mimmiesmama

Looking good lipstick xx

 

Thanks Ms Orange. It is getting better day by day.
I had 3.5 mm silicone. Dr Kang was very confident it would look natural on me I guess because I have very thick skin. And it does so far. I agree View is very good at slimming down noses, like right down! In a good way.

 

Thanx Ladybugz. Where did you have your nose job in the end?

 

Hi miya.
No I don’t mind.
Give me yours and I will add you.

 

Hi All,
This is a review of my full rhinoplasty (Osteotomy, dorsal augmentation with silicone, tip graft with own septal cartilage and alar reduction) and full face fat grafting experience in Seoul, Apr 2019.

A big thank you, to Ms. Orange, Sugarbelle, Kris, Liv, Red rose, Mango Gummy, Lipstick Arsenal, JJ and everyone else that wrote their PS experiences on purse forum.

So why South Korea?
I had been researching rhinoplasty for many years and felt that the experience with Asian nose types was lacking in Western countries. Often the results were somewhat uninspiring. The brutal truth is that most of the surgeons in the U.K and the U.S simply do not see the same volume of Asian patients compared to Asia so Seoul looked like a very good option. This seems particularly true when it comes to dealing with flat and bulbous nose types.

I booked exactly 2 weeks in Seoul. For all you gals and guys considering facial plastic surgery as an overseas visitor and aren't familiar with the country, I would highly recommend you come with someone supportive. I found the whole experience extremely stressful and it would have been more so without the support of other PS forum members and my partner.

As has been said over and over again. Do your research! Have a good idea of what is it you are undertaking, the procedures and the potential risks and benefits. In my experience overall there was very little mention of potential side effects during consultations. Some consultants would go as far as to classify rhinoplasty as a minor procedure. This is just not the case! So please check the credentials of your doctors, the clinic and their safety record.

I booked 2 days for consults but this ended up being 2.5. I also went with a double-sided A4 checklist of questions and a slide show presentation of what I wanted and what I did not want.
I also consulted on other procedures such as abdominal and chin liposuction.
I had some online consults a few years ago with the larger PS clinics but just wasn't keen on the factory vibe.

DAY 1: VIEW & MARBLE CLINIC

VIEW CLINIC

View was very high up on my list as I had been following the results of actual patients on the View chat group and liked their results. Almost all of their patients seemed happy.
I consulted with Dr. Lee Dong Chang for my rhinoplasty. He was a very amiable surgeon and suggested >4.5mm Goretex bridge for my nose, alar reduction using internal Weir incisions.
I was expecting to see the other Dr. Lee for my face grafting but she was on maternity leave. I was not aware of this until I arrived at View.
I met with another senior Surgeon (cannot remember his name ) who gave me his recommendations for face fat grafting and abdominal liposuction.
PROS: Very well liked clinic with consistent results,
Consultation primarily with surgeons rather than a consultant with all my queries answered.
They do not suggest unnecessary procedures and are very matter of fact with what is achievable
CONS: Not much leeway to bargain.
They seem busy so consultant did not seem very motivated or interested.
There was less of a personal touch overall.
It would have bee nice to be informed that the Face grafting surgeon was on maternity leave

MARBLE CLINIC

I scheduled Marble a few weeks prior to my arrival as I saw a brief review on purse forum and I really liked some of the results posted on their website.
I arranged the appointment on their website but retrospectively I found this was an external agent who also represents some other PS clinics. Olivia was very helpful however I suspect the agent's fees will be passed on to the patient.
I consulted with Professor Seo who was possibly seeing me between cases but still took the time to answer all my questions clearly. He didn't blanch when he saw me with my checklist of questions or my slide show presentation.
Even though I was told that he speaks English the entire consultation was done via the English interpreter.
There wasn't any price negotiation and I got a somewhat impersonal feel to the place.

DAY2

JK CLINIC

There is very little on PS forum with regards to JK clinic however I saw quite a few reviews on youtube and it seems to be marketed towards foreign patients.

My overall impression on entering the clinic was very positive.
It was like a Shangri La, pretty upscale and very tranquil with its own in house pharmacy.
My consultant/interpreter was Yoona was utterly delightful and spoke excellent English.
I consulted with Dr. Kim Sung Sik for rhinoplasty who gave off a very calming vibe. I really liked all his recommendations. He was the only surgeon who suggested leaving off alar reduction as he was aware of my reservations about the procedure. I would have trusted him to make the decision after my dorsal augmentation if he still felt my nose looked unbalanced.
I also met with Dr. Kwon for face fat grafting and liposuction. He also had a very warm and friendly bedside manner.
Overall I had a very positive impression and really liked the surgeons. I get the sense that anyone that has surgery here would be well-taken care off.

