ohheycap95 Posted May 31, 2019 Posted May 31, 2019 hi everyone! i got my surgeries in august of 2018 so I’m about 9 months post op. I figured it was about time to make a post like this so I can pass along my experience to anyone who wants to hear it! I’m really grateful to the PF community because of the thorough posts and the supportive ppl I’ve met and spoken to on kaokao, so I hope this can be of help to someone else! Procedures done: Tipplasty with ear cartilage Ins DES Jaw botox Mole removal Consultations: i consulted with popular clinics for foreigners (mvp/view/ive/tlsps/namu), several other online consults, and 3 clinics for locals. I can make a separate post about the first few clinics for foreigners in detail, but ultimately i did not go with them bruh this was STRESSFUL...trying to get to all the clinics, retaining all the information given, negotiating prices, all while jetlagged...very overwhelming. try to pace yourself my top concerns where: narrowing and raising my nose (which has thick skin and a drooping tip), correction of multiple folds on my eyelids to make my eyes more wide and awake looking for the clinics popular with foreigners—i waited anywhere from no time to 2 hrs for a consult that would last maybe 20-45 min with a consultant and then a much shorter discussion with a doctor. Everything was arranged over kaokao 2-3 weeks before arriving in korea to summarize: MVP, NAMU, View, and TLPS all suggested some variation of non inc DES, epi, ptosis correction, shaving down my nose bridge hump, implant, tipplasty, alarplasty, breaking and narrowing my nose bridge. the consultants will basically look you over and tell you which procedures they think would help you, and they pass that along to the doctors who might give you some additional opinions and technical explanations, but consultants run the show i left very discouraged and was quoted extremely high prices (although lower than what I got on kaokao). i was seriously considering not going through with surgery, especially after experiencing some of the consultations where doctors were either straight up rude or dismissive. One doctor acted like my opinions on my own face were irrelevant, and another showed up to consultation in scrubs with blood on them.... i didn’t have faith in any particular clinic especially if i saw the doctors like that, no matter how nice the consultants were or how low I negotiated the price. One clinic even told me to raise my nose 5mm, like I asked to become pinocchio or something lmao...does not inspire confidence. i was ready to just let it go and just not get surgery a few days after this, i went with my korean friend to several clinics that pretty much only have local patients and had a VERY different experience. i walked in and they were like “lol why are you here you have double eyelids and a nose bridge already”. two of the three doctors recommended ONLY tipplasty for me as they thought shaving the hump to add a small implant was pointless. The first doctor told me to only do the tip to preserve my “natural beauty”. The third doctor recc-ed alarplasty, which i thought would have made my nose look pinched because of how thick the skin is so I decided against it. I went with the second surgeon who was the most experienced to do tipplasty using ear cartilage and inc des. I decided to go with him because of his experience, even though the way the consultation went made me uncomfortable and I wasn’t 100% sure I trusted him. I paid a small deposit of 50,000won to set the surgery date. they were all very shocked at the practices of clinics for foreigners, and all of the staff couldn’t understand why they would push so many procedures for my features. i’m very very grateful that i had a friend to go with and translate for me, and i’m glad that i was willing to just walk away and trust my gut after the first round of consults. i was quoted like...1/3-1/2 of what I was at the other clinics. This doesn’t mean that I think no one should go to the other clinics as many, many patients are happy with them! Pre-surgery I went out a lot and also bought myself healthy groceries and figured out how to order food delivery for the days following surgery Surgery WHEW....this was a lot. I thought I was prepared going in, but I really wasn’t expecting what happened. You’ll have the final meeting with the consultant, you sign forms, make the payment, put on the gown and then meet with the surgeon, he’ll mark up your face, etc. They’ll bring you in and do all the pre-op cleaning, tie back your hair, put the monitors on you, the IV, shave your nose hairs LOL, etc and then suddenly you’re asleep. I saw all kindssss of wild stuff while I was under. Because I was doing my nose and eyes, I was sedated a bit and then local anesthetic was used. So what no one told me is how lucid you’ll be?? during the surgery?? and ***** leme tell you i was TERRIFIED i thought i had locked in syndrome where you can feel everything during surgery but you can’t say anything. I could feel all the poking and prodding and as time went on the anesthetic wore off and I started feeling some pain which scared me out of