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strawberrytea

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Posts posted by strawberrytea

  1. Hi everyone, it's been almost 2 years since I got my surgery.

    I want to consider getting rib or some natural way of doing my nose, just because there is still always a risk with silicone. Nothing has happened to it, but I still experience the occasional "phantom pain" that I mentioned before. Since revision, especially with rib or some natural method is so expensive, I will continue to observe and save. However, I am happy with the way my nose looks, so on the aesthetic side, I do not have any real concerns. 

    I am still torn on getting my eyes revised. I am leaning towards doing so, especially if I'm going to do my nose again. I am pretty sure the line in of itself is completely uneven, so even though my eyes were naturally not the same size (one bigger than the other), this has just exaggerated this. My double eyelid scar on the right eye as well is very obvious and prominent when I close my eyes. I am not completely bothered by this, as I've just sort of accepted it, but it is something I am considering in the future. I would only go to Luho again for my eyes if I had the chance to work with the head doctor, who is famous for revisions, and is skilled with fatty lids. Because of the fact that it is a revision and also because I still have thick skin, I will have to take my time looking for a doctor who has a diverse portfolio with my case because I cannot do incisional. 

  2. Hi everyone,

    It's been a year now since my surgery, and I am happy to update. The remaining fat on my forehead, which I would estimate to be around 5-10%, looks very natural and is definitely an upgrade to my previous forehead. If it goes down more, I may consider topping it up.

     

    My right eye as mentioned before, is still uneven. Right now I am under the impression that it is just going to be bigger. As I have thick skin, and I did incision method, I will continue to be patient, but am starting to consider getting revisional eyelid surgery on the right eye only so that it better matches the left, which I feel came out more naturally.

    When I close my eyes, the line is very prominent. This is a good telltale sign of if someone's double eyelids are natural or not, though it's not always the case. The line still remains very prominent, whereas someone with natural lids or nonincisional, the line will be very faint and almost invisible. This is something I don't quite like either, but I have decided to wait until next year to watch and decide whether revision is necessary.

     

    My nose for the most part is what I like a lot. The side profile is very natural, yet has a nice curve, and I love my side profile now. The tip is still a bit bulbous, but once again, I have heard it takes up to two years for thick skin to deswell. I have noticed my nose does get bigger/puffier when I eat a lot of salty foods, or haven't drank as much water, so my nose is also something I am observing. My incision scar at the base is not obvious at all, and my alarplasty scars are very faint. I was not very consistent with putting on scar gel, so if you are more consistent than I am, I am sure it will go away completely. My nose is rock hard however, and I am still very careful to not let anything hit my nose. Sometimes when I put on a shirt too fast or aggressively, the incision point at the base still feels a bit numb. 

    However, lately I've been getting something is something I can best describe as phantom pain on the left side of my nose. I have found that sleeping slightly upright helps, and it is something that comes and goes. It doesn't exactly hurt, which is why I feel reluctant to call it pain, but it feels like something that is bothering me. I am worried that this may mean something more severe, like an infection, but it doesn't feel hot, nor do I smell anything bad. I also do not sense any sort of bleeding. It just started occurring, so I am worried. I will keep watching out and writing here in case anything big happens. 

     

    If anyone has any recommendations regarding this, I'd greatly appreciate it.

  3. Hi! 

    I'm a bit late to the promised 3 month update, but here we go.

     

    My eyes are a lot more natural now. I had an issue where the inner part of my incision line was raised, but it went away on its own. However, the eye that took longer to work on is still more swollen than the other eye, so I can notice the unevenness. It's not bothering me TOO much right now, as I'm still early on in the healing process (roughly 4 months), but it is still annoying. Overall, I'm really happy with the actual line: I got the in out line I wanted! I still have some mild ptosis (I can feel myself using my eyebrows sometimes still, but I can't tell if it's out of habit), but even with the uneven swelling, my actual eyes are more evenly sized and I'm straining a lot less to open my eyes.

    My nose dropped, but I'm still pretty happy. It's definitely not as high or dolly as it was in the beginning, but I was looking for a more natural nose. I will state that inside of my nostril there was a red spot that didn't go away for a while, but I had no pain. I clean my nose gently with a qtip as I can no longer use anything bigger to pick my nose (lol), so that might be why. I have not noticed any adverse effects to drinking or anything, but my nose tip is still definitely swollen and I do wake up with a more swollen nose. Right now, I still feel the need to contour my nose because of how swollen the tip is still.

    The fat graft to my forehead died a lot, but there's still more volume than what I had in the beginning. If I get the chance to go back, I would get a top up. I feel like the less round forehead also contributes to the less dolly side profile. My chin filler is basically gone, I'll probably go get a little bit injected again next month as I really liked how it looked. 

    I have not experienced any side effects and I'm very happy with my results so far!

    • Like 1
  4. On 6/15/2021 at 9:37 PM, kino said:

    @strawberrytea this is a great update! a lot of good info in here. looking forward to the updates and how the results progress. How did that aftercare at another clinic work? Was it like a special promo to specifically get after care / de-swelling therapy at another clinic? Lymphatic drainage massage, etc... It sounds like you didn't swell that much and the recovery went pretty smoothly, maybe the therapy/after-care gave it an added synergistic boost. Were you doing any other things pre-loading on vitamins (bromelain, etc...), hydrating, resting, walking, etc...?

    Hi! I’m glad you enjoyed the update. The clinic was called Point Up Clinic (right next to Pop) and it was an event on Gangnam Unni that was called 더불붓기케어, or Double Swelling Care. It was advertised specifically as a service to help with post OP swelling, so the lymphatic drainage massage, etc all helped. They didn’t really say anything about GU or having to leave a review for them, but I still left one (literally one sentence lmao) as Gangnam Unni kind of encourages you to do so when you sign up for an event. 

    The cost of the service was 123,000 won if I remember correctly, and it was a bit higher because I added on the bruise care. I had semi long yellow bruising down my face in the center right next to my nose, as well as a tiny dark purple bruise on my right eye’s outer corner (looked like bad eyeliner LOL), but for me this was a bit more severe as I had no bruising on my face at all until towards cast removal day. The deswelling treatment alone was advertised as 79,000 won if I remember correctly. It made me feel happier and more cheerful as it was basically just a really nice facial that emphasized deswelling LOL, but definitely not something I would say greatly contributed to my recovery process. 

    I took bromelain on and off for two weeks before my surgery, and to be honest I have no clue if it did anything. I wouldn’t say I’m the type to bruise easily, and I also don’t swell up for a long period of time. (Ex. The puffiness in my face right when I wake up usually settles down relatively fast). I walked an insane amount everyday, I basically took this as an opportunity to see Korea as it was my first time going in nearly a decade. I think I’d walk minimum close to 10,000 steps (~5 miles) everyday, and this wasn’t intentional! As I just shopped and traveled, I naturally accumulated that many steps. I think it also helped that the area I was in was really steep.

    I did not take any other vitamins. I tried to drink more water both pre OP and I’d say for around 2 days post OP, but I don’t really drink a lot of water (it’s so bad lol) and I’m going to try to up my water intake as I naturally eat a lot of spicy and salty food. I’m still sleeping with a neck pillow and start off sleeping upright (I slide off a lot throughout the night), and I think I might sleep with the neck pillow indefinitely as it’s preventing me from fully turning to my side when I sleep, as I’m normally a side sleeper. Hopefully I can break the habit eventually.

