xofairy14

Hi! I made a thread regarding forehead reduction surgery yesterday, but after doing some research, I found out that MINE, Ruby, and MVP (edit: UVOM as well!) all offer the surgical procedure.
Any thoughts on the three clinics? (doesn't have to be specifically on the procedure above, just what you have heard/personally experienced from the clinics overall) Based off of my gut feel and what I have read from this forum, my impression of MINE have been the greatest, but it's still a relatively small/new clinic and I don't have a firm enough ground to trust solely on 1-2 positive reviews here and there. Some opinions/overview would be very helpful!

 

Hi,

I am looking for a good/reputable clinic in Seoul that does hairline lowering/ forehead reduction ASAP as I'm on a semester break. It's not a common procedure people get, so the lack of information has made it very hard for me to find accurate quotes and reviews. But my forehead is pretty high (around 8cm), and I want to lower it down by 2cm. The surgery is done by making an incision on your hairline to bring it down (not hair transplant). I have done hair transplant in the past and the results weren't satisfactory. A lot of my donor hair fell out + I don't have a lot of hair for full on transplant again anyway. But I might do transplant with the hairline lowering if it could help with shaping the forehead after and hiding the incision scar. I know ID does this (I honestly don't want to even consult there) but wanted to hear other options and it would be very helpful if someone can give me quotes as well (in the u.s. it's very expensive). I am currently staying in Beijing for 2 weeks and wanted to get it done here, but the hospitals are not as established as Korea and there is limited information in English.
Below is the description of the procedure that I'm talking about.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/eng.idhospital.com/facial-contouring/hairline-forehead-reduction/amp/

 

That sounds very reasonable for Dr. Oh Myung June.. and you're going to get 8% tax refund too but double check because I remember it will expire at the end of this year or next year. Not sure about the price for face lift though. You should still see the doctor in person first before booking a surgery and putting down the deposit. After putting down the deposit, you won't have any power to bargain with them no more and if you don't feel comfortable with your doctor then.....

 

Hi, sorry for the late response!
I talked to him via messenger (fb). He did send me photoshopped pictures and he warned me that my results would not be 100% in sync with those because of the variables due to your leftover skin/fat/muscles. Which I completely agree with. He photoshopped my clinic photos btw and I sent him over my version of it. I don't think it matters if he just sends you a random psed picture before even seeing you in person, you can even photoshop your own photo and see for yourself. Just a key note, don't expect your face to be completely slim after surgery. For my case, I have a small double chin and tissues surrounding my jaw which can be easily solved with exercise and injections. I have had no numbing at all (the weird feeling in my chin were swollen muscles explained by Dr. Lee, and they went away after like 2 weeks), so I'm really lucky or Dr. Lee just has a high percentage of patients without nerve damage.

 

DW, the initial price they give you is just a scheme to make it seem like you are getting a good deal after they give you the "discounted" price (so that you would do surgery with them instead of other places). So it won't be hard to bargain the price down below 10 mil. On some site it said the real price of V-line surgery (angle + chin) should be around $4k-$6k USD. The rest of the costs are just made up of commission fees, post-op treatments, meds, etc. Another reason why clinics quote so high in the first place is to steal money if the chance comes from foreigners willing to pay for that much. You can pick your Dr. if they are free and if you know who you want haha. Just know their full name because there may be a lot of Dr. Kims, Lees in one clinic.

Also, don't act too interested in going with one clinic when you are consulting with them. The trick is to seem neutral. Then they will be willing to bargain it down with you without being all..."you have give us permission to use your photos of marketing purposes/// post a review for us for -15% discount" bs.

 

IMO, you should choose a place based on how much the doctor is willing to listen to your ideal results rather than them doing whatever they want to your face. Natural results/ dramatic results firstly depend on the limit of your nerve position and muscle mass, then comes how much you make clear of the type of face you want. You won't get your ideal result if your communication with your doctor wasn't thorough enough (doctor giving feedbacks on what they can do and see if you're satisfied with the plan before surgery). Sometimes it's not the patient's problem, but the fact that the doctor chose not to listen at all and does the same style on every patient. Hence, research well and don't do it somewhere if you don't feel connected with your doctor. I went over several times with Dr. Lee at TFD over the type of result I wanted (removing lots of bones to make my face smaller, while still keeping my angle + make chin much sharper than before). He listened to my expectations and sent a psed photo of how my face should roughly look like after recovery, which I thought wasn't up to my standards (lol) and sent him over my own version of the photo. So I made sure we were on the same level, because just explaining alone wasn't gonna help me achieve the specific results I wanted.

