lemmetellu

I also want to point out there is a huge possibility of a second wave, so no place is out of the woods yet... but there is no city-wide or country-wide quarantine like in some places because proper measures have been taken thus far.

According to the news, ICN is receiving less than 5% of normal capacity. All passengers from Europe and a few other countries will be tested for COVID-19. America will probably be included in this in the next couple of days. Currently the test is free for the people being tested (so Europeans, etc).

Actually there has been a huge surge in infections from people being caught at the airport (Europeans and Americans). There have been people entering Korea to try to get free, easy testing and free treatment (basically free.. I saw some foreigners saying they paid $40 for 15 days treatment at a hospital), which sucks. The government is reviewing whether or not to start charging foreigners for testing and treatment since basically the Korean citizens are paying for it with our taxes. But the tests are still cheaper than other places (the airport tests are $150 ish).

BTW, I know this was mentioned before where someone said people had to pay $160 or whatever for tests, but that is only if there is no reason to be testing you (no symptoms, haven't been in contact with someone with COVID-19, haven't been to a country with many cases, etc). If you do test and it comes out positive, you get refunded the money. So basically... free.

Great decision! Hope you can come back when this all dies down.

 

So it's been almost a month since I last checked in... I don't think I need say I told you so, but if you saw the numbers coming out from the US and Europe lately I think that was inevitable. You can also see a ton of articles/experts talking about how SK has one of the best actions taken to take care of the coronavirus (yea there were some mistakes, but come on.. look at what is happening in the US and EU just like I predicted/stated would happen).

At this point, I think it is foolish to fly anywhere. Practice social/physical distancing and honestly... don't even think about making any plastic surgery appointments until a vaccine comes out (at the earliest will take 1 year... realistically at least 2).

At the end of the day... do some research and don't just blindly listen to whatever one source says.

 

I never said the response was perfect, but it is a hell of a lot better than most other countries. You can get all the information in my posts from some simple research (especially about US not having enough test kits.. which is also mentioned in one of the links I posted so obv you are just stating things without reading my posts).
There is so much in accuracy with your posts, but from the fact that you posted 3 comments in a row here and then in other threads shows me that you already have your mind set so agree to disagree and move on.

My friend lives in a dorm room where one of the residents got it so she went to get tested and it was free (and got her results in less than 24 hours) so I'm not sure about this... will have to look up more info on this later.

-------

Currently SK is at 80,000 tested (double from when I posted yesterday) while the US is still stuck around 400-450.

Another about preventing dissemination of information in US https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-anthony-fauci-trump-admin-stops-discussion-2020-2

Prob won't update anymore. Just wanted to give a different perspective but people seem unwilling to even do the basic research. lolol.

 

No this one works perfectly for my argument because they are still limiting the types of people that can be tested; as in those who have been to China or those who have been in contact with those who are infected. Italy (and most recently United States) have community-based infections as in now they don't know how these people got infected. This is the point some US CDC officials and experts are making; countries should be testing anyone who is showing symptoms for the coronavirus instead of placing these restrictions.
Please read what I wrote instead of dismissing it because you were offended. And if you are trying to prove your point, please provide proof as I have since you requested I do. Otherwise, I will no longer be engaging in conversation with you.

I doubt this will be over before the summer (and that is also what the news is saying as well here in Korea), but I can't be sure since I am not an expert (I did minor in public health at a top uni in the US.. it is just a minor).
The US military here just got their first case of infection so I heard they are handling it (no one really knows how.. it's the military they keep it private from the public. haha) I hope your friend is okay though!
I feel like Trump will put a travel ban on Korea before he does China, but who knows. lol.
And yea, I read about the Solano County case.. I feel that person was in contact with people in SF since it is pretty nearby and there are sooo many direct flights from Asia to SF (that's why I predicted earlier that SF def has cases). I've lived in SF for a while and just the situation there is so ripe for coronavirus to flourish. SF and NYC for sure.

 

haha thanks for taking the time to read my long af post. After I wrote it I was like whoa is anyone even going to read this? haha

I agree! I feel like some people are being willfully ignorant.. like if they ignore it long enough it will go away or something. The US global health security team that oversees the handling of pandemics and crises was disbanded in 2018 so maybe that's why this is being handled so poorly.