    • Like 1
  5. Firstly, I will note that I am relatively fluent in Korean. However, here are some things that I compiled to make your trip easier, both surgery related and other random tidbits that I personally didn't see online! Note that some of these things are COVID/quarantine specific, so some advice may seem/become outdated. Note that I haven't had any bone shaving/cutting surgery, so I can't give tips regarding those things. Some people have reached out to me thinking I got zygoma or vline, etc, and I just want to state that I have not gotten any of those procedures and will not get them in the future either. 

    - Post OP review (Primary DES/Rhino/Forehead FG)

    - Consultation Journey

     

    QUARANTINE TIPS

    First, book your airbnb in advance ( a month ahead if you can). I was able to save the PDF with the address (which was disclosed to me in advance because I booked it so early), which was massively helpful for filling out the quarantine forms as I had an address to put down. I did have to mention that I would be quarantining in a government facility, but it wasn’t annoying at all.

    Also, before you book, make sure to ask the host if they’re okay with being your point of contact at the airport, especially if you’re landing at an odd hour. I landed at 5 AM, which meant my clinic would be closed, so I made sure to ask my host before I booked the trip and also sent her a reminder the day before.

    Don’t take my word for it, but it seems that the quarantine rate is 1.68 mil. I budgeted 2 mil just in case, but it seems that 1.68 is the standard. I used the service CallnVan to book a private taxi out of quarantine as I was on a time crunch and wanted to get out ASAP, and it was very simple to use. The Google Translate works fine on their website, but they do not disclose the driver’s information until 24-48 hours before your drive. If you need to disclose that information to your hotel earlier (like I did), you can contact them and ask to have that information sent a bit earlier. You pay directly to the taxi driver, and they prefer cash but they also take card.

     

    TRANSPORTATION

    Secondly, I don’t really think it’s super important to book extremely close to your clinic, though of course that would be the most convenient. My airbnb was in Gangnam but a different neighborhood, so it was roughly ~25-30 minutes to get to my clinic. I think as long as you’re within 25-30 minutes away from your clinic, you’ll be fine. However, it didn’t really bother me and I got around just fine. Plus, it’s an easy way to get your steps in. Also, it’s incredibly easy to navigate the transportation system in Korea. I personally used Naver Maps, but I know a lot of people also like Kakao Maps.

    The taxis are also easy to call. You can just hail one from the street (if it says 빈차, that means the car is empty and you can raise your hand for it to come to you), but you can also call using Kakao Taxi and pay with your Tmoney card (that you can recharge at convenience stores or subway stops, and it can only be recharged with cash). Obviously, you will need a Korean phone number for this.

     

    THINGS TO BUY

    Buy a bucket hat! If you’re getting fat grafting, buy one with a huge brim so that even when it’s angled, it’s partially covering your face. I brought one and bought one while I was in Korea, and really liked the one I bought (though it’s ugly af) because the brim had a wire that I could use to adjust the front, which made it much easier to hide my eyes.

    Buy or bring some cleansing pads so that your skin is still looking nice as you recover. I went to Olive Young before my surgery and bought the cheapest blotting sheets, cleansing pads from Round Lab (highly recommend), and cotton pads to use to put on my toner and lotion. I only had one pimple that formed (on my nose), and the cleansing pads felt really great! I also bought qtips and used them to apply ointment, clean my nose, and also to clean my eyes from any gunk in the morning.

    The best thing I bought were reusable straws from Daiso. I had a couple days before my surgery date to look around Seoul, and bought a 5 pack of reusable metal straws from Daiso for roughly 2 dollars USD. It’s incredibly helpful, especially when you shouldn’t really be looking down. For the first couple days, it was hard to clean my mouth after brushing my teeth so I literally had to fill a cup with water and suck it up through the straw to spit the toothpaste out. Disgusting, but no one else has talked about this so I thought it would be helpful to mention.

    Also, when I went (late May-mid June), there were quite a few days where it rained. My airbnb had a lot of umbrellas, but keep that in mind and pack some light long sleeves and jackets, as well as big loose pants and long dresses, especially if you’re getting fg! I only brought one jacket and really regretted it. It's also disgustingly humid. I powered through and still went out nearly every day, but if you'd rather get your steps in at night, you can do that too. 

    BUY GAUZE AND SURGICAL TAPE. I completely forgot to and constantly woke up throughout the night my first night because blood kept dripping down my nose and I straight up looked monsterous. These will save your life the first few days of rhino.

     

    GENERAL ADVICE

    It is NOT true that everyone is walking around in bandages, I honestly don’t know why people say that. I’ve seen two people total with bandaids, and both times they were at the lobby to get to the elevator to the clinic. Some people may react, but just know that you’re never going to see them and you need to get your steps in to deswell anyways. Most don’t really care though. I was a little self conscious since I was so swollen, but if you just take in stride no one else will care, as a lot of people get PS here and if you stay in Gangnam, there are tons of clinics, so they’re familiar with swollen faces haha. I stopped wearing a hat once I hit the two week mark, and it was obvious I got my eyes done but no one cared.

    GET A KOREAN SIM CARD. DON’T get KT’s, as it was incredibly annoying as it doesn’t work for authentication, meaning you can’t use majority of food delivery apps. If you can speak Korean, you can still directly call the restuarant and ask to have them deliver, but it’s obviously much more convenient to just be able to order delivery. Plus, they have way more coupons and deals online. You also have to have a phone number to make reservations at restaurants or to book your hair washing, plus nowadays you need to put down a number in case there was a confirmed case of COVID at a place you visited. I ended up using my phone # and calling way more frequently than I thought I would need to (I had to add more minutes actually), so I was really grateful I decided to get a SIM card instead of a pocket wifi.

    If you can speak or know just some words in Korean, a lot of people will appreciate it. They know you’re a foreigner, and they really like it as it’s seen as a sign of effort. I went to go get my hair washed at Juno Hair and had a very pleasant experience as they were incredibly kind and we were able to chat! They even said they wished they could see my face 2-3 months from now LOOL. Honestly, service here in Korea is really top notch and all the people I’ve met so far makes me wish I could stay here longer.

     

    You technically can get by without knowing a single word of Korean, but knowing some common words will help you out a lot! You can use Papago and endic.naver.com to look up pronunciation and more words that you think you’ll end up using frequently.

    결제 = pay

    현금 =  cash

    사후관리/사후케어/애프터케어 = aftercare

    예약 = reservation

    성함 = name

    서명 = signature

    호박즙 = pumpkin juice

    쌍수 = double eyelid surgery

    코수술 = nose job

    무보형물 = no foreign implant

    보형물 = foreign implant

    여권 = passport

    • Like 3
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  6. Hi everyone,

     

    I have gotten my procedures done at Luho and posted a very extensive 2 week diary. I will not be sharing B&A photos, and prices stated in this thread are accurate to what I paid. I will state that I most likely got these prices because I was able to communicate with the consultant (who is the person you initially negotiate with) in full Korean, and my nose and eyes were relatively straight forward. 

    As you can see, I was initially looking to do my nose and eyes at separate clinics. However, I was thrown off by JT's consultants as they were pushy and not willing to negotiate, and after reading more of Dr. Kim (Luho)'s reviews and seeing more B&As, I thought they were a bit more diverse whereas I personally thought JT's noses seemed to follow a certain style. However, I think both of them do lovely noses so I am not saying one clinic is better than the other, but rather that Luho's aesthetics aligned better with mine. 