Luckily, my nerves are placed fairly high compared to other patients and the doctor advised me to get rid of my overdeveloped muscles too (free of cost) because that contributed to my facial mass as well. The technique to get rid of the muscles lasts longer than typical botox because it's actually putting trauma on the muscles using shock to keep it from growing back. Dr. LDC also advised me of the same thing at View but didn't explain how he was gonna "cut" my muscles which made me fear for my facial muscles being injured. You get to talk to Dr. Lee from TFD directly through SNS without going through a consultant, so it's going to be no problem communication-wise, unless your facial structure has limits. Also, on this forum, people were saying how Dr.LDC gave dramatic results while Dr.LJK gave conservative results but it seemed the complete opposite based on the photos of the clinic's sites.

Haha, I'm actually post-op day 5 from V-line right now So I can speak more on my experience. Currently, I have a lot of swelling and yellow bruising due to the fact that Dr. Lee removed so much of my bones as well as my muscles. My mouth is not asymmetrical like the botched cases my mom worried over and the only part of my face that is numb is my chin (because I did t-osteotomy). But my swelling hasn't even gone down so I can't really comment on numbness. I saw my before and after Xray, and my face got a lot smaller. In the after Xray, I can see a huge amount of swelling composed of likely tissues & muscles surrounding my bones. The first 4 hours after surgery was horrible but at the same time bearable if it makes sense. To put it in a way, it's like testing your patience. I didn't feel that much pain other than soreness in my neck and areas where swelling occurred (it's like the muscle soreness you get after working out). There was no aching pain in my bones like some people mentioned (thankfully). Just be prepared to stay awake for 4 hours right after general anesthesia, while laying on your small ward bed. My major complaints for the first night was the first 4 hours of no sleep/water (but they do give u nutrition injections so u don't die), the hard bed which hurt my butt, how I had to sleep with my back leaned up and my legs were too long for the bed so it was just in a folded position. The overnight nurse was so nice compared to one of the day nurses that suctioned my mouth in a very rough way. Anyhow, be prepared to not sleep properly the first night or two. The nurse will check your conditions and suction out any blood every 1-2 hours. So it's not that it'll be hard to fall asleep but it'll be because of the nurse checking up on you.

[EDIT] Forgot to mention about nausea after general anaesthesia. You are allowed to throw up, but the feeling of nausea is ofc not so good. It would just be lingering the first 48 hours after surgery. I actually recommend taking subway home if you have someone with you. 30 mins in the taxi with traffic jam for me almost made me vomit. Subway is cheaper and more comfortable too.

 

You should consider consulting at multiple clinics in person first I would recommend TFD too if you're only planning on doing V-line (they only do maxifillofacial surgeries), since that's where I had my surgery done. For View, they quoted me 10 million krw over kakao, and 14 million krw in person (crazy) but I showed the consultant my conversation with them online and she talked with the manager and helped me bargain it down to 7 million. You will be in luck if you have Anna as your consultant. She seemed very genuine and caring. (she admitted herself that she quit her job as a consultant for a bigger but factory-like clinic before). View also guarantees accident-free since opening but def take this with a grain of salt lol. Anna shared with me how she witnessed the doctors doing fc surgery on a daily basis and all cases result in success. I'm just highly recommending them because this would've been the clinic I had gone with if I had to do rhino + v-line.
There's only JK I can think off the top of my head for the surgery combo as well. They give very natural results. Also accident-free. I have consulted at JK in 2016 with the dr. that does both rhino + fc. He gave me a cold and serious vibe tho.. and seemed a little uninterested/impersonal.