Cons: Super expensive, the fat grafting was more than double the already inflated prices we pay as foreigners. Note pricing is done by the manager who I never saw. The only discount I could get was a few nights stay.
Again I was not able to see noses very similar to mine outside of the desk copy however I was able to see a sample of his work first hand (one of the members of staff) which looked really natural.

MVP clinic

I really had high hopes for MVP after Ms. Oranges recommendations.
Unfortunately, I think Dr. Seo was in between cases so was very rushed for the consultation. He spent about 5 mins with me, glanced at the paper in my hand said something to Ellen, the English interpreter/consultant and jetted off.
I spent the rest of my time with Ellen who was chatty and gave her own recommendations which I agreed with. She suggested we focus more on my skin and anti-aging procedures. She didn't feel that the amount of fat grafting I needed justified the expense and suggested fillers, thread lift, and a CO2 laser. I really appreciated her insight and I agreed with her then and even now.
Also, MVP gave me the most transparent pricing with no need to bargain.
I was not able to see noses similar to mine.

HYUNDAI AESTHETICS CLINIC
There is virtually nothing on purse forum with regards to this clinic. I do believe I read somewhere they used to be called something else but changed their name. It seems very popular with patients from Thailand. I was interested in this clinic as there was a B/A of a girl that had a similar nose to mine and her result was exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately, the surgeon that had done her nose had left.
My consultant/ English interpreter was Sky.
Even though I had an appointment there was a bit of waiting around as it seemed the Drs were in surgery. I really didn't mind though as it wasn't too long.
I met Dr. Lim for face fat grafting and abdominal liposuction consultation. He was very amiable and again I liked all his fat grafting recommendations. For those worried that some of the Drs look like babies on the Hyundai website, I think those pictures were taken a while ago. They now look like adolescents! Just kidding.
My Rhinoplasty consultation was with Dr. Lee Sung Pyo, it seems he just joined Hyundai and previously had his own practice in Busan.
Now Dr. Lee is quite a character and opinionated. He speaks English and did not need to use the interpreter.
When he saw my list of questions he was not fazed and told me he has performed over 10,000 rhinoplasty procedures and he set himself the task of answering all my questions.
He went through each and every detail with me as well as the reasons he would choose one method over the other. He probably spent the longest time with me compared to all my other surgical consults. He is obviously very experienced and has more than the basic rhinoplasty skills. He gave me the impression that he would be able to create a nose that would fit my face. Lol, actually he gave me the impression that he could create any kind of nose. He does seem to have quite an artistic bent about him which is important in a facial surgeon.
The pricing was again about the typical foreigner price and not horrendously overinflated.
The only reason I didn't go with Hyundai was that I wasn't able to see pictures of his work first hand. I waited a bit for them to locate his USB but to no avail.
Sky later sent these to me and while the results were excellent the noses were not similar to mine and by then I had already booked with Uvom.

DAY 3

UVOM

So Uvom has recently surfaced on purse forum, I didn't even know about them till I saw a review by JJ and I really liked one of their B& A on the website. It is slightly out of the way compared to the other clinics which are within walking distance of each other. I nearly crossed them off as I wasn't able to make the scheduled appointment on Day 1 and it took a while to reschedule.
One thing to be aware of is that their response time on kakao is a bit on the slow side so don't expect instantaneous responses outside normal working hours as its only one person manning that phone.
The head of the practice is Dr. Lee who seems to be very popular for rhinoplasty.
Dr. Kang does eyes and rhinoplasty and there is also a new surgeon who just joined but I do not know his/her name. I saw some of his transconjunctival fat repositioning results and they were stellar.
Choi was my English interpreter who is really quite sweet and approachable.
Eunice was my consultant. The majority of the consultation was with her but don't let this put you off. She has been there a long time and her knowledge base is impressive. She also does a lot of the preoperative documentation and encourages you to tell her what sort of result you are looking for.
It's not a myth, you need about 2hours 30minutes for the consultation.
The major selling point for me was that I was able to see actual B/As at the time of the consultation. The results are not photoshopped or heavily covered in makeup.
I was very impressed by their alar reductions and they seemed to have very natural results. Even though I wanted natural results I wanted a definite change. Too often natural gets misinterpreted as having so minimal a change it doesn't look like you have had anything done and in my opinion, if it doesn't look different then no point in going through a cosmetic procedure with the risks attached.
After a very long chat with Eunice, Dr. Kang came in at the end. To be honest, by this stage all the surgeons were generally saying the same thing so there really wasn't much to discuss with him. He struck me as being warmly neutral and quietly confident
All in all, I had a really good vibe and decided to go with Uvom.
.
The pricing structure was a bit complicated and I agree with a recent review on purse forum about it. I got a 30 % discount for writing a review as well as another reduction for making my decision on the same day. This suited me fine as by this point I was suffering from consultation fatigue and just wanted to get it over and done with. Uvom was also able to offer me next day surgery.
After my surgery, I did mention to the clinic that it is probably best to give patients a cumulative total rather than adding extra things and taking them off if one agrees to do this or that. I think most foreign patients are already aware we are being charged significantly more than locals and really don't appreciate what may come off as a whimsical pricing structure. As it is there is the cost of flights and accommodation so it all adds to our costs. Certainly for some procedures it is almost the same as doing it at home. This was the reason I put off abdominal liposuction. It wasn't a massive difference and it would have led to more significant post-operative discomfort.