    Thanks for following me through this journey!

    • Like 1
  7. If you want to know my reasoning for going to Luho as well as other clinics I have consulted, please feel free to check out my other post.

    I have finally come back from Korea and thought I’d post my VERY detailed 2 week post op journey. I will check back in for a 3 month update, and hopefully 6 month and 1 year!

    Procedures Received

    - Eyes: Primary Incisional DES + Ptosis Correction (in-out line)

    - Nose: Primary rhinoplasty (silicone implant, alarplasty, tipplasty with ear and septal cartilage)

    - Forehead: Fat Grafting to forehead only 

    - Etc: Masseter botox (got a bad clenching problem), Chin filler 

    —> I only did the botox and filler at Luho because of convenience. There are cheaper clinics and clinics that only do filler and botox that you can check out instead! That being said, I’ve experienced no problems with the botox or the filler. 

    T-1 Consultation

    There was no wait for the consultation! When I went in, I was so happy because I could tell it was going to go well. A lot of people say when you know, you know, and that’s the vibe I got with Dr. Kim. He was confident and really personable. He personally recommended a line that was higher than what I liked, so he grabbed another line the second go and it was exactly the style I liked. Both lines were in out, with the only difference being the height. He also can speak English so we spoke in a mix of English and Korean!

    He said anything besides ptosis correction and incisional DES seemed unnecessary for my eyes when I brought up possible lower cantho and epi. The line he grabbed for me matched the line I had brought in for photos. 

    I said I wasn’t sure if I should go for the rhino and fg as my friends and family told me it seemed unnecessary (but I personally wanted to do both) and he recommended it, but emphasized multiple times that it’s ultimately my choice. He said we would use ear and septal, with max 4 mm implant but most likely 2-3 (he said he can’t tell me right now the exact number as it’s something that’s decided in the OR and after further assessment), with it being on the higher end (3-4) if I decide to do my forehead, and lower (1-2) if I don’t.  My forehead is also sunken in so we did decide to go for the fg as one of my concerns was how flat my face is.

    After, I met with the consultant and confirmed date and time. We went over the warranty period, etc and that was that!

    After meeting with the doctor, I felt very confident that I made a good choice and my friend agreed!

     

    Day 0 (D-Day)

    I went to the clinic by myself and arrived literally a minute before my appointment haha, but had to wait around 20 minutes. There were SO many girls in the waiting room! Once they called me, I paid and had one last consultation with the doctor. We went over the surgeries we would do, and then I went to go wash my face and waited a little bit.

    In the OR, he went over my line one more time and got the line I wanted in one go. While making marks for my nose, he also suggested chin filler, which is something I was actually already considering as my chin is very short and round. He offered to just do it for free, so I just said yes LOL. He said he’ll do max 1cc, and with that we started the DES.

    It was very trippy, I think the music blended in with the bursts of color and I couldn’t tell if I was dreaming or not LOOL. Eventually it faded and I could feel/hear the fat burning. I felt some tugging when they were working on the stitches, and he let me know how much longer it would take when I said it was a bit uncomfortable.

    Personally, I always liked my left eye a lot more. It looks better with makeup, its bigger, etc. He took longer with my right eye and made me open and close my eyes multiple times. He’s super meticulous. He did tell me that I didn’t bleed at all on my left eye, but bled a little on my right so it led to my right eye being a bit more swollen than my left, but told me not to worry about it.

    Once the DES was finished I was off to take a mandatory pee break lol and came back. It was super cold in the OR and whatever they were applying on my legs for my fg made me shiver IT WAS SO COLD. But, I don’t even remember knocking out. To be honest, when I woke up, it was all done and it felt like I dreamt the walk to the recovery room because I was super loopy.

    I remember saying my throat is hella dry (in Korean) and the nurse who walked me to my room laughed at my wording and said it’s usually like that. The warm bed made me feel a lot better, and I asked her if I could use my phone, but she said no because I could end up dropping it on my face, so I tried resting. The doctor came in a bit later, and said my forehead looked really nice and showed me through the mirror but I was like i can’t seeeee LOL so he laughed and said alright and told me not to worry about my right eye being swollen and said the surgery came out really well.

    After some time, I got ready and the consultant went over all the aftercare. They provided a moisturizer, sheet masks, and eye mask/pack. I went to the pharmacy donwstairs to get my medication and pumpkin juice and went home! They didn’t give me cotton to put under my nose but I stared bleeding during dinner. I have a makeshift cotton gauze on right now, horrendous bruising on my thighs from the fg!

     

    TL;DR

     

    DES: felt a bit of tugging, right eye took longer since I bled and it’s naturally smaller.

     

    Rhino: Looks super natural so far, am extremely swollen so can’t tell for tip.

     

    FG: My forehead actually mildly hurt a little (like a tension headahce), which im assuming is due to the fg. It doesn’t look unnaturally swollen at all; it looks so nice and natural. I finally understand what people say about your skin looking glowy when u get fg! im really glad I did it.

     

    Chin filler: It looks really good! My friend even asked me if i did anything because my face looked much more v shaped. It looks really natural!

     

     

    Day 1 Post OP

    Woke up multiple times throughout the night as my nose kept bleeding. Finally got to sleep consistently later in the morning and my face was extremely swollen. After icing my face, the swelling went down but the most effective was definitely going out. I went shopping and my face (especially my eyes) were considerably less swollen. I drank pumpkin juice 3x a day but haven’t noticed any difference from the juice directly, but it’s something light and easy to eat when you need to take your meds.

     

    All the pharmacies around me were closed due to it being a Sunday, but luckily the ones in Myeongdong were open. I bought gauze and tape and the bleeding became much easier to handle. Obsessed with my forehead but hate having to constantly readjust my hat to make sure it’s not pressing down!

     

    Day 2 Post OP

    I woke up in the middle of the night as the gauze fell off. I retaped the gauze and went back to sleep LOL but kept waking up as I noticed I slid down more than I did the first night. At one point I just wanted to completely lie down and sleep, but sucked it up and kept readjusting myself.

    First thing I noticed was that I was incredibly swollen, more than yesterday for sure. I drank some pumpkin juice with my meds, and taped up more gauze and got ready to head to the clinic.

    Once I got there, they finally took the cotton out of my nose and cleaned up my stitches. The doctor came in and checked in on me and said I’m healing well and not to worry about the slight uneven swelling. He told me my silicone implant was 4 mm, and told me to come back in two days. The whole process took literally 10 minutes and I regretted not putting new gauze under my nose as I was really sniffly. I powered through and headed home and cleaned my room until it was time to get my hair washed.

    After getting it washed, I felt so much cleaner and happier and noticed that the swelling has gone down a lot too. However, my smile is incredibly wonky right now.

     

    Day 3 Post OP

    Face, especially my cheeks, are extremely swollen and I slid off in my sleep once again. Will plan on adding more pillows to prop myself up better tonight. Don’t know if pumpkin juice is doing anything, but I do feel better eating something in the morning.

    Feel shitty having to wear my bucket hat and constantly adjust it as it makes my hair sweaty as well, but it’s fine. Worst part is the constant sneezing, apparently it’s caused by the nose hairs growing back? Trying my best to sneeze with my mouth open but it’s gross and I’m paranoid every time I feel my nose scrunch as I try to sneeze.

    Walked around again today and it seems like my swelling after walking around seems ends up going back down to around day 2 post op. After icing my cheeks, my face deswelled a lot.

    FG bruises are still gnarly and hurt a little when sitting down. They’ve gone from red to a deep purple, and I think walking, using a hot pack and time has helped it start change colors.

    My nose has gotten noticeably smaller since taking out the cotton, but it still feels stuffy since I have so much crusties stuck.

    I ate spicy food for dinner and my face has clearly doubled in size. Regretting my choices only partially because it was so good; going to chug some water to flush out the salt as much as possible.

     

    Day 4 Post OP

    I had a relatively easier time waking up this morning, and looked less swollen than i have other mornings. I probably would've been even less swollen if I didn’t eat anything spicy, but hopefully walking around today will help. I drank two cans of pineapple juice last night and don’t know if that helped LOL.

    I noticed some light yellow bruises on the lower half of my cheeks, so I will start putting a warm compress to help. Bruises on fg are either red or deep purple, so I’ve been putting hot compresses on them to help them fade so that I can wear other clothes. Chin filler site has a little lump, though the dr says its due to the fact that a harder filler was used, and double checked it for me, and after our appointment the lump went away LOL. I will continue to keep an eye out! He also informed me that my septal was used for my columella and my ear was used for tip support.

    I got my nose and ear and eyes cleaned and it felt sooo good. I got deswelling laser treatment and I briefly fell asleep during it LOL. They told me to come back in 3 days for cast removal! I have no idea how long the laser treatment was for, but iI do feel like it helped..?!

    I drank more pumpkin juice and pineapple juice. pretty sure the pineapple juice isn't doing anything since it’s just a juice, but it’s good and i need to get rid of it anyways. My eyes are noticeably more evenly deswelling and friends and family have also pointed out that i look a lot better. the change is really drastic!

    Forehead fg has definitely gone down, which im a bit sad about. He doesn’t overfill so it already looked really good from the first day, but it’s definitely still an improvement. id honestly be happy as long as SOME fat still stays, but I’ll just hold onto the thought that i’ll probably have to get a top up.

     

    Day 5 Post OP

    I'm looking pretty similar to day 4, but swelling has moved further down. Checked my legs after putting a warm compress, and the bruises have yellowed a LOT so I'll be more diligent about it. More yellow bruising on the face. Staying inside for the most part for today and hopefully getting some exercise later so that I can deswell. I'm having a harder time not sliding down in my sleep; my neck pillow is really saving me right now.

    I put a warm compress on my leg basically throughout the entire day and it’s gotten so much better, though there’s a patch of dark purple bruising that’s being a bit more stubborn. While icing my face, I lightly bumped my the pack against my nose tip and freaked out, but I’m hoping it’s okay (it was VERY light, my nose just does not feel like a nose right now). Nose has gotten noticeably smaller (in a great way), and family specifically commented that my nose is coming along nicely! Chin filler is looking great too.

     

    Day 6 Post OP

    I noticeably deswelled a LOT today, especially after walking around. My nose is straight up disgusting though; I can see the sebum seeping out. Nose tip is really round, but I suspect it’s just partially inevitable as I had such a bulbous nose and also swelling. It’s gotten a lot smaller and it’s super cute, so I’m happy. Most of my facial swelling has gone down a lot, but my yellow bruising is still there and my right eye is still not evenly deswelling.

     

    Chin filler and forehead fat graft is looking good! The fat graft bruises look a lot more yellow, but I still can’t walk around in shorts or dresses. Got some stares today but find myself caring less and less as time goes on, especially with CAST OFF BEING TOMORROW! Can’t believe it’s already been a whole week since my procedures.

     

    Day 7 Post OP

    TOOK OFF MY CAST! Knew that the front profile would look swollen, but didn’t realize how swollen that would be. However, I really like my side profile and my eyes started deswelling a lot faster after taking out the stitches. After walking around nearly every day for a week with a cast on my face (and some days with gauze and tape), even though I was still swollen, I felt more comfortable taking off my hat at some points. It has a perfect, natural looking curve and fits my face so well. My tip is looking really round, but I had a really bulbous nose and I also know that it’s swelling, so I don’t really mind.

    My main concern is just the eyes still being really unevenly swollen. If they were deswelling evenly, I would stop wearing a hat, but the unevenness still makes me hesitate.

    After walking around today and receiving deswelling laser, my nose got a lot less swollen especially at the radix and I can tell it’s slimmed down. The yellow bruising has faded as well, but it’s definitely still there. I got less blackheads than I thought I would, but my main issue was my nose feeling super prickly. I bought BHA exfoliating pads and gently used them around my face and made sure to slowly ease back into my skincare routine, which helped with the prickly feeling a lot. I also managed to wash my hair on my own! I was still careful to not let my face get touched by water (paranoid), and wrapped a shower cap on my ear. 

    The doctor came in to see my progress again (I’ve seen him every appointment so far), and said everything’s looking good. He said I would also get a shot to help with the deswelling, but I didn’t get it, so I’ll bring it up when I go in for my last check up.

     

    Day 10

    It was supposed to be my last check up, but at the checkup they noticed that the wound behind my ear opened up a little when I accidentally got (very little) water on it in the shower. they gave me local anesthesia to restitch it, and told me to come back in 5 days :(. I'm paranoid now, and my ear was tender the whole day and the mask didn’t help. I got another round of deswelling treatments, and saw the doctor again (he stitched up my ear and also came in to check in on everything). I also have to take more rounds of antibiotics just in case for 3 days starting tomorrow. It sucks, but this is obviously entirely my fault.

    The swelling on the right eye has gone down, but there’s a bruise that hasn’t gone away at all. yellow bruising around the nose has gone down as well, and the bridge is starting to form nicely. tip is still swollen, but that’s the part that will deswell the latest so i’m okay. They took out my fg stitches, and i’ve continued to put silicone tape on them. scarring on nose is also VERRRRRY faint, it’s really not that dark at all, which i’m really pleased about.

    The bruises on fg site are fading away at a fast pace, and the deep purple ones are finally starting to yellow!!

     

    Day 11 

    I got deswelling treatment at a different clinic (specializes in filler/botox/facials etc) through an event they had on Gangnam Unni. I didn’t tell them I was a foreigner until I came in for my consultation/appointment, and they didn’t really care LOL but I spoke in full Korean. They gave me a nice facial and a light lymph draining massage, and there was some kind of buzzing device? that they said would help with the bruising (this was an add-on) and some other stuff. I got more deswelling laser and then a deswelling shot! It was a nice way to treat myself, and I did notice that the swelling went down significantly, but I wouldn’t say it’s a completely necessary thing to do. It was definitely relaxing though and the clinic smelled really good LMAO. Took a little over an hour and my face was super soft at the end of it!

     

    Day 16

    Finally, my actual last check up! Stitches were removed (no issues, thank god) and doctor came in for one last check up. He thanked me for the letter and small gift i gave him my previous check up (loool) and told me to visit the clinic next time i come back to Korea. so sweet! I didn't get any deswelling treatment, and I was a bit puffy today, though it could be since it hasn't been long since i woke up. it still clearly looks like i got surgery, but i no longer can bring myself to care and have gone out hatless since day 14. Eyes are evening out a bit, but the right eye is still noticeably more swollen, but the doctor also stated it’s looking good. I mentioned my nose being VERY slightly pink occasionally with no pain or heat, and he said it’ll be like that on and off for roughly 2-3 months as my body heals. My bruise on my eye is still there :(, and the stubborn fg bruises are still there as well, but they’re yellowing and once again, i can no longer bring myself to care and they peek out just a tiny bit when i wear dresses.