 

I consulted at both View and TFD, but I chose TFD in the end for V-line because of their affordable price. (4.4 mil). Also, TFD is a much smaller clinic and the experience felt more personal than at View. Dr. LDC at View was very nice and does V-Line almost every day// has had no accidents. In which he seemed almost immune to the risks of the surgery itself. Like whatever questions I had, he insured me there would be no problem at all. He's also very popular and surgery slot gets booked easily. Meanwhile, Dr. LJK at TFD was more serious and explained things more in depth rather than just saying they're not a problem. Also, Dr. LDC is a certified plastic surgeon whereas Dr.LJK is an oral & maxifillofacial surgeon. Dr.LJK does not only V-line, but 2-jaw and ASO surgery as well which made me feel safer to do surgery with him instead. View does offer double jaw surgery, however, but only with Dr. Yoon. I had a good impression with both places though. A good point about View is that they did not give me a factory clinic vibe despite having 15 floors. If I was to do multiple surgeries, such as rhinoplasty and fc, I would've gone with View since TFD is only an o&m surgery clinic.
Also from my recovery experience, I would avoid getting multiple surgeries if you are undergoing any kind of facial bone-related surgery. V-line surgery is the smallest amongst the facial bone surgeries but takes a great toll on your body. There was someone who stayed in the ward 2 days because they did both V-line and 2-jaw lol. I can't imagine how torturous it would've been having to stay 2 days in the recovery room for her.

 

Never mind, the fixed price directly coming from Dr. Lee is 4.4 mil. DON'T CONSULT WITH SOMEONE NAMED OLIVIA. She was the one who quoted me 6.6 mil (trying to get herself a 2.2 mil commission..gross...). There are currently no English consultants or translators at TFD, only Dr. Lee speaks English fluently

I just had my surgery there on Tuesday, and is currently very swollen as Dr. Lee "got rid of" a lot of my masseter muscles as well. I chose to do Vline with t-osteotomy but paid an extra 1 million krw for dissolvable screws because the thought of having an object under my skin is creepy as heck.

 

I highly recommend you to check out View. Dr. Lee Dong Chan there does both rhino and fc. I have consulted with them irl, and both the doctor and my consultant Anna were super nice (not pushy at all). Dr. Lee has a good reputation on this forum as well if you surf around. Regen is good for fc, but they're way too overpriced (guessing it's due to Dr. Oh Myung June's fame). GNG was really popular amongst foreigners starting from 2017. However, the quality of their results decreased dramatically....or maybe the reviewers were just glamorizing them to begin with for some discounts. There are so many recent threads complaining about GNG. I have read someone sharing their surgery experience from there and how there's almost no difference before and after her Vline surgery.

 

I was quoted 10 million krw for Vline on kkt, but another consultant quoted me 14 million krw in person. I did not do surgery with View in the end, but managed to bargain the price from 14 million krw down to 7 million krw. It just shows how much fillers are in the initial quotes. (my consultant was super nice though).

 

That's my estimation from reading a lot of threads in this forum. Basically, locals' price for V-line is about 4.4-6.6 mil krw, then zygoma should be the same price as that or less. Some lesser-known clinics who don't spend a lot of money marketing to foreigners may give reasonable prices like that to us. And there can be some discounts given afterwards as well. May I ask you what clinic you chose to go to? And if you managed to negotiate the prices with them? (I always go for -30%)

Oh my bad, I just read your reply to another person and it was View. Yup, I have online consulted with them and their starting prices are pretty expensive (11 million for v-line). Since you have put down your deposit, there's nothing you can do. But I'm sure it will be worth it because View is actually a really good clinic for fc and rhino (Are you getting Dr. Lee Dongchan?). Anyway, hope your surgery goes well!

 

Thank you so much for clearing this up

 

Wow, they quoted you 4.4 mil? Because I kkted them and they quoted me 6.6 mil krw for v-line instead. It's still cheap but.

 

I feel like 16 million is more reasonable. Most clinics charge foreigners extra, and for Vline + Zygoma, it should come down to about 10 million krw after bargaining (locals' price), then you have 4-6 million krw for revision rhino depending on your case.