Anyway, I bargained a bit and got a bit of C02 laser thrown in as well for some skin lesions.
We agreed on a price and my surgery was scheduled for the next day which was a Saturday. As an aside Saturdays may not always be the best day as if you have major issues on a Sunday it means you may need to go to the local hospital. I realized this when my plastic cast kept falling off, I didn't worry too much about it as I had an appointment on Monday which was brought forward on the day when I contacted Choi.
Choi came with me to the pharmacy to fill out the post-op prescription which again was very helpful.



DAY OF SURGERY
The first person I met was Choi, then Eunice and they went over the consent form and post Op care instructions line by line.
Dr. Kang came in for the final assessment. By the number of questions I had, he could tell I was quite anxious and reassured me. I asked him to err on the side of under correction rather than overcorrection.
My procedure was performed under sedative anesthesia and although it was administered by the nurses on Dr. Kang's instruction I am told that there is always an in house anesthetist in the building.
The nurse putting the cannula was a bit rough when tapping to bring up a vein but Dr. Kang said something to her when I winced in pain and she was more careful after.
Choi and Eunice were present with me till I went under which I really appreciated.
I can't remember most of the immediate post-op recovery. I vaguely remember feeling quite a bit of pain like a hammer had been taken to my face at some point and asking for more analgesia which took care of that. I generally felt very well taken care off after my surgery and Dr. Kang popped in at some point to check that I was okay.
Once I was awake I was sent on my merry way.
Be prepared for the nasal packing. This is seriously the worst part of post-op recovery. I was mouth breathing for 2 days and had to sleep with a damp towel over my mouth to help humidify the air otherwise I was coughing every few seconds.
The pain is bearable and more a dull ache which was easily relieved with standard analgesia.



DAY2 POST OP

I had my cast reset by Dr. Kang and the nurse removed the nasal packing which made me so relieved and cleaned the inside of my nose.
Then it was off for LED treatment which was about 20minutes.


DAY 7 POST OP

I had my cast removed and the rest of my external Alar stitches removed. I also had the CO2 laser by Dr. Kang to some skin tags and my 20minute LED treatment.

DAY 9 POST OP

This was my final visit as I was flying out in a days time. I had all the internal sutures removed in one nostril but the other had 2 left as was still healing and I would have to have it removed at about the 2-week post op mark back home.
Dr. Kang also gave me his email in case I had any issues/queries so far I have not needed to contact him as I understand I need time for the swelling to go down etc.

I am still getting used to my new nose. My profile has improved as well as the overall width of my nose. Most importantly I have no functional issues. My nose still gets congested at night but I know this will take a while to settle.
The columella scar is barely visible and my alar scars have also healed very nicely.
As I had a very wide bulbous nose with thick skin I understand it may take several months and up to 1 year to see the final result. There is still a lot of swelling on the left side of my nose as well as the tip and columella which is to be expected. The nostril asymmetry I noticed initially is probably related to this and is also improving. I hope the tip drops further.
The fat graft which was not a stem cell fat graft was very conservative as I requested from Dr. Kang. It looks like I will need more in the long run.


In summary:
All the surgeons I met were professional and answered my questions. I felt they were all more than competent. In a way its almost more about who gives you the best vibe and whether you can get a good sense of their style. Trust me you want a caring Surgeon because no one can promise you things will end up perfect and you will need reassurance if it doesn't.
I think I would have had a much easier time if the clinics would post more photos with different nose categories on their websites. It would also be helpful if they posted a portfolio of the work done by each surgeon. Too often I was told that this did not exist for the individual surgeons and you are left guessing who did what.

You need to get advice from the operating Surgeons, they ultimately know what needs to be done/can be done.

Have a very good idea of what look you want and what you do not. Over emphasize this.

Join a forum with the clinic you may be interested in having surgery with that way you will see and hear the good and bad. Do not underestimate the toll this will have on you. A lot of us face some form of post-op depression and anxiety and if you join a forum where people have been through the same thing they can offer a lot of reassurance.

Seriously consider traveling with someone or get a plastic surgery buddy.

Hope this helps some of you.

Attached are my pictures 2 weeks post Op.

 

Hi Bianchi143
I am going to Seoul 10th to 24th April. I just saw your post and literally sent Dr Paik an email 5 min ago. I am so gutted.