    Once the nurse heard that i would be leaving korea, she put a fresh bandaid on the stitch behind my ear and told me to remove it within 2-3 days so that I’m more careful when I shower. Just in case, I got one last hair wash at a Juno Hair nearby, and that concluded my journey!!

     

    Closing Thoughts

    Overall, I had a very pleasant experience with Luho. Of course I definitely had an easier time since I was able to speak Korean, but the doctor and I spoke primarily in English. He was extremely friendly to me throughout this entire process and it really alleviated my nerves. My consultant always replied within the day (usually within 1-2 hours) and everyone was super friendly and didn’t push me to do anything. I think the longest I had to wait was on the day of my surgery (~20 min), but besides that I had no wait at all.

    As a heads up, I will not be disclosing any B&A photos, but I can try to give some similar photos and describe in as much detail as possible LOL. Prices were previously disclosed in my consultation journey post, and they matched it exactly. I did not bother negotiating further as I felt that the prices were more than fair for me personally.

    Additionally, as previously mentioned, Luho does not have an English support team but I do believe they have a chinese and japanese team, so if you can speak those languages, you may try consulting! I do not think you need a translator when talking to the Dr, but you should probably get one when discussing everything with the consultants as they do not speak English.

    Luho is also very popular with locals. The building it’s in hosts 9 plastic surgery clinics (I counted), and half the elevator would always get off for Luho each time I would go. I really liked Luho for their fair pricing, nonpushy consultants and dr (I think the most pushy they were was when they suggested putting down a deposit. As Luho was my first choice for DES, I didn’t really mind doing so, but I know others may be turned off by this!), how accessible they were, and also how I saw my doctor at every check up. I know a lot of clinics you rarely see the doctor or you don’t see them at every check up, but I saw him each time and it was very sweet.

    • Like 3
  8. Hi everyone, 

     

    Here is my final post for all my consultations! I will post a comprehensive review on 1) quarantine and the quarantine process and 2) my eyes and nose after 3 months post op. 

    I consulted with JT (formerly Item). They were slightly slower than usual, but I heard it is due to them still setting up their clinic at the time. I stated that they quoted me 4 million when they were still Item, but that was a mistake due to my blurry memory. If you read my first post, you can see that Item actually quoted me 4.6 million won. 

    For silicone and septal cartilage for tip, the price is 3.25 million won. Note that this does not include anything like osteotomy, hump removal, alar reduction, etc. I do not have a hump, so please bear in mind that your prices if you choose to consult with JT may differ. If you end up using donor rib instead of septal, the price would be 3.9 million won. Previously, Item said that they may consider osteotomy for me, but JT said it does not seem necessary from the new photos I sent (I also sent in a video that showed my front and side profiles in motion). Forehead fat graft only costs 1.3 million won. I am no longer going to get the fat graft, but thought I should include that since I asked and there may be people who are interested.

    The total cost for my surgery specifically will be 5.59 million won, with the price breakdown as follows: 3.25 mil for silicone and septal, 650,000 for donor rib at the tip, 650,000 for bulbous nose correction, and 1.04 mil for alarplasty.

    They also said that discounts are negotiable in person, and past patients have said that they seem to prefer cash (10% off if you pay in cash). The price is also inclusive of any medicine and post op care that you will receive after. Luho in contrast does not include meds in the cost -- it seems like you will have to go to a pharmacy to go pick them up (which is also the case for some other clinics). 

    In order to make a deposit, it is $300. That $300 would be used to pay for your surgery in the end, so it would be around 5.29 million won when it's time to pay, assuming I somehow fail to negotiate any discounts at all (which I highly doubt). I have put down my deposit for both Luho and JT, wish me luck! 

     

     

  9. Hello everyone!

     

    This will probably be one of my last updates for this particular thread, unless I discover a clinic I really like. I will be going to Korea during late spring - early summer, and will be compiling my thoughts and journey as well as tips once I have gone and come back in a new thread as this thread was strictly for consultation purposes!

     

    I have finalized my decision to go to Luho for my double eyelid surgery. We have agreed to do incisional DES with ptosis correction with Dr. Kim. They said that epicanthoplasty seems unnecessary from my pictures, but they will further assess once we meet in person. The price is 2.2 million won, but can be negotiated to up to 1.5 million won. I have no social media presence or any sort of leverage I can use besides perhaps agreeing to write reviews on both Gangnam Unni and here (which I was already planning on doing), so I want to be transparent in the prices, which I have been doing throughout this entire thread :). 

    I will also be doing masseter botox and (maybe) brow botox with them -- masseter botox is 100,000 won. 

    I also asked about their rhinoplasty, and for alarplasty, bridge enhancement with silicone, tipplasty (with ear and septal cartilage), the total cost is 2.16 million won if you choose to participate in the event (inclusive of VAT). Please note that they do allow foreigners to partake in events, but I think this is highly contingent on your ability to write/speak Korean (I consulted in Korean) as they ask you to leave reviews on Gangnam Unni and such. The price for the surgeries mentioned above without the event price is 3.85 million won. Dr Kim is the only one who does rhinoplasty at Luho. From my PERSONAL experience, it seems like hes best at providing very very natural results, and his best work seems to be people who have a hump. Though the price was tempting, I was worried that I would end up with TOO natural of results, and I do not have a hump, so I decided to go elsewhere. However, if you meet the criteria, I definitely think it's not a bad choice. 

    ** Please note that I spoke in Korean during the whole Kakao consultation, which could've resulted in the slightly lower prices. Though they do slightly price gauge (they know I am a foreigner, and other foreigners who have contacted them in English got a slightly higher price than I did, but it was not a significantly higher price), I believe it is on par with other clinics. Dr. Park specializes in revision DES only, which is why I got Dr. Kim.

    *** As I mentioned in my previous posts, Luho allows for foreigners to participate in events, but they only have events for rhinoplasty and natural adhesion DES, so I can't participate anyways LOL.

     

    For my primary rhinoplasty, I will most likely be going to Item. I hope to do it with Dr. Kim, who will be opening his own clinic -- aka JT. I will be posting my consultation with them once they are officially open. I also am considering doing my forehead fat graft with Dr. Kim, but I will finalize on that once I go in person, as I hope to get a better gauge regarding my profile from him directly. I do not have a specific price set as they mentioned the prices will be different from Item. I will most likely either do my rhinoplasty the same day as my eyes, or 1-3 days. 

    Item quoted me roughly 4 million won for my rhinoplasty, but I expect the price to be different -- most likely lower.

    ** As previously mentioned, they only allow foreigners to participate in events if they can speak Korean. I consulted them with English, so I will update on whether they will let me participate in person. They also mentioned that the prices are flexible anyways and can be negotiated, so remember to ask! I suspect that they will be more lenient as Dr. Kim will need publicity/spread the word that he has opened his own clinic. 

    -> UPDATE: As JT opened, they have posted a lot of events. The events as seen on Gangnam Unni say that you can only participate if you are a Korean citizen. If you can speak Korean however, I still think it's worth bringing that up (maybe offer to write reviews on Gangnam Unni and PF/BH). 

