ashly117

Thanks guys for the support.

A couple of things I forgot to mention but worth noting:
- This guy smokes. HARD. Second chain smoking is harmful for people recovering especially after surgery.
- This guy is racist against black people. This is very disgusting. I've heard him use the "N" word a couple of times.
- Will encourage you to pick doctors based off of their education alone (studying at SNU - Seoul National University is a good enough reason to pick a doctor in his mind) which makes no sense, as I'd rather place more weight on experience and quality of result. He pushed hard for this.

Please use this thread to expose him whenever possible.

 

Can someone make a May Kakaotalk group?

 

Hey guys just an update here. Jogak is awesome, but I've received some recent news about Tony that I'm not very happy about. I've detailed everything here.
# Please check it out. Sorry if I've mislead anyone...it took a while to see the truth myself.

 

I feel rather embarrassed writing this, but it has to be done. I am famous on this forum with regards to the back of head augmentation surgery with the amazing Dr Song from Jogak. I am also less famous for writing a review on “Tony” the Airbnb host that accompanied me through this process. After listening to what happened with other fellow forum members, from reflecting on my own experiences, AND from confirming with my surgeon, I feel betrayed. And so I cannot confidently recommend him to anyone else. I can see how things could’ve put me in a bad position, but I was lucky.

First of all, we have to understand that people won’t do good to others without expecting anything back in return. There has to be a business goal behind anything anyone does. No one will transport you freely from clinic to clinic and offer free translation from the goodness of their heart, unless this person was your immediate family member/best friend/partner .

Tony is actually a broker, but he doesn’t tell you this. Brokering for surgeries in Korea is a way for a middle man to be involved in the process, and they take a cut from the surgery. Brokers usually ask for your name and DOB to set up appointments and to claim the cut.

Let’s take ITEM for example. From browsing through my previous emails, I saw that ITEM quoted me at ~6.8 mil KRW for head augmentation surgery. But when I visited them, they quoted me at 8 mil KRW. They were willing to go slightly a bit lower if I payed by cash. At first I thought ITEM was crazy to increase the prices like that, but now I realize that it was because I had Tony by my side which caused the increase in price. ITEM pads up the prices to give X% of the surgery cost to the broker.

I also remember when Tony was on the phone with ITEM after the initial consultation, he seemed visibly angry and started bad mouthing ITEM. I cannot be sure on what they discussed since it was all in Korean, but it seemed out of character at the time. I can see now that he could not reach a proper deal with ITEM since I strongly said my budget was between 6 - 6.4 mil KRW.

See I didn’t know he would profit in such a sneaky way. All those times, I was feeling bad for this guy, and then I would buy him lots of dinners and lunches, which can drain your budget if you aren’t careful. This changes the context of decision making drastically which is very dangerous and shady.

I was lucky to find Jogak because the doctor is very reasonable and was able to accommodate me for the price I had requested for. It's also a small clinic.

I would say having a middle man is not a bad thing. Sometimes it’s a good thing. Tony actually achieved the results I wanted, but mainly because Jogak was very accommodative and I hated ITEM anyway… so he basically helped by not doing any severe damage which I’m grateful for.


Again, I want to say that the experience with Tony wasn't too bad. He made my time in Korea kinda enjoyable. Everything I detailed in my previous review was true. I feel he has a good heart...but misguided. Learning the truth has changed the context drastically, which is why I retract my statements supporting him.

I would’ve supported him if he was just transparent with his motives. Ironically, if he was honest and straightforward on why he does what he does, I would’ve paid him the cut he would’ve received from the clinics.

I will not be staying with him on my future visits to Korea.

Please don’t tell your Airbnb host that you’re coming to Korea for surgery.

I’ve also recorded us having a conversation when I confronted him about all this. His general way of mumbling and stuttering and making unintelligible words should show that he’s a bit unhinged and tries to weasel his way out of basic common sense questions . Best to stay away from this guy.