 

I'm mostly talking about Westerners (even though technically as an American I am one..) being like "Oh, this is an Asian thing.. those Asian people led to this..." while they themselves are being deceitful with numbers. I heard Singapore is doing a good job with this response but I haven't really looked up on Singapore and that's why I didn't mention you guys specifically in my post. I mostly look up news for Korea, US, and Japan and that's why I mentioned those countries specifically.

But if you want proof that countries are "deliberately downplaying figures," you just have to look at the US. There is plenty of proof.

Faulty coronavirus tests by CDC: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/25/cdc-coronavirus-test/
CDC's own site saying how many they tested: https://www.cdc.gov/media/dpk/diseases-and-conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus-2020.html
UC Davis medical staff asked CDC to test a patient for coronavirus but kept getting rejected until finally he was put on ventilator. When they tested him, he came up positive. ("The patient was admitted to UC Davis Medical Center on February 19 but not diagnosed until the 23rd—raising concerns about testing capabilities and health care workers’ exposure to the disease." https://www.wired.com/story/community-spread-coronavirus/
"The patient had not yet been diagnosed, but UCD staff considered the patient as a possible coronavirus case and asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing, the UCD leaders wrote. However, the patient did not immediately get tested for coronavirus because they didn't fit the existing CDC criteria." https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/02/26/california-coronavirus-patient-hospitalized-at-least-a-week-before-diagnosis-1263958 )

This is just a few reasons why I am saying countries are not being forthcoming about the actual numbers. I know this is just for the US, but you can find plenty of information for this for Japan and Thailand as well.

Just one example is-
Hospitals in Japan refusing to test many who suspect they have COVID-19: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/26/national/hospitals-refuse-coronavirus-patients/

 

LOL seriously? Please read my thread on the coronavirus or something. Numbers say nothing without context.
Also, people don't go around without masks. Are you here? I am.. I take the subway and go and see and like 95% of people wear masks are you kidding? Events are canceled and people don't gather in crowded places if they can help it. Don't spread rumors.

I would cancel plans to come to Korea just because sitting in an airplane might be dangerous and just traveling in general is sus right now but you need to stop with these rumors.

 

Ok, so if you read some of my past comments you will know I am a Korean-American living in Seoul.

Let me dispel some rumors going around about COVID-19 in Korea.

First of all, I would cancel your plans to travel around here if it is refundable just because why would you want to travel in an airplane when there is an infectious virus going around?
Second, if you do decide to come here, it will probably be easier to buy masks in your home country and then come because prices have risen considerably (went from like 50 cents to almost 3-5 dollars each now and almost impossible to buy unless you pay at the top end for like 5 dollars each. It is possible to buy them for under a dollar each online but those sell out in minutes).

Now that's out of the way, some people are blowing this way out of proportion and saying that Koreans are the second Wuhan, blah blah.

Korea has tested the most people for the coronavirus after China. Korea has tested more than 40,000 so far compared to the United States that has tested approximately 400. The CDC also stated that some test kits were faulty.
What does that mean? This means that of course Korea is going to have more positive patients since they are testing more! If the US also tested (particularly in SF, LA, and NYC) I assure you the numbers are going to be similar to Korea and Italy.
People having been asking to be tested for the coronavirus in the US but have not been able to since there are not enough test kits so they are being treated as if they have pneumonia instead. This means they are not being counted for the official coronavirus count even if they do have it.
A man was tested for coronavirus and came back negative. The hospital in the US charged him and his insurance $3,500. In Korea, all testing and treatment is free regardless of whether or not you are a citizen (Patient #1 in Korea was a Chinese citizen who was treated and recovered for FREE). This is a huge deterrent to getting tested and treated in the US since you will have to pay astronomical amounts of money. In Korea, if you get put under quarantine and your work will not pay for those 2 weeks, the government will cover your expenses. Obviously, the US has nothing like this for their citizens.
It is easy to get tested in Korea since there are testing centers literally every district and even drive-thru testing centers. Couple the free testing with ease of access and you get thousands of people getting tested which leads to it being easier to figure out who all is actually sick.