     

    I will most likely be settled on these two clinics unless I find another clinic whose rhinoplasty results I really like. I am set on Luho as Luho does amazing work on people who have thick skin and I have seen a lot of results from people with similar eyes. Dr. Kim (from Item) seems to specialize in outfold, high parallel creases, which I personally do not want, which is why I have decided to go to two separate clinics, despite the hassle. I am aiming for natural results, so please keep that in mind as well if you are hoping for dolly results. Dr. Kim (Item) seems capable of doing both natural and dolly -- I would describe his aesthetic as an inbetween, while Luho is definitely very natural. 

    • Like 2
  10. 12 minutes ago, Curiousbbops said:

    What were the negative reviews you saw regarding wannabe? Just wondering cause I would to go forward with them or not.

    A reviewer said that she was partially awake during her rhinoplasty and could feel the knife and cuts. She also disclosed that they pushed her very much to write a review, and so warned that many others may have also been encouraged to write a review, questioning the validity of the reviews. Of course, it doesn't change the actual picture results I've seen (which have been fairly good), so it is up to your own discretion. 

  11. Hi everyone! 2020 was crazy and it seems as though my surgery may be slated for late winter next year, seeing as how things are getting worse. Please stay safe!

    Here are some thoughts I've had while away lol. I've become more interested in buccal fat removal. At first I was worried as a lot of people say my chubby cheeks are part of my charm, but my entire family has chubby cheeks so I know it's something that won't go away with age, and I'm not sure if I want to live looking like a full moon for the rest of my life lol. However, I did get masseter botox very recently for the first time (I have huge masseters + a clenching problem), and if I find that my face shape is nice without the buccal fat removal, we'll see how I feel this time next year! 

    I do plan on consulting more clinics including reconsulting the ones I liked from this post so that I can leverage with them since I'll be getting more surgeries.

    So far I'm interested in a partial buccal fat removal and a slight forehead fat graft. My forehead is really flat and I think it'll become more noticeable since I'll go from having a super flat nose to hopefully a decently high nose with my rhinoplasty! After doing more research, I'm interested in:

    • ITEM clinic (rhinoplasty, fat graft, buccal fat removal, masseter botox)
    • Luho (double eyelids)

    I plan on consulting in person (if possible, since I'll be going during peak season most likely):

    • Naturalism (DES, rhino, fat graft + buccal fat removal)
    • Premier (rhino, fat graft + buccal fat removal)
    • Mind (rhino, possibly DES and other surgeries)

    These 4 clinics left the best impressions on me. I was originally interested in Wannabe, but after reading couple negative reviews I'm no longer too sure if I'd like to go there.

     

    I did re-consult with Item regarding their prices for buccal fat removal (1.3 mil KRW), forehead fat graft (1 mil KRW), and masseter botox (480,000 KRW). I already know their masseter botox price is a bit higher than average, especially since that's around the price I would pay here, and I live in a huge city that's very beauty focused. I also heard their buccal fat removal is a bit higher than average as well, but they also mentioned it would be more than possible to negotiate in person. In addition, they mentioned if I can converse fluently enough in Korean with them in person, I could possibly qualify for their Korean promotions/prices, so I do think the total can easily be lowered. 

    • Like 1
  12. Hey @stciv,

     

    Sorry for the late reply! Actually, after reading more ITEM posts, I think I want to try going to ITEM for an in person consultation and seeing how I feel. I haven't read too many English reviews about Mate at the moment, but I saw bunch of reviews on Gangnam Unni and I did like the reviews so far.

     

  13. Consultations on this update: 

    • Nana Hospital (ENG)
    • Mind Clinic (ENG

     

    NANA (Eng)

    I reached out because I saw some girl get her surgery and it looked super natural. I reached out to the channel to ask where she got it done, and they privately messaged me and told me it was Nana. I reached out in English and there were some delays, but it was fine. They recommended ptosis correction and epicanthoplasty, and for my rhinoplasty, suggested full open rhinoplasty + alar base reduction. Other clinics told me that that they thought I wouldn’t need epi or that the rhino would help with my eyes looking “closed” off, but when I asked Nana, they told me epi seems necessary for me. When I voiced my concern with sausage lids, they recommended natural adhesion method. Honestly, this made me cross them off in my list. There is no way for natural adhesion to work on me just because I have a lot of fat and thick skin — it would unravel so quickly. It would cost 1-2.5 mil KRW depending on whether I decide to do incisional or natural adhesion. They also said if I could write in Korean and leave reviews, they could lower is 0.8-1.5 mil KRW. For nose, it would be 3.5 mil KRW and around 2.5 mil KRW if I chose to write a review. So cheap! But I feel iffy LOL.

     

    Mind Clinic (ENG)

    I liked this place since it seemed medium size, and the rhinoplasty reviews seem really good. They have more natural adhesion reviews, but some of the incisional methods I’ve seen look decent. For my nose, they suggested bulbous nose correction, alar reduction, and septum extension, with silicone + septal/ear cartilage as the materials. Donor rib would also be a possibility if I don’t have enough cartilage. If I agreed to being used as a promotional model (eyes blurred out, only nose shown), it would be roughly 4.5 mil KRW. If not, then it would be 6.5 mil KRW with an additional 1 mil KRW if I end up using rib. They said ptosis correction doesn’t seem necessary, but the price of incisional + ptosis would be 2.5 mil KRW. 

     

    So far, I’m interested in Mind, Naturalism, and Premier for my nose. I didn’t consult with Premier about my nose (lazy lmao) but I definitely want to go to an in person consultation as I like their nose results. Naturalism is the first on my list, but I’m not putting my hopes high as they’re super booked and I don’t think they would accommodate to my limited schedule as they’re popular enough with foreigners. I really want to find somewhere that does nose and eyes well, but Premier’s incisional methods seem very hit or miss, so I think I’m going to end up going to Luho for eyes, and one of the three for my nose. 

    • Like 2
  14. Consultations on this list:

    • DA Plastic Surgery (Eyes + Nose)

    ++) Updates from Luho, Marble

    DA PS (DREAM AESTHETICS) (Eng)

    I will start off by saying they took a long time to get back to me (2 days), and I think this could be because I contacted them when it was the weekend. However, they were VERY thorough. They drew on my photo and gave me two options with the drawings of roughly how high I could augment my nose: either super high or pretty natural. It would be an open rhinoplasty with silicone for the nose bridge and they gave me options: rib/ear+septal for the tip, with rib resulting in a very high nose and ear being in between the natural + high option. However,  I had to ask them what they thought about my eyes for them to answer again, and they recommended ptosis + lateral canthoplasty + incision method. They said if I weren’t doing my nose, they would’ve also recommended epicanthoplasty, but said that the higher nose bridge would help with my eyes being more further apart for my face. I also asked in the chances that I plan on doing my nose and eyes separately, what surgery I should do first (ie different clinics), and they recommended me to do my nose first, wait 2 weeks, then do my eyes. They said they’ll have to do an in person consultation to see if osteotomy is needed. For nose, they suggested: nose bridge + tip augmentation, alar reduction, nose extension and said it would be around 2-3 million won, and if I use rib, it would be 5-6 million won. Eyes would be around 2 million won. However, other clinics as well as people that I've asked all suggested doing my eyes first. I think they told me I should do my nose first because I implied that I may be considering doing my eyes elsewhere. This made me take them off.

