kevinator

Because I really liked GNG too and couldn’t stay in Korea for that long.

 

Pm plz

 

Hi Purse,


I know a lot of people on KKT were curious about my decision making process with regards to my V-Line surgery so I’ll talk about it on this thread. As you know, I did my surgery at GNG Hospital. However, I thought it’d be helpful to talk about some of my other consultation experiences, specifically EU Dental (since there isn’t a lot of info about them). The other two insightful consultations I had were with The Face Dental and Regen. The rest of my consultations regarding V-Line or genioplasty hella sucked (One surgeon told me he couldn’t rasp my mandible like lol wtf this is literally Korea where V-Line was invented. I wish I also consulted other places that are good for V-Line such as Banobagi)


Here is a link to my review for GNG.
https://beautyhacker.com/forums/topic/1014683-v-line-w-genio-gng-hospital/

I talk a lot about the difference between Dr Lee of TFD’s surgical plan as well as Dr. Oh of Regen’s surgical plan. If you want more details check out my post. But in short, Dr. Lee wanted to give me a conservative Mini - v line with a 6-8 mm advancement of the chin to create the aesthetic line and a conservative height reduction (3-4 mm). Dr. Oh wanted a more aggressive height reduction (like almost 1 cm) and a small advancement with some chin narrowing.


Anyways, I’ll talk about my experiences with EU Dental and their proposed surgical plan now.


So actually, I might have chosen them for my surgery actually but they were fully booked for a while. It would’ve been a tough decision choosing between them and GNG actually. The docs at both clinics were really good. But anyways onto my experience haha


At EU, I first met their translator Kayla who helped me fill in some forms. She was really nice just like Tony from GNG I explained to her my situation (Dr Lee vs Dr Oh’s diagnosis) just like I did for Tony at GNG. I was pretty surprised they printed my goal pictures and wrote my whole situation down for the doctor to see (Dr Kim not Shin). I also did a few X-Rays, pictures, and CT scans which were pretty standard. I liked how the lady who did my scans made very sure I was in the correct position though.


Next, I was able to consult Dr. Kim.

Dr. Kim’s diagnosis was pretty similar to the doctors at TFD and GNG. However, he was able to point things out other doctors weren’t able to such as my midline being off. I’m pretty thankful for this since I was able to point that out to my surgeon at GNG before my surgery to ensure she positioned my chin to improve my midline. Dr. Kim and I also talked about things like facial angles that weren’t discussed elsewhere. His surgical plan for me was an 8 mm advancement genioplasty which he said could compensate for my slightly protruded mouth. This was in line with what Dr Lee of TFD told me but contradicted Dr Oh’s. Dr Oh thought that advancing my chin past the gum line (I have no idea where that is lol but apparently it would only be a 3 mm advancement) would make my look prognathic. (I ended up getting a 6.5 mm advancement at GNG. I don’t think I look prognathic at least not visibly so to me). Furthermore, Dr. Kim recommended a 5-6 reduction of my chin height based on my facial proportions. I liked how he was careful when measuring my proportions like facial thirds and philtrum to chin ratio. However, I did find it a bit odd that he said my lower third was elongated while most people have said my lower third is balanced with the other two thirds. His style also contradicted Dr. Oh again as Dr. Oh doesn’t believe in following these ratios. Next, Dr. Kim and I talked about the V line dynamics such as shaving the genioplasty step off. We also talked about the different cuts he could do. He showed me two different cuts he could perform with the V-line (one keeping the gonial angle and one cutting it) and told me reducing chin width was optional. It was refreshing how he gave me a few options so I can incorporate my own aesthetic.


That was basically my consult with Dr. Kim. I was pretty impressed with his knowledge, but in the end, I elected to do surgery at GNG. I won’t go into detail about the price discussion but I’m posting this just to talk a little more about my experiences with Korea surgery clinics.


Thanks for reading

 

Most likely filters + cherrypick. TFD provides the most objective before and afters imo

 

Thank you and sure

https://open.kakao.com/o/gCMzcr9

 

My face swelled up like the day after. The swelling is down now though but I freaked out after it swelled up because it made my chin look really dam short.

 

Thank you and that happened to me too after eating 3 bowls of seafood. My swelling exploded again.

 

I’m about a month post Op and just wanted to update.

I do have a bit of sagging but I kind of expected that. Hopefully, some parts of that is diffused swelling. On the other hand, my chin looks a lot more defined since the area around my mouth (mentolabial fold) deswelled. The thing is my chin does still look a bit short under certain lightings, but I’m hoping it’ll look sharper and longer as the areas around my chin take into its final shape.

 

Sure

 

Picture updates : Post OP around 3 weeks

 

Hi PF,


I recently did V Line at GNG with Dr. Kim and will be writing my review here. I’m not a promoter but I’ll leave it all up to you guys to decide if I am or not.


I was pretty active on Kkt during my decision making process in Korea (esp Tfd group chat, s/o to all of you in there for the support ) It was pretty tough deciding between clinics. I won’t go into detail about my decision making process, but there were reasons why I chose my surgeon. I might make another thread about my decision making process later.

Please Pm me for more information or for my before and after pics / videos of it.


Introduction: I’m a 19 year old asian male living in the United States. I have had PS experience in the past. I had a tip rhinoplasty done here in the states before. I also consider myself really knowledgeable about PS and facial aesthetics having browsed a lot forums ie Jawsurgeryforums in the past though I could have done more research about Korean clinics / doctors and such. I really did wish I consulted more skilled FC surgeons like Dr. Oh of Bano but instead I spent time at places like Answer (No offense to them and the doc might be very skilled at rhino but it isn’t exactly a good place for FC and for the price IMHO)


Anyways, as opposed to most people getting V-Line, my goal was to reduce the height of my entire mandible as opposed to slimming my face too much. My face was already pretty slim to begin with. My other priority was to fix my receded and elongated chin and to camouflage my slightly protruded mouth.

Originally, I was only planning on doing genioplasty and then cheek implants too, but I decided to do V line (+genio) instead after doing a few consults.


Consultation process:


Originally, I wasn’t even planning on visiting GNG for surgery. I was pretty set on either Regen or TFD. However, Dr. Oh and Dr. Lee gave very different surgical plans, so I wanted a third opinion from a skilled facial contouring surgeon. I was talking to some dude on another forum who had tons of genioplasty consultations. (He ended up picking TFD) but he recommended I consult “the female surgeon of GNG”, so I decided to contact GNG. Their available time slot conflicted with another consultation I had, and I almost decided to just say **** it and not visit GNG. I figured so since their head FC surgeon Dr. Choi left. But because that dude is even more knowledgeable than me about PS and aesthetics and he said he liked his consultation, I decided to reschedule my other consultation and give GNG a shot.


When I got to GNG, I filled out a few forms and their translator Hailey brought me to get X-Rays and CT scans. The pics they took, amount of X-Rays and CT scans they did were probably the most out of every clinic I visited, so I figured that was a good sign. Right before my consult, Hailey had something to do so they brought in this really chill dude named Tony to help with translations. I still had some time before my consultation and I used the time to explain to him how Dr. Oh and Dr. Lee’s diagnosis of my situation contradicted each other.


The situation was Dr. Lee thought I would benefit from a larger chin advancement and a more conservative chin height reduction without a chin width reduction. Dr. Oh rejected Dr. Lee’s surgical plan and thought I only needed a smaller chin advancement (to the gum line only) and a very aggressive chin height reduction with a chin width reduction. Thinking about this now, it might be because Dr. Oh’s aesthetic sense is purely Asian while Dr. Lee took into account that I came from a Western Country. Dr. Lee also thought a larger chin advancement would compensate for my mouth protrusion and help me achieve a perfect Rickett’s Aesthetic Plane while Dr. Oh thought that by advancing my chin past my gum line, I’d look prognathic. They both agreed on a mini v line though since my jaw angles were already pretty small.


After Tony told Dr. Kim, she gave me her diagnosis of my situation. She agreed with Dr. Lee that I needed a larger advancement and a more conservative height reduction. She recommended 6 mm advancement while Dr Lee said 6-8 mm. I then showed her some of my goal pictures: Wesley Wong the Asian dude from Pacific Rims 2, this famous singer from China names Joker Xue (I think I showed this dude during my pre-surgery consult though), and Eren from Attack of Titans (Lmao at this one I know). She compared those pics to my current face shape and then recommended a T osteotomy as opposed to Dr. Oh’s “one piece V-line method” or something like that. She also explained quite well how she was going to make the V-line cut. She said she in order to create a straight mandible, she was going to cut more conservatively near the angles of the mandible and then more aggressively as it reaches my chin. She also recommended a 4-5 mm height reduction. She used her computer monitor and sharpie to draw an outline on my original face of how she was going to make the cut - - both profile and frontal view - -. This illustration really helped me understand her surgical plan and was a big reason why I chose her as a surgeon. I was kinda concerned when she said she was going to remove a little of my jaw angle but she said she wasn’t going to remove much of it. However, the angle isn’t something I cared that much, so I just told her to be conservative about it. I then asked her a few more questions and that was the consultation. The consultation was brief but concise and to the point.


After the consult, I met the consultant who gave me the price. It was a bit high, but I got a small discount by letting them use my pics + to write a review. They told me I could write whatever though. I actually later went back and got a slightly better discount by letting them do a video. Shoutouts to Tamara for helping me negotiate lol.


Again, I won’t go into detail about my other consults, but I actually went back to TFD and Regen for a second consult. My consult with Dr. Lee went well (He really is the most compassionate doctor ever) but not exactly so well with Dr. Oh (I’m not going to talk about it though since I’m considering Regen for another procedure, and I don’t want them seeing this) I also consulted Dr. Kim of EU Dental (Really liked him. Might have chosen him actually but their surgery schedule was all filled up for a while)


I ended up choosing GNG even though I don’t think my doc specializes in FC since

1. My doctor understood masculinity. This was important to me since even though I prefer Asian aesthetics over Western, I do live in the West, and the West does favor more masculine features. I definitely did not want to look overly feminine and PS in general is female centric. When discussing fat grafting which I ended up not doing, she explained why she doesn’t like fat grafting in certain areas for men, so this proved to me she understands male aesthetics.
   
   
2. My doctor seems like the type who listens to the patients goals but also incorporates her own aesthetics. Pretty important for me as I want a doctor who uses my goals and guide-lines and then custom designs the surgery using his or her professional knowledge so that the surgical result harmonizes with my other features. I also prefer a PS over OMFS as I feel they understand harmony better.

Pre-surgery:

I was hoping to get a second consult after submitting my deposit but Dr. Kim was out the days before my surgery, so I wasn’t able to do so. Also, I think I did my blood tests and EKG’s two or three days before my surgery.


On the day of the surgery, I was pretty nervous especially after I changed into the surgery gowns in their ward. This was like my first time undergoing GA since I was like 6 years. I then met Dr. Kim with a different translator (Jay), and she went over the surgical plan. I made a ton of notes for that last consult, but I wish I didn’t send it as it lowkey confused her a bit. Thus, I didn’t use all my notes and instead just told her I wanted a natural V Line and that I trusted her. I also talked to her about improving my midline and she said she would slide my chin to one side a bit to improve it. I think Dr. Kim could tell I was hella worried since she assured me she would do her best. After, my final consult with her, I had to sign some documents and then do the video interview. My responses were kind of short since I was just fixated and nervous about my surgery. Once I finished the interview, I was led to the surgery floor. I kind of freaked out while I was on the operating table before my GA was administered since I had like 6 people putting all these IV’s and surgical equipments on me. I was completely out though once I was administered the GA.