There is a lot more than I can write about this topic, but basically this is a situation where doing the right thing like Korea is actually backfiring because now everyone else in the world thinks that Korea is some random hotspot for this when I assure you every country has the coronavirus they just aren't testing for it yet. You really think the rest of Africa (other than Egypt) doesn't have the coronavirus yet? Do you guys know how must Chinese investment and people live in Africa? I am 100% certain the coronavirus exists and is spreading rapidly there and in all other countries. Just because the official numbers don't reflect it doesn't mean it's not true.

Thailand stopped updating their numbers as often, Japan (Abe) has strong incentive to downplay this (the Olympics are coming up and don't want it canceled... they let the gov't official working on the cruise ship situation return to work without testing them since it would affect work flow if they tested positive.. so apparently being oblivious is better than knowing the truth). The US allowed passengers from the Japanese cruise ship who were returning to the US fly in regular domestic flights back to their states (like Oklahoma). You really think those people didn't infect others while traveling in the airport/airplane? A third of the cruise ship was infected y'all.. and you could be carrying the virus without any symptoms.

This is all to say that yes, Korea is fighting the coronavirus and it seems like this is like the only other hotbed for the virus (other than China and Italy) but in reality, Korea and Italy are most likely the only countries updating actual numbers while all other countries in the world are hiding/lying/being willfully ignorant to protect their economies/other interests. It is only backfiring on Korea because everyone else is lying when really to stop a pandemic everyone should be sharing factual numbers and trying their best to control this before it spirals.

In conclusion, if you can change your flights and surgery schedules, I would do so just because it's not really a good time to be visiting right now in the current atmosphere. If you can't, I wouldn't be like super worried about it either. I still go to my dermatology appointments and it is just as hard to make appointments there as it always used to be (people aren't panicking and canceling appointments en masse is what I'm saying).

 

I can't really understand your post. Did you get your surgery in Korea or US?

Also, clinics that cater to foreigners may charge different prices but clinics that cater to Koreans usually offer the same deals since they don't have separate pricing lists (since they don't normally have foreign patients).

 

Ive only has one doctor and I provided a link to their website on the 19th post of this thread (https://beautyhacker.com/forums/topic/980396-double-eyelid-surgery-consultation-clinics-and-tips/page-2#post-32071146)

I remember for prom I got my hair done at a local salon but I lived in a place with 90% white people. As you can imagine, the hair turned out terrible and the hair stylist kept complaining my hair was too "slippery."
I would never get any facial surgery from anyone who does not have experience with people of my ethnicity tbh. While terrible hair for prom sucks, plastic surgery is supposed to be for forever. I strongly urge you to come to Korea (if you are East Asian) and get some consultations rather than getting more done in the States.

Girl.. I provided links to their websites. Please at least do the minimum research yourself. You can easily find their email or kakaotalk on the homepages.

 

Yes, he does. I got epi done at the clinic and it turned out nice.

The clinics I would recommend are Ive and Shinseung of the places I visited.

 

Yikes. I am so sorry that happened to you! You can contact the Seoul Global Center (more info here: https://legal.seoul.go.kr/legal/english/front/page/contents.html?pAct=freeLegalConsultationService) for free legal help. They will give you guidance on what your next steps can be. I think they will probably refer you/help you make a complaint through the Korea Consumer Agency (한국소비자원) which means they are required to give you a response to your complaint... especially if they changed legal documents that would be a huge deal.
I hope everything works out for you!

 

I am not sure about crease lowering itself since I didn't look at too many example pictures when I was there (they do have a book that you can look at once you are at the clinic). I'm sure he will do a fantastic job, though! But I do urge you to go to at least 3 clinics (I see that you already have 3 in mind) to at least get a good sense of all the different doctors so you can make the best choice for yourself.