Here's the link (I've edited and shortened the convo as the original was like 45 min long):


mod note: link *REMOVED*

Also I would report the user @kkpeobe. She seems to be in leagues with Tony and actively PMs people around. She is indirectly responsible for causing massive problems in other people’s procedures.

 

Hey! Thanks for writing this review. I'm off to consult with View for sliding genioplasty. I'm nervous...I hope they have a lot of experience with international patients and Western like faces. Your review helps a lot since you look Western-ish haha.

 

I'm going too!

 

I was hoping to find a clinic/doctor that has experience with delivering FC results based off of Western standards. Like masculinizing a face by giving a more prominent chin or making the face more square.
I'd like clinics that have more experience with international males.

Please let me know of any clinics. So far my list has TFD and View.

 

Hi guys,

Many thanks and I'm very pleased to see that my review has helped many people.

If you're new to Korea and you're afraid, then I'd suggest contacting Tony.
If you're fine with being alone on your own with no help from a 3rd party, go for contacting Jogak directly. He takes a while to respond. Keep being persistent. It's really annoying, but don't lose your temper lol.

If you're really desperate, then find a Korean translator in your home country and call them directly.

 

^That's a joke isn't it? A google search on "Catepexy" gets me nothing. I'm looking for real answers here. Not trying to be mean here.

 

Wondering if any surgeons in Korea would be good at doing a procedure like this? Specificially I want to raise my lower eyelids to hide the whites under my eyes. I basically want squinty-er eyes.

In general, what are the best clinics/docs for eyes?

I've had this done in the states, but I think my right eye would benefit from raising a bit more. I was hoping if there are any good revision docs that can do this.

PS: My eyes are non-asian. They are caucasian like.

 

@DIDIER: Hey, yeah, I've had this problem too. I think he gets very busy and may not actively check his emails. Try following up every 3 days or so. I followed up and he will respond. I wish he was better in this aspect of the process.

Alternatively, if you know Korean or have a Korean friend, you can have them call directly.

 

@peri.winkle You easily look way better now. Look at those pics! It's crazy to think how someone can change so much like that. You still look you but way better. I think its a huge win for you.

That being said, I hope you also take this as a learning experience and realize how important it is to consult with as many doctors as you can in person. I even encourage you to over consult. This is your precious face and body we're talking about and it's honestly worth taking some extra days off of work to get the right surgeon for your needs. I recall you only consulted with 2 doctors and you were pretty much set on one of them even before landing to Korea to the point where you paid a deposit. You were biased. This was not the best approach imo.

And for the parts you don't like. I think you're being too hard on yourself Hopefully over time you'll realize even celebs aren't perfect. It's impossible to be perfect. But your imperfections lie within the acceptable deviations. So, you look great!

Now my turn lol. I want that sliding genio!

 

@Ohokilltry89io No, I had almond eye surgery which was lateral canthoplasty + upper mid face lift.

 

@zuniha: The cement stayed the same. I didn't notice any changes. I can't really feel the edges unless I really look for it. And even then its kinda hard.

@Wowy: I'm glad this review helped you out! First step is to find time to take 5 days or so off. I suggest contacting Dr Song and Item and set up consults either by yourself OR contact Tony (I wrote a review about him in another post) and he can set up the appts for you. Going through Tony can reduce the procedure price for you, but you'll pay about $65USD for his apartments, which is moderate but with free translation and clinic transportation. It's possible to find very decent places for as low as $35 on Airbnb without Tony. Your call. Good luck!

 

I'm going to give a big shoutout to my homie Dr Song at JOGAK clinic.
eng.headsculptor.co.kr

 

Also btw, facelift is by far one of the most painful surgeries out there that takes a long time out of you to feel normal again. I had an upper mid face lift for my eye surgery and damn I see feel the uneasiness 3 months post op. I've never felt like this with any other surgery (rhino, fc, etc).

And I'm not even talking about the full facelift here.