     

    LUHO UPDATE 

    Guys, I really like this place LOL. Of course, ultimately it will lead to an in person consultation for me to finalize my decision, but I feel pretty confident that I will go here for my eyes. They told me to do my eyes first, wait 3 weeks, then to do my nose. They also said laser deswelling treatment, etc, are free and included. 

     

    MARBLE UPDATE

    Their global Kakao responded later than the Korean one, but I felt bad if I ignored them, so we still talked. They suggested incisional DES, but did not mention anything about ptosis correction. They also suggested bridge augmentation + tip plasty (silicone + ear/septal cartilage) and osteotomy. However, they also said they were interested in having me model and were kind of pushy about it -- suggesting that I agree now (before I even fly out!! i told them id be interested in going to Korea December or early next year), and that the final discount for being their model would range from 30-100% off, which is so large and honestly ridiculous. They also said that the total price would be 12 million won, which is INSANE considering that their Korean team quoted me 8 million. I mentioned this to them, and they said that the discrepancy in price is due to the fact that they would include translating service, pick up (depending on which surgery you're doing), and deswelling treatment. Even so, I think the price difference is crazy and honestly I'm not too sure if I would really need a translating service, though if I do, I feel like it would be better to just hire one myself. They did not break down the price for me.

     

    OVERALL THOUGHTS

    I will like to mention some facts I picked up along the way -- I tried to watch smaller Youtubers who have a lower chance of getting sponsored for their surgery. Two of them went to Premier, and I only knew this because I managed to catch the surgeon's name on an award she received in the background LMAO. Premier seems very famous for their eyes, and Korean people recommend Premier if you want a more dolly look and you can do natural adhesion -- Dr. Jang is quite famous for this. Unfortunately, those are both not things I want, so I had to cross them off the list LOL.

    Every blog, post, video, I've watched so far seem to all mention how kind Luho is overall, especially Dr. Park, who is known for their eyes. He seems to be quite skilled in the incisional method, and I liked how they allow foreigners to participate in events. 

    Overall, people seem pretty satisfied with ITEM as well, and I think I'll check out Dr. Kim's B/As more to see -- I do like that it's popular amongst both Koreans and foreigners.

    Lastly, I plan on reaching out to Naturalism for a Kakao consultation. Their nose doctor is quite famous, and I think most people here have heard of them,  but I don't think I've read many reviews of getting a consultation or even doing the surgery, so I'll definitely update.

    I've come to the conclusion that silicone is basically inevitable. I am young, and chances of reabsorption and warping is higher if you are younger and you use rib, so I think if I go to a doctor who is specialized in noses, I think I can minimize dissatisfaction with silicone as I think most people are dissatisfied due to it being lower than they expected. However, I am not ruling out rib entirely and of course, my final opinion will come down to what the doctors all say.

     

    CLINICS I PLAN ON CONSULTING F2F 

    - Wannabe 

    - ITEM 

    - Naturalism

    - Luho

    - Cocoline

     

    Overall, if Naturalism's consultation goes well, I think I might end up choosing Luho and Naturalism for my eyes and nose respectively!

     

     

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1
  15. Consultations on this post -- all consultations were conducted in Korean, and I asked the same questions I asked Premier.

    • 1MM (eyes)
    • Luho (Eyes)
    • Marble (Eyes + Nose)
    • Illumi (Eyes + Nose)

     

    1MM 

    I saw this on the app Gangnam Unni, and they had very very good results. I was hesitant because the results just seemed too good to be true, but I posted on the community board on the app and people replied that it seemed pretty legit. I posted on their website’s consultation board. I copy pasted what I texted Premier HAHAA as I got lazy.. haha. They replied saying that I could probably get a more detailed consultation if I chose to Kakao them instead, so I did that. Same thing, incision method with ptosis correction. While talking to them, I noticed that they had a monolid ptosis correction, and I was curious and asked them what that was. Basically, you would essentially preserve a general monolid as they would give a slight inner line (속쌍) to give a generally more refreshing? eye look. I’m scared of sausage eyes, so this was appealing to me. They warned me that I would probably be unable to get the in out line that I said I wanted if I chose to do this method. Whether I do that or incision, it would cost total 2.42 million won. They said it would be hard for me to participate in their promotional events as I would need to have visits to their clinic afterwards and also leave a review. 

     

    LUHO 

    I had to DIG around to find their Kakao, and after Premier’s response in saying no to letting me partake in their promos, I just proceeded to have the conversation in Korean, though on gangnam unni it says that they can do English consultations. I only asked for eyes — they said it’d be hard to tell if the line will or won’t come out super dark, but if I don’t want a high crease (which I don’t want), then it’ll most likely come out very natural. They suggested ptosis correction and incision method, and said foreigners CAN partake in their promotions! So I recommend doing your research and bringing it up when you do consultations. They quoted me 2 million won for ptosis correction and incision method. I am really interested in going here as they have a really high rating on GU, and seem to do a lot of work on puffy monolids with incision method and with good results!

     

    MARBLE

    EXPENSIVE! LOL. 

    I kakaoed their Korean one, not their global. They suggested: incisional method + ptosis, increasing my nose bridge with silicone and tipplasty with ear and septal cartilage, osteotomy, round nose reduction (bulbous?) and alar reduction. They said silicone was necessary if I wanted a higher bridge as they only use rib for nose tips. The price breakdown is as follows: DES (incision + ptosis): 2.75 million won, nose bridge + tipplasty: 2.75 million won, ear cartilage: 550 thousand won, septal cartilage: 880 thousand won, round nose reduction: 550 thousand won and alarplasty: 880 thousand won. This totals to 8.36 million won. 

     

    ILLUMI

    They didn’t answer my questions as thoroughly as the other clinics, but to be fair, a lot of clinics said my questions (such as if the line will come out thick) are hard to accurately answer only through Kakao. They recommended incision + ptosis and epicanthoplasty, and they are the only clinic so far to recommend epi to me. I have to look more into it, but so far I am mildly intrigued. As for my nose, they just recommended that I use silicone and didn’t go into specific details about other procedures they recommend. For overall price, they said it would be upwards of 1 million won for my eyes (I’m not too sure if this price includes epi) and upwards of 3 million won for my nose. Foreigners cannot participate in promotional events. They said the lower prices are due to the fact that they are all my first surgeries.

     

    My thoughts so far:

    I think my shortlist at the moment is:

    Nose

    Wannabe, Cocoline, and I plan on possibly consulting Premier again for noses. 

    While I read one bad review of Dr. Jin, I'm still on the fence of completely striking him out. However, it seems more likely that I will go to Wannabe even though their prices are on the higher end for quotes so far, they seem to have natural results that I personally prefer.

     

    Eyes

    I'll have to go to 1mm in person before I fully decide, but so far I've become hesitant since they mentioned promotional events require a review. So far, Luho and Wannabe stands out the most to me. I think I’m going to strike out Premier for eyes, they seem to mostly do natural adhesion, and it looks great! But with my eyelids, natural adhesion isn’t recommended and I can’t seem to find lots of reviews with incision and from people with similar eyes.

  16. hi everyone, 

     

    i thought i’d talk about my consultation journey to help out others thinking about surgery as I found all these threads massively helpful! My goal is to get my surgeries done in Korea in early 2021 as travel doesn’t seem possible this year. Though it’s early to get consultations, I have a long list and lots of time, so I thought — might as well! it’s going to be LONG, sorry. I plan on creating a separate thread once I finally get my surgery done, so this will be a consultation thread only. I will continue to add as I get more consultations and sort out my thoughts and thought it would be interesting and helpful for anyone interested in these clinics.