 

I've been asked a lot in messages if I am still happy with my surgery. Yes, I am very satisfied! I recently went to a gathering with some friends I hadn't seen in years and none of them knew I got surgery.. they just thought I looked younger (lol Asian faces to white people always look young) and maybe lost weight or something. When I told some of these friends I got surgery they were shocked and couldn't tell. SO I would say this is a success. Even my close friends that I see all the time have told me that they forgot what I used to look like and forget that my eyes used to look different. So I am happy that my double eyelids look very natural and I still recommend Ive.

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I've also been getting a lot of messages asking me for help navigating Naver search to do their own research on surgery clinics in Korea.

Disclaimer: The following is a stream-of-consciousness of what I think a GOOD clinic should be like/act like. Obviously I am not the end all be all for choosing great clinics so take my recommendations into consideration (but not bible). I am not telling you to go to one specific clinic.. in fact I urge you to go to at least 3 consultations. You will get a gut feeling that tells you "yes, this is the clinic I trust to provide me with what I want." If you don't get that feeling anywhere, you need to go to more consultations. I would never go somewhere and get surgery if I just felt indifferent (especially for my face!).


First, some words you can use to conduct your searches:
Monolid - 무쌍
Hidden double eyelid - 속쌍꺼풀
Double eyelid - 쌍꺼풀
DES - 쌍꺼풀 수술
Revision - 재수술
DES revision - 쌍꺼풀 재수술
Inner epi - 앞트임
Outer epi - 뒷트임
In-line - 인라인
Out-line - 아웃라인
In-out line - 인아웃라인

You can use a combination of these to do your searches. So an in-line double eyelid revision would be 인라인 쌍꺼풀 재수술. But normally people don't include their lines when talking about surgeries.

I just want to say that as a local Korean, we normally only go to clinics recommended by our friends/family members. The 2 plastic surgery apps? Most people know that it is full of brokers and won't even download them tbh. They are known to use pictures from other places to promote their clinics.
The Naver cafes are also full of brokers (like 70% of the comments are from brokers now - usually you can tell though because they will spam the same clinic name like 2-3 times in a row in the comments from different accounts). You can pay a firm $1000/month to basically spam blog posts and comments from different accounts and make it look "organic." $1000 for a plastic surgery clinic is nothing.. it is like pocket change.
You will see the same handful of clinics pop up often and then never be mentioned again. Check the dates on the posts and comments. If the same clinic pops up within a month and then disappears.. those are posted by brokers. I see it a lot and I see a lot of people get duped by this. DON'T.

Yea, Koreans will look up clinics online and stuff, but we usually end up going to ones recommended by our peers (this is also how parents find the best hagwons for their kids.. the best places aren't advertised) and often the best ones have like almost no advertising presence online because they don't need to. I used Naver cafes and blog postings to inform my search as well since I didn't want to go into it blindly. If a place had a HUGE online presence I immediately became distrustful. No online presence is weird too since that makes me think they don't keep up to date on the new technology (and in turn on new surgical techniques.. which is also bad). So if I were still in the game looking for a plastic surgery clinic, I would look for a place that has a website (updated one in Korean but terrible one in English is fine because this just shows you that it's only locals that go to this place and not geared for foreigners). The clinic should also have almost no advertising blog posts that look like they are written by brokers or people paid to post something.

Think about it.. if you don't want to go to a place that seems like a factory so they only have 1-2 doctors at the clinic, they will be busy enough from word of mouth that they don't need to advertise online. They don't have to beg people to post great reviews of them online since the results speak for themselves and happy people will refer others to their clinic organically (like I am. lol).

The reason I made my original post on Purseforum in the first place is because I would see crazy posts asserting things about Koreans that I felt this place needed an actual Korean to give their perspective. Again, I am not saying I am some sort of expert. I just wanted people to have new places to take a look at instead of the same 5 or 6 places that get brought up constantly on here (most that aren't even talked about on Naver cafes tbh.. so they are geared to foreign clients).

-----

I am also thinking of starting a new post with dermatology clinics for skin care (like pore reduction, smoother skin, skin discoloring correction, etc.) I've recently started getting into skincare treatments now that I am finally starting to see the effects of aging. I have been getting aqua peels and have been going around to many clinics (aqua peels are non-invasive so I usually just go to the cleanest and cheapest clinic. lol..) There are a TON of clinics for laser treatments and lots of random names for the procedures that even I get confused sometimes. Let me know if you are interested and I will think about posting it here.