 

I was interested in Regen for FC until I read someone in the forums here saying how they will close soon (the clinic) and any post-op care/ check-ups with doctors after they officially close their business. There was also the note of suspension for Dr. Oh Myung June from the korean association of plastic surgery website which makes me anxious to go there :/

 

Can you elaborate? What happened at Regen?

 

I also feel like the website is not updated nor does it contain accurate data to refer to. Like only doctors with last names from Kang to Kim (all K's) show up for the list of qualified ps in Gangnam. There's gotta be a lot more qualified plastic surgeons than that. They also listed someone from GNG hospital whom I could not find on the official GNG hospital website. lol.

 

Hi,
Long story short. I was researching and checking the qualifications of Dr. Oh Myung June from Regen (whom I was considering consulting with) using the official website of KAPS: http://www.prskorea.co.kr/English/main.asp
On this website, if a plastic surgeon's name shows up as the result of your search, it means that they're board-certified (part of the association).
However, his name came up with the note "Suspension of qualification" : http://www.prskorea.co.kr/English/hospital/?searchType=name&searchText=Oh%2C+Myung+June&x=0&y=0
The same suspension note also applies to Dr. Lee Seok Jun of Regen (another director plastic surgeon). So then I searched another doctor from a clinic similar to Regen in terms of reputation (not too many negatives), and the search result was completely normal (without any notes).
Therefore, I was wondering if anyone knew what caused their supposed "suspensions"? Because I've read pretty much all the reviews on Regen and there wasn't one that stood out as a "warning" against this clinic. There definitely has been fewer reviews of them this year though.

 

Hi, how was view? Their post-op care? I am considering to consult at View for fc.

 

That's pretty strange, I always thought parents consent had a legal effect. I mean you are still underage and is under the control/care of your guardian legally. I have done a couple procedures and always had to have my mother with me otherwise it was a no. I guess some clinics just don't really care..

 

Hi there, I was reading your post and kept wondering how you underwent surgery underage alone? Because I am currently 17 and I know as a matter of fact that if you're under 19 (international age), you should have your parent with you before your surgery at least for consent. Clinics don't see "written" consents as legitimate either. I'm just curious as to how you went to Korea and got surgery by yourself.

 

Hi! That's perfect because I'm actually flying from canada on July 5th! Omg i have no one close there in Korea but it would be so great to meet up! I think the bruising will go away in a week tbh. I'm staying in Seoul for 3 weeks and the first 2 weeks is for recovering while the 3rd week is more for going around places. xxx Oh you don't have to worry, I was just saying how banobagi rejected me for smt as small as ptosis correction and assumed they wouldn't allow minors to do fc since its a bigger surgery. Have u consulted with them online about it? It's true that there are other ways but the difference wouldnt be much unless you have a lot of fat & muscles instead of the actual bones; but its up to the doctors to check and see which procedures would be best

This is solely my personal opinion but I don't think getting laser for acne scars is worth it, especially around the same time as your surgery(ies). I have gotten laser done before but the actual laser that lightened my scars actually irritated my skin and caused new pimples to show up = more scars. And if you were to get laser, it would only be like once or twice in your whole stay and that's not enough to erase the scars completely. Unless your skin is not acne-prone anymore, pimples will eventually show up again and the process repeats like you said, + there's the need to avoid the sun, so I find laser kinda pointless. I have acne scars too and I use this cream from a Korean brand, ciracle specifically for acne scars. The cream doesn't work as fast as laser does but it costs 10x less and it reduces breakouts rather than cause them.

 

Hi Katie! Lol literally everyone is 17 here ahahha! I have already booked my flight for July 5th and I will be staying there 3 weeks. If you're going next week, do you still have school? A lot of people take the shuttle buses from the airport to their hotels (you can google for more information online because I don't know much either). My mom and I just took the taxi the last time we went to Korea because it was the easier way and taxis in Seoul r so cheap. Just make sure you write down the specific location and name of your hotel in hangul before flying off! I think it only costed us about 48000 won from the airport to our hotel in gangnam? Oh yeah and a tip is to ask for a receipt as clinics usually subtract the amount for your taxi from the airport to your hotel They did that last time at JW for me, idk about the less international clinics though.