daero road, where many well-known clinics are (BK, Grand, Item, EverM, and others).

 

If you are consulting with EverM, I highly recommend bringing a translator because Dr. Yoon does not speak English and Gahee (the Mandarin translator) is not fluent. It's important that the person translating for you can precisely understand your concerns and requests. Remember, it's your face!

Oh, and I am also a Caucasian male. You can PM me with any questions you have regarding my experience at EverM. I had four jaw surgery there last month.

 

EverM does indeed have a laminated list of standard prices, however you can bargain down quite a bit (at least 20%). Doing multiple procedures allows you to get a better price.

To give you an idea, the combined standard prices of all of my surgeries (two jaw + ASO on upper and lower jaw + genioplasty) was 33 million won. I ended up paying just over half of that.

 

I found straws to be difficult to use because you don't have much feeling in your lips and mouth after the surgery, so it's difficult to suck. It's easier to use a syringe or to just drink from a cup. It may be undignified, but you'll be making a mess whenever you drink or eat for the first few weeks. Just always have a wipe nearby.

 

Two jaw surgery procedure last between 3-6 hours depending on the surgeon and the complexity of your case. Mine was about 5 hours because I had other work done at the same time (ASO + genioplasty). I will say that you don't really notice how long the surgery is because you are under general anesthesia. Once the put the mask on you, you're asleep in less than a minute then the next thing you know you are waking up in the recovery room.

 

I have had major and much more dangerous medical surgeries aside from PS and I can say that this is not true (in the USA anyways). All pre-surgery preparation and testing is done on an out-patient basis. There is no reason for them to keep you overnight before the surgery.

Of course you will need to stay in the hospital post surgery until the doctor thinks you are well enough to discharge.

 

I used to have a very big and gummy smile before the surgery. Now my smile is completely different. For sure my teeth don't show as much and my smile is less wide but I think this is normal for people who have their upper jaw impacted and get ASO. I have read that it takes months an months for your smile to come back as the swelling goes down and all the muscles/tissues adjust to the new underlying bone structure. Plus, I still need to go through 6-12 months of braces. Dr. Yoon is coordinating with my orthodontist in Shanghai to ensure the treatment is comprehensive and final outcome is optimal. We'll see how things are when I get the braces off!

 

Here's an abstract of an article I found about swelling post two jaw surgery:

Plast Reconstr Surg. 2007 Jun;119(7):2192-9.
A three-dimensional evaluation of postoperative swelling following orthognathic surgery at 6 months.
Kau CH, Cronin AJ, Richmond S.

Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Advances in three-dimensional technology have enabled applications for the clinical setting to be created and used in routine diagnosis, treatment planning, and patient education. The objectives of this prospective clinical trial were to determine the volume changes associated with facial swelling following orthognathic surgery.
METHODS:
Twelve subjects requiring orthognathic surgery were recruited for the study. Laser scanned images of the subjects were obtained under a reproducible, controlled environment with two laser-scanning devices assembled as a stereo pair. Three-dimensional laser scans were recorded over six time periods, as follows: T1, presurgical scan; T2, 1 day postoperatively; T3, 1 week postoperatively; T4, 1 month postoperatively; T5, 3 months postoperatively; and T6, 6 months postoperatively.
RESULTS:
The results showed a clinical difference in the mean shell deviations between bimaxillary and single-jaw orthognathic surgery. Furthermore, the results suggest that the mean volume of swelling was reduced by approximately 60 percent within the first month after surgery. Finally, the amounts of swelling following surgery were greater in bimaxillary cases. The recovery in the swelling was also faster in this group of patients.
CONCLUSIONS:
Three-dimensional imaging has opened up new avenues of patient care and treatment evaluation. The results have shown that the laser scanning device and the method described are a reliable and accurate measure of facial swelling following surgery.

 

I had four jaw surgery (two jaw surgery + anterior segmental osteotomy + genioplasty) three weeks ago at EverM and Dr. Yoon and Dr. Seo told me that people usually see 60-70% of their swelling subside within a month. The rest of the swelling can take as long as 6 months to go away and it varies from person to person, depending on how much bleeding there was during your surgery (they told me I had a lot because of the long teeth that they needed to extract for ASO).

I too am experiencing the same problem as you. I had my long face shortened, asymmetry corrected, protruded mouth corrected, etc. My cheeks, especially the lower, are puffy and it makes me look like I have a baby face. I am hoping my features will slim down and become more defined over the next weeks, as I requested Dr. Yoon to make my face more angular. I do have hope that the final result will be good because he showed me my post-surgery x-ray 2 weeks after surgery, and my bone structure looks fantastic now. I just need to remain patient and let my tissues adjust to my new face.

I will be doing rhinoplasty and fat graft consultations next week once they remove the wafer and screws, but I won't be having those surgeries until February because I want to let the swelling subside more. I will inquire about my puffy cheeks during the consultations. Hopefully they will be able to tell me if it's swelling or permanent. If it is permanent, then I might consider buccal fat removal.

 

I don't think tourists visiting Korea (i.e. people without a work/resident visa) can open an account at Korean banks. There's no reason for them to offer services to people who will be in the country for a few weeks.

 

Thanks for the update. You look so beautiful!

I must ask....How much have your scars from open rhino faded in the 1 month since surgery? And what is the name of scar gel the clinic gave you?