 

As a local Korean, we normally only go to clinics recommended by our friends/family members. The 2 plastic surgery apps? Most people know that it is full of brokers and won't even download them tbh. They are known to use pictures from other places to promote their clinics.
The Naver cafes are also full of brokers (like 70% of the comments are from brokers now - usually you can tell though because they will spam the same clinic name like 2-3 times in a row in the comments from different accounts). You can pay a firm $1000/month to basically spam blog posts and comments from different accounts and make it look "organic." $1000 for a plastic surgery clinic is nothing.. it is like pocket change.
So who can you trust? You can literally only trust your circle of friends or friends of friends to give recommendations.
I made a post on here (purseforum) giving my experience when looking up places and I ended up going to a place my uncle (a plastic surgeon here in Seoul) recommended even though I went to 3 different consultations.
Yea, Koreans will look up clinics online and stuff, but we end up going to ones recommended by our peers (this is also how parents find the best hagwons for their kids.. the best places aren't advertised) and often the best ones have like almost no advertising presence online because they don't need to.

 

Not sure what you mean about dramatic surgery.. like dolly? The most famous one is Cinderella but I'm not sure about their skills (their reputation is not amazing tbh)

 

Dr. Seo (Ive) specializes in both eyes and nose (eyes more) and for natural looking double eyelids. If you are looking for dolly, you should go to places that advertise a lot like Cinderella PS. He shows you what you would look best using the stick, but you can also tell him what you would prefer.

I know Shinseung is best known for second/third surgery epi (some celebs went to him to fix botched epi and that's how he got famous).

 

Hi,

Sorry I don't but I'm not like an expert on PS... I literally only started looking for my DES and then I stopped after I got my surgery.
If you can read some Korean you can go look on Naver blogs and cafes for the clinics you mentioned (write them in Korean).

 

I only searched for double eyelid surgery so I don't know about any of the others. If you want to see some of the places that were on my list other than the 3 I mentioned to open this post, you can check out page 2 (there are like 10-15 clinics on there that I was thinking about).

 

Hey, I would actually prefer to keep all of this type of talk (PS) on purseforum as I like to keep my private life separate.

I actually live in Korea, so I have a lot attached to my kakao ID (for work and private life) that I don't want to expose online.

Sorry! But you can message me on here if you like.

 

Dunno about that as I didn't end up going with him.
My uncle (who is a PS doctor) is the one who recommended Ive to me and after I chose my doctor I didn't really do any more research on the others. Sorry.

 

Yikes.. that's too bad for your friend. I hope everything goes well with her!
How did you friend learn about Ive?
This is one of the things I was worried about before writing about my experience here, because just because it went really well for me and other people I know doesn't mean it's always going to go well for everyone.

You are the one that went with MVP right? I know in this thread (https://beautyhacker.com/forums/topic/1007590-des-at-mvp/#post-33470775) you were like the only one that had a good experience with MVP while everyone was talking about how they leave you hanging in their waiting rooms forever and rush you. I mean people all have different experiences and they should go with how they feel about the doc/gut feeling is totally a thing I feel. I'm glad everything went alright with you and you chose the right doc for you!

Yea usually doctors charge different prices, but that is normal since they all have different experiences. It is the same thing at hair salons (at least the places I go to in the US and Korea) too.. the head stylist always charges more.

 

I kind of agree with your post - it really depends on how much experience the doctor has. I would say the sweet spot is a doctor in their late 30s to early 50s and that's it tbh. Late 30s is when they are like really experienced yet still have some motivation to keep up to date with the latest technologies.

 

Oh wow I randomly clicked on this just to see and your feelings of being rushed and being part of just a number is exactly how I felt when I went in for consultation (disclaimer: I did not go with MVP).

You should really contact MVP and let them know that they left some stitches in.. that is not okay!

But your eyes look nice.

 

No I haven't, but it could still be a good clinic! I am not an expert; just giving my experiences so people have more options.

I'm glad that it helped you! Let me know how your surgery/consultations go.