    ** update as of 12/28/2020: You'll notice my mind going back and forth a lot, LOL. Better safe than sorry when it comes to something as big as surgery, right? I've edited it as much as I could to improve clarity as well as any glaring grammatical errors. **

    BACKGROUND INFO

    • Early 20s, East Asian female
    • interested in primary DES + primary Rhino
      • highly likely getting: forehead fat graft, masseter botox as well as partial buccal fat removal (as of 12/28/20)
      • DES: incision method + ptosis correction (have monolids with lots of fat on eyelids)
      • Rhino: higher nose bridge, slimmer + less bulbous alars and tip
        • most likely silicone for bridge and septal cartilage for tip

     

    My eyes are really weak, one eyebrow is significantly higher than the other because I keep raising them up because of the lack of power my eyes have. It also emphasizes the uneven sizes between my eyes, as the one with more strength is also the one with less fat on my eyelid, making the difference in size really obvious, especially when I smile. This causes a lot of strain on my eyebrows and my forehead, and I find myself constantly forcing myself to relax my eyes because it causes me to get minor headaches. 

     

    I was very hesitant on getting DES as I have an acquaintance who did their eyes here in America and ended up with the dreaded sausage eyes. As I have a lot of fat on my eyelids, I knew for sure I would have to go with the incision method, which has a higher rate of getting sausage eyes. However, the problems I mentioned above just led to me to deciding on getting DES. 

     

    I will note that I am relatively proficient in Korean. However, I did tell them I was a foreigner (which they probably would’ve known anyways as I’m sure I made some minor grammatical mistakes), so I’m not too sure how much sway I had. 

     

    Here are the clinics I consulted/plan on consulting:

    • Wannabe
    • Dr. Jin Premium Nose Clinic
    • Cocoline
    • Premier
    • Item 
    • 1mm
    • Luho (Previously known as Yonsei First)
    • Marble
    • Illumi

     

    WANNABE - Kakao Consult (in English)

    Like everyone says, Wannabe was very prompt in their replies to me and had perfect English. They recommended me to get the incision method and ptosis correction with an in out line, as I mentioned I wanted a very natural line. Thanks to them, I realized how badly I needed the ptosis correction. They also said I should get short nose correction, hump removal (I didn’t even know I had a hump?! I looked at the photo again, and it’s VERY VERY slight), alarplasty and an increased nose bridge. They recommended silicone, but said using cartilage was possible, but that they would need to see me in person. Initially, I had no intentions of going for silicone, as I noticed they tended to require a revisional rhino after, so hearing that made me reassured.

     

    They quoted me around 6 mil won for both rhino and my eyes. However, someone in the Kakao group I’m in noted that those were the exact quotes they had given them, so I assume they just have a baseline price and then adjust it when you actually have a face to face consultation. 

     

    DR. JIN - Email Consult (in English)

    Dr. Jin was on my list for a while; he has bunch of credentials and I liked how he personally replied to me. He was also speedy in his reply and suggested using septal and rib cartilage for a higher nose bridge, mild alarplasty, and refining my tip with possible fat removal and cartilage reduction. I asked how high my nose bridge could be without being too unnatural, and he said that making it too high wouldn’t be harmonious with my face but that he can make it relatively high with rib. He quoted me 10k USD (yes, USD) which was mind boggling. I also began to read some negative reviews and that made me cross him off the list.

     

    COCOLINE - Facebook Consult (ENG)

    They were hard to reach. They read my FB messages relatively fast (I couldn’t find their Kakao) but replied HOURS later, but it could be due to the fact that I messaged them in English. They quoted me 5 mil won for my nose, and straight up said I would need to use silicone for my nose only. They recommended surgery for my nose tip and alarplasty as well as my nose bridge. So far, all clinics said the same thing, except Wannabe added both the short nose correction + hump removal. I am hesitant and will probably still visit them after for a face to face consultation as they are famous in Korea for their noses. I was very surprised that they suggested silicone as they are known for their autologous cartilage rhinos, but my nose is VERY flat lol. 

     

    NAMU PS - Kakao

    Straight up ignored me LMAO. They didn’t read my messages, and honestly I’m not too miffed because I only reached out since other people in the Kakao reached out. 

     

    PREMIER - Kakao (KRN)

    Another clinic I saw on the app; it seems to be pretty famous for eyes. They are having a summer event where the incision method is only around 890 thousand won (!?!!) which made me realize just how much more they charge for foreigners. They were very speedy in their replies, but I noticed after messaging them that they have an English website and offer consultations through Whatsapp (which I don’t have). I was curious how they would quote me after having a conversation with them in Korean and then telling them I was a foreigner. I asked if it would be possible to get a natural in out line (I mentioned Red Velvet’s Irene LMAO), as when I use double eyelid tape, the line gets very thick and makes me look weird. I asked if the line I get with double eyelid tape is the only line possible with my eyes, or if the line I want is possible. I also asked if I could participate in their events/promotions even though I was a foreigner. They basically said it’s hard for them to answer my questions completely accurately through just photos, and asked if I could come in for an in person consultation. They said I could participate in their promotional events as I hold dual citizenship in Korea (so I guess that’s the criteria), and without any events, typical base price for the incision method would be close to 1 million won but that the price would depend on what the doctor ultimately says as well as the level of difficulty of the surgery. They were very kind and polite and even told me to contact them again when I arrive in Korea, which made them place way higher on my list!

     

    ITEM - Kakao (KRN/ENG) 

    I'll be honest, I got quite lazy and just copy pasted what I Kakao-ed Premier in Korean but I stated that I'm slightly more comfortable in English, so we had a mostly English conversation but there was some Korean, as an FYI. They said my eyes were big! (A lie. But it made me feel good LMAO) They were very prompt and kind in their replies to me. They recommended the incisional method and said it was too hard to tell right now if I needed ptosis correction. For nose, they said if I wanted a higher nose bridge, I would need to use silicone (T___T) and would reduce my bone base (Osteotomy) as I have a wide base (I have to look up what this means.. LOL). They also said they would use my septum cartilage to make my columella and tip, but stated that if I didn't have enough cartilage, I would need to use donor. They also were concerned about reducing my alars too much, for breathing functions. They said that I wouldn't be able to participate in promotional events unless I could speak Korean, so I guess I'll have to find out if I do a face to face. I'm very hesitant because so far it seems as though silicone is inevitable, and while I did like how specific they were in telling me what specific procedures they suggested, it seems as though all the rhinoplasty inquiries I have asked about have given me different suggestions -- generally a higher nose bridge and a slimmer tip are the consensus, but there are little different things all clinics so far have suggested. 

     

    They quoted me 1.85 million won for incisional DES (no ptosis or anything), and rhinoplasty overall would cost 4.6 million won.

     

    So far,  I am primarily interested in Premier and Wannabe. I think I'll have to make a face to face consultation with Cocoline before I finalize my thoughts. I also think I might be able to get some leverage with a F2F, since I was able to communicate fine with Premier in all Korean. I am still continuing to decide whether I want to do silicone or rib as they both have their pros and cons, and I might ask if I could do just tip plasty + alar instead. I am not interested in Item as I do not like how they suggested that I may need a donor, when I'm already very hesitant against silicone. 

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