my mind. Like I really thought the recovery would be the worst but it was the surgery itself. The pain isn’t extreme but it’s scary because it’s IN your face. they can give you more anesthetic as they go. Feeling my nose surgery was actually unbearable. You can smell it when they cauterize the sutures on your eyelids and it’s...a lot, it really feels never ending and it was scarier for me because I didn’t know it was supposed to be like that. I really wish someone told me but my friends said afterwards they didnt want to scare me LOL I spent like the last 20 min of surgery crying and....swearing at the surgeon LOL I really couldn’t handle it. My friends told me the same, that they came out cursing and sobbing for their boyfriends and yelling at their parents for letting them do this, and their other friends did the same...seems like it’s something everyone goes through but no one talks about it afterwards. My surgeon clapped my shoulders after he finished and said “good job” in the blandest way and i wanted to punch him in the throat lmao i was so pissed that he put me through that Also afterwards one of the consultants came and rudely told me in korean to stop crying or the swelling would become worse, but then after realizing i was saying “it hurts” the whole time during surgery, she started apologizing profusely and kept comforting me and saying that she didn’t know because I was speaking English...because she thought I had no anesthetic AT ALL I realized going in that the staff didn’t quite know what to do with me because I don’t speak Korean and I didn’t realize at the time that it would...matter...INSIDE...the OR. Please be careful of this when selecting a clinic. Nothing happened in my case because it was more of a matter of me being mentally unprepared than not having enough anesthetic. I was literally on the operating table trying to communicate my panic calmly because my surgeon speaks english, very good mandarin, and ofc korean. i was literally on the operating table trying to tell the doctor in three languages that I was scared and it hurt LOL. I really can’t imagine what my panic would have been like if I got an implant or shaved my nose bridge all under local anesthetic as well like my friends, because I would have been in there so much longer Post op: Little to no pain, just went back every two days for antibiotic shots, I took taxis everywhere (kaokao taxi is a lifesaver), didn’t mind walking around in public in bandages. Bandages/padding came off after 4 days, stitches in my ear came off, they took after shots after a week, and that was it! they gave me disinfectant liquid and ointment to put on my scars and inside my nose as well. Psychologically/emotionally it was really draining. I had nightmares and was scared to sleep for days because of how scared I was during the surgery which is why I think it’s important to know what you’re getting into. I had so many regrets and anxiety that I had ruined my face bc of how swollen I looked and I was so afraid of not healing well, so the following week was truly awful I was also so mad at myself for not listening to my gut feeling and was convinced my surgery was so terrifying because I didn’t listen to myself. I kept asking myself why did I put myself through this? Was it worth it? I’m so glad I had people to meet up with and people to check in on me or I would have really lost it. Healing: It took a few months for the sausage eyelid effect to go away, and unfortunately (as multiple surgeons have warned), the folds on my eyes have come back. However, my eyes are slightly more defined and the height of the main crease is even without any unnecessary extra procedures, so the result is satisfactory For my nose, I have mixed feelings. I think my overall impression is cuter and it is a very, very natural enhancement. I think I liked it best around the 5 month mark and now the tip is drooping again which is unfortunate...I’m honestly considering a revision for an implant because I don’t like how it looks at certain angles and I wish the bridge and radix was higher. My nostrils were slightly uneven to begin with, and two surgeons told me that it would be uneven after surgery unless alarplasty was done, but now it’s pretty noticeable and it’s also bothering me now. I don’t regret my decision at the time to be more conservative because I honestly think I would have been botched if I had gone ahead with any extra procedures for my eyes or nose, even if I’m considering a revision now. Future procedures I’m planning to fix and slim down my uneven jawline and fat reposition for my undereye circles If anyone has questions about consults/surgery/post-op or just want someone to talk to I’d be happy to chat! This is a daunting process to go through and I wish everyone the best and a speedy recovery ❤️
susaki Posted June 1, 2019 Posted June 1, 2019 Thanks for your detailed feedback, may I know which clinic did you go for all these procedures?
lia_heart Posted June 19, 2019 Posted June 19, 2019 always trust ur gut! Id say thats the number one thing, which clinic did you go to?
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