FC consultation with 7 doctors and my Vline surgical experience at EU with Dr. Kim Part.1

[Nikki]

Hello everyone, I wrote the beginning when I was still in Korea just a couple of days after the surgery, but after that I got busy with recovery, hanging out with my friend’s family and listening to One’s new album… >_<  So I didn’t finish writing it till I got back to Canada. Today is Nov.26th. In my sharing, I am going to incorporate as much detail as I can, as I walked through this whole journey pretty much by myself and I hope to help ones who are unsure and nervous about going alone. I promised to share my experience so here I am! Hehe~ 

Here is the overall timeline of my V-line journey. I tried to make notes everyday. 

Oct.30th Canada – Beijing (Had a difficult time at the Beijing airport b/c I needed get a temperature transit visa when I was there. Do not recommend going by this route unless you’re desperate for the most affordable flight ticket)
Nov.1st at 1am Landed in Korea (Very cheap ticket for this route but it was exhausting! Korean Air was the best! The flight was only 1.5 hr but they severed fresh vegetables, rice and beef on the plane!)
Nov.1st 12pm – consultation at TL Plastic Surgery with Dr. Kim 
Nov 1st 4pm – consultation at The Face Dental Clinic with Dr. Lee
Nov. 2nd 12pm – consultation at Zeah Dental with Dr. Kang 
Nov. 2nd 2pm – consultation at Jum Dental with Dr. Lee
Nov. 2nd 4pm – consultation at EverM Dental with Dr. Yoon 
Nov. 6th 1pm – consultation at EU Dental with Dr. Kim 
Nov. 7th 11am – consultation at EU Dental with Dr. Shin 
Nov. 7th 12pm – Paid deposit 500,000 krw by credit card  
Nov. 7th 1pm - Blood test (on-site); X-ray & ECG? EKG? (brought to hospital across the street by a front desk English speaking staff); received instructions on pre-op and in-hospital after care guidelines 
Nov. 8th 1pm – Pre-op meeting with Dr. Kim
Nov. 8th 1:30pm – Recovery room prep & change to hospital gown & rinse mouth & wait
Nov. 8th 2:30pm – Walked into the surgery room and met the anesthesiologist Dr. Kang
Nov. 8th 4:55pm – Woke up in recovery room; received instructions on 2 days post-op after care instructions 
Nov. 9th 6am - Sent to get deswelling treatment by the nurse
Nov. 9th 8am – Mouth disinfection by Dr. Shin (Dr. Kim left to Japan for a conference); took x-ray and CT Scan
Nov. 9th 6am - Sent to get deswelling treatment by the nurse 
Nov. 10th 10am – Mouth disinfection by Dr. Shin (Dr. Kim returned on the next day)
Nov. 10th 10am – Went home (yes, I stayed for 2 nights)
Nov. 11th (forgot the time) – deswelling treatment (20 mins)
Nov. 12th 10am – Dr. Kim checked on me after deswelling treatment b/c I had slight pain on my right side in front of my ear. 
Nov. 14th – deswelling treatment (20 mins) 
Nov. 15th – deswelling treatment (20 mins); Dr. Kim disinfect my mouth; Met him to see my x-ray and CT scan; received the copies sent by the translator Kayla. 
Nov. 16th – Nov. 21st - deswelling treatment (20 mins) everyday 
Nov. 22nd – deswelling treatment (15 mins); stitches removal by Dr. Kim; received 2 weeks post-op after care instruction 
Nov. 23rd 4:30pm – tax refund received in cash (USD) at the airport 
Nov. 23rd 5:55pm – flight took off
Nov. 23rd 5pm – landed in Canada 
Nov. 25th 8am – Back to work (LOL) 
Now … jet legging… 

(words wrote in Korea)
I just did my V-line surgery last Friday, and I figured it would the right time for me to give back to the community. I am still in recovery, so I am not sure how my result may turn out eventually, but since I have been lurking in various forums and receiving helps from so many people for a very long time, I am also hoping to be the one to share my experience of this unforgettable and challenging journey. 

As in my previous post, I booked several appointments with different clinics for my facial contour surgery before landing in Korea. My main interest was to visit the dental surgeon’s clinics. I landed in Korea on Nov.1st at 1am, and I booked a return ticket back to Canada on Nov.12th, in case I ended up not feeling comfortable getting the surgery. If I was ready to proceed, I was also ready to reschedule my flight to the end of November, enough time for recovery. After several online consultations, I heard the recovery time would be approximately 2 weeks, and thankfully my work and school schedules allowed me to do this. I was hoping to finish my consultation within two days, Nov.1st and Nov.2nd, but it didn’t go well as planned. However, you could look forward to how things got sorted out …it was a very long and unexpected event. 

My concern: wide lower face, asymmetry 
Preference: Shin Sae Kyeong’s face, natural looking

On Nov. 1st, I visited TL Plastic Surgery and the Face Dental. TL was the only consultation I had that was not from a dental surgeon’s clinic. I visited there because my Korean friend got procedure done there (not fc though). The overall experience was quite pleasant. There was no consultation fee and I had x-ray and CT scan done prior to speaking with the consultant and the doctor. The consultant speaks fluent English and she suggested me to only get my mandible done. After speaking to her for about 20 minutes, we got to speak to the doctor. The doctor suggested getting the chin shaved off a bit too so that my chin wouldn’t look big relatively after shaving off the mandible. His reason was exactly the same as what I thought. I don’t have a big chin, and Shin Sae Kyeong has a somewhat rounded chin as well, but I did concern about proportion. The method he applied on me was the long curve shaving (I’m not entirely sure about the technical term, so please don’t quote me on that )

Later in the afternoon, I visited The Face Dental, one of the most popular choice among foreigners and on Kakaotalk. I visited Dr. Lee, and he laid out two solutions. One is to get double jaw and the other is to have t-osteotomy and mandibular reduction. My lip and chin are slightly protruded, and I understood why Dr. Lee would recommend double jaw for me. Dr. Lee discussed my nerve endings and vessels on my jaw. Dr. Lee spoke English and there was no middle person during the consultation, so things were pretty straight forward. The clinic’s exam room is one floor above the consulting floor. I walked the stairs to that little exam room to get my x-ray and CT scan done. The staff was friendly but not energetic. The clinic was a bit quiet when I was there with my friend. Maybe it was near closing hour. Consultation fee was 30,000 krw. The quote for the surgery was higher than online consultation if I paid by card. They offered discount if I paid by cash but still on the higher end of the range given online. Overall, I can understand why people choose TFD, but I wasn’t that impressed. I felt like a medical translator was needed to give me further explanations on certain topics. My medical concerns were not fully explained. My friend who went with me actually prefer TL’s vibe more after the first day consultation. Also, I will come back to this and re-mention about the staff and how it made another contributing factor in why I didn’t choose to go there. 

Second day was a lot. 

Zeah was very busy and very humid, not sure why. They didn’t have an English translator and my friend was the one who helped to translate, which I felt really bad for. Medical terms and clinical settings are professional language and difficult to translate, especially my friend doesn’t know much about jaw surgery. A simple analogy would be - you wouldn’t go to a family doctor who cannot communicate with you. I was quