Why did I want rhinoplasty: I wanted to get rid of the hump on my nose bridge and also correct a bone deviation that was visible from the front. I also suffer bad allergies/congestion and have a deviated septum.
Why did I pick korea/Dr. Jin: Around late 2018 I started researching doctors in my home country (USA) and Korea. I am a korean american female in my late 20s so I wanted a dr familiar with east asian aesthetics, bone structure, and had a natural result style. I quickly realized I wasn’t going to find that in the US even in the big BH clinics on the west coast. Not to mention the cost out of pocket in the US is astronomical.
Out of the clinics I did a consult with online, I ultimate chose Dr. Jin because of his background, before/after, the papers he authored, and the clinic’s safety record/reputation. Primary rhino with him is in the 8-10k range. He doesn’t use any artificial materials (another requirement) and he is an ENT as well. He also speaks fluent english, responds to emails directly, does not have a consultant like other clinics for pricing, and he only does noses. One surgery a day was also attractive because you know you are getting his whole attention and energy. This in turn affects the price, but for me it was worth it (and still cheaper than the ‘best’ I could get back home).
Surgery process:
Pre korea: I sent my deposit by wire transfer to secure a slot. As mentioned above, he only does 1 op a day so if you are on a limited schedule like me, I didn’t want to take any chances.
Day -2: arrived in Korea
Day -1: Had a face to face consult with Dr. Jin to address my concerns with my nose and the procedures he will perform. This went very smoothly as there was no issues communicating what I wanted and what he planned to do. The plan was to shave the hump, cut the bone to correct the deviation, harvest septal and ear cartilage to smooth the bridge and also do a small septal tip extension. He clearly explained after effects and what the general result will be, things like tip stiffness etc. I also did the pre op testing in a clinic in the same building (ekg, blood test, chest xray).
Day 0: arrived at the clinic around 7:30 AM, got prepped for surgery, saw Dr. Jin again for a second consult to confirm what we went over the day before. I also decided to do an otoplasty (ear plastic surgery) on one ear to correct it’s angle. This came up during my consult and Dr. Jin offered to fix it while I was under anyway.
His clinic staff are all really nice, and his head nurse who assists speaks moderate english. I spoke mostly korean to the staff but in english with Dr. Jin (my korean sucks though). After my op I recovered in the private recovery room for several hours. I believe I was in surgery from about 9am to 3pm, and I left the clinic around 7pm. I was very nauseous after GA and even vomited, but it does affect people differently. Again all the staff were really caring and tried to make me comfortable during recovery. Before I left Dr. Jin took out some of the nose packing and scheduled for me to come back to get the rest out in 2 days.
Day 1: Typically he said he will take the packing out the next day and I was originally scheduled to come in, but after my op he said Day 2. Sleeping upright unable to breathe out of your nose sucks, like everyone says. I started taking the 3x a day prescription meds I received.
Day 2: Packing came out. I think I went to sleep as soon as I got back. They said I could sleep lying down again.
Day 5: Went in for a check up. They took off one layer of the head bandages so they could check my ear. I had ear cartilage harvested from both ears.
Day 6: Day 7 was a national holiday so I came in today to have my columnella and some ear stitches taken out and also the tape cast removed. First time seeing my results. There was a good amount of swelling but I was happy with the preliminary results. It was straight from the front, the hump was gone etc. It felt huge on my face and looked it too. Dr. Jin would have prescribed scar gel but I brought kelocote from home so I didn’t need it.
Day 8: went in to have the rest of my stitches taken out from my other ear. It was nice to go in and have my nose cleaned out as well because I had a crazy runny nose the whole time. Swelling was starting to go down as well.
Day 10: This was my final post op check before I flew home. He scheduled me to come in the day before I left. We took post op photos and he answered more of my endless questions.
About the clinic: It’s on the second floor, don’t wait for the elevators if you can take the stairs. It takes forever. The medical testing facility on the 4th(?) floor shouldn’t charge you, and if they do (it was 10k won so like $9) Dr Jin’s clinic will reimburse you or get you a refund. Small things can get lost in translation so they have english version of pre op instructions and so on.
Post op effects: This doesn’t apply across the board, but for me I had upper lip numbness, loss of smell, and a runny nose for the first couple weeks. The numbness did go away in the first week, and my sense of smell started coming back in the 2nd week. I just ate and rested the first few days and started walking more after that. I didn’t drink any pumpkin juice or take arnica, etc. When I asked the clinic about this they advised it’s best to just heal naturally. I tried to eat a lot of fortifying foods and I did drink a lot of vitamin c because jeju tangerine juice is really delicious…
About going to korea for ps:
Try to stay as close to your clinic as possible. Taxis are cheap and the subway is even cheaper but if you have to travel during rush hour on the train is really uncomfortable.
Download kakao map and/or naver map before you go. Google maps is the most popular in the US but for security reasons korea doesn’t allow the api to really work in korea so you can’t find addresses well in it
If you’re going in the fall/winter...or really any time, koreans love having the heat on inside so for me I was sweating everywhere until I learned to dress in layers. Don’t feel self conscious when everyone else is bundled up lol
tl;dr: I have a better nose now, but it's still my nose. This is what I wanted, but for sure it's about managing your own expectations and being really certain of what you want to get out of the process. I think Dr. Jin worked really well with what I had and understood the limits of my natural features.
If you want to chat or see any pictures you can reach me on kkt at yumichanel