 

Wow, thanks for detailing this. This is a surgery I'm very interested in. Did you get vertical advancement? What was the length of the advancement? And what was the aftercare like?

For example, in GNG and EU Dental, they have some special pressure chambers and light therepy they do for de-swelling from what I hear. Does TFD have anything similar to that?

Can I also ask for a ballpark of how much you ended up paying? Thanks!

 

@zunizua: Hmm.. not too sure about the scar. I can't see it at all and in all the b&a pictures Dr Song showed me, I couldn't see a noticeable scar at all. My scar definitely healed very beautifully. I usually have a buzz cut and nobody noticed anything. My dad is usually very observant and he couldn't see my scar.

I started living a normal life Post op day 1 onwards lol. Well, maybe post op day 3 when I got my cast off so I didn't look like an ISIS terrorist

 

Sure! Also, if you haven't read it, you should read my post on a gracious AirBnb host named Tony that I stayed with for my head aug surgery. I'll be staying in one of his apartments again when I go back.

 

@zunizu Well, in terms of happiness, yes I'm 100% happy. Is the surgery 100% perfect? No. I don't think any surgery can achieve that. I'd say this surgery met 93% of the perfect result. This is great because I'd say if you can achieve north of 90% of the perfect result from your surgery, your surgery was a great success.

I honestly think the surgery exceeded my expectations. I was so nervous. This surgery gave me the WORST anticipation because 1) It is not common in America...and not that common in Korea too 2) There were like no reviews about it. 3) I had the photoshop fear lingering in the back of my head no pun intended.

This all could've turned out badly very easily, and I'm grateful it didn't. My right side profile improved significantly. I always liked my left profile, but my right looked wayy off. Now I look balanced and attractive on both sides.

You don't have to shave your hair. I did because I wanted to. Also, the doctor makes a very small trim to make the incision. It's easily hidden with hair. You don't have to worry about that part

 

@csolare: I may go around March/April. Not sure.

 

I just want to mention this thread, which I definitely used before making a decision:
# This was a huge factor for me when I started to look for alternatives. Also, I didn't want to go balls alone since I didn't know the language. It's really stressful to just even go to a coffee shop to order something if you can't speak the language!

 

Sure, I had tough time recovering the first week. I did not see the results until like 1 month later due to swelling. But actually I looked like how I was before surgery like 9 days post op. I was very surprised and happy that I was able to recover like that because I didn't want anyone to find out that I did something. I live with my parents and they knew something changed, but they couldn't figure out what. But they ended up not caring after the results kicked in, which look awesome btw.

In the first week, eating is tough. You'll need liquids to sustain yourself. You'll barely be able to open your mouth. You'l look like a damn hamster lmao. Also try to find movies to watch. I think the buccal fat removal made the recovery more painful because for like a month I couldn't fully open my mouth like wide. But honestly it's worth it for sure.

I don't know much about quick zygoma though. Also, I did my surgery in LA with Dr Charles S. Lee (who is Korean lmao). I think the prices would be slightly cheaper in Korea, but not by that much imo.

 

No CT scan! But Dr Song took a BUNCH of photos at various angles before and after. Essentially its more of an art procedure than an exact science, which is why the surgery is not common in America. Americans want an exact method to solve the problem so they usually opt for using the silicone implant method which requires a CT scan. The "Korean way" uses bone cement which highly depends on how artistic the doctor is. Also I did not need any tissue expansion...my scalp was pretty stretchy according to him but this would vary among individuals.

Also, Dr Song seems very precise like he was able to address my features and explain what he thought was prominent and lacking. His sense of aesthetics aligned with exactly what I had in mind which was a BIG factor in choosing him. It really depends on how you feel after the consult.
You may find better connected with Dr Song...or Dr Jung at Item...or the BonePS doctors. Good luck!

 

GNG is so cool! I'm interested in Dr Choi too for sliding genio. I wonder if the recovery is similar or easier than v line...

Also, why did you have black eyes from the procedure?