Post surgery:

I woke up feeling pretty bad most likely because of the GA. I just laid there on the operating table for a good I believe twenty minutes trying to regain my senses. Then, I was wheeled back to my ward where I waited 2 hours for water. Waiting to drink water actually wasn’t so bad; it was just the GA after effects that made me feel really bad. There was also the feeling of having to Pee but not being able to squeeze anything out. As time went by though, I gradually started to feel better. Dr. Kim came in around 6 pm to tell me my surgery went well and the amount of augmentation she performed (5 mm height reduction 6 mm advancement 7 mm width reduction). I thought 7 mm was quite a lot but it looks fine now. She also showed me the bones that she took out.

The night after my surgery was pretty horrible for me. I couldn’t sleep at all the the draining tubes were uncomfortable. I think I fell asleep at 6 am and was woke up at 9 am. Dr. Kim came in again at 10 am to remove my blood draining tubes and after that, Hailey called a taxi and I was discharged.


When I took my bandages off on Monday, I freaked out since my chin looked really short. I was convinced my doctor removed way more than 5 mm but everyone I talked to in person and on kkt assured me that it would look longer as my swelling went down. Luckily, they were right I went back to GNG for their red light deswelling and oxygen therapy pretty frequently, and I think it did help with the swelling. The nurses were all pretty friendly. I was also able to meet Dr. Kim two more times after my surgery for check-ups. For their aftercare, I’d say it was pretty decent and the experience felt more personalized than I expected. I heard large hospitals usually aren’t personalized at all but that wasn’t the case. They gave me deswelling treatments whenever I asked and provided airport transportation so that saved me 50 bucks on a taxi I also got a free facial though I had to cut the time short since I had to pee in the middle of it.


Results:

Overall, I think my results were very solid. My jawline contour looks more smooth and my mandible looks more forward grown and aesthetic. My chin is no longer receded and my face looks more V shaped than before (though I had the V shape already before). My entire lower third looks smaller and boyish which is the aesthetic I do prefer. The surgery definitely did successfully address my goals and I think Dr. Kim did a great job


My midface though does look a bit longer as a result of the chin height reduction, but that was a trade off I had to take and that I already discussed with Dr. Kim. I might consider cheek implants or a fat graft in the future to make my midface fuller. All in all, it might have been better if my chin was reduced 1-2 mm less but it is still better than my original chin height. I also noticed that my zygomas are more emphasized now but I won’t do zygoma reduction since my upper face is already kind of slim.


My parents are very against cosmetic surgery, so I was scared they’d notice. However, my results were very natural so neither they nor my friends / gf noticed (I told my gf though but only her). My mom did comment that my face looks smaller though Lol.


But yeah that’s my PS experience. All in all, I’m glad I chose GNG. I’ll update a few photos but pm me for them in the meantime. I’ll be on vacation soon though so might not answer Pm’s for a week or so during that period.

Oh yeah also its been over 3 weeks since my surgery; my numbness is finally going away

 

That sounds rough :/
I’m glad my surgery was successful though.

 

Lol Btw I just saw some of your replies on this GNG thread. Interesting... considering I did my FC surgery there less than a month ago.

I got a V-line and it went well, so I’m not getting implants to repair damage or whatnot.

 

Kakao

 

feel free to add my id kev2451

 

Yeah I realize it is much much riskier and almost irreversible but tissue ingrowth is actually the reason why I prefer medpor. I did a lot of research on different implant materials like HA paste titanium, bio oss, goretex but I like medpor because it almost becomes actual bone.

Anyways, please kepe me updated if you find more clinics that do custom cheek implants. I’m very interested as well and if silicone is the only option in Korea, I might as well go for it. Thanks

 

Apparently TLPS makes custom medpor implants. Their quotes were pretty high though but I’m really interested too. Dr Oh of Regen also does customs but only silicone.

 

Dr. Lay in San Jose Did a tipplasty and primary DES with him and results were solid.

 

My Id is kev2451. Please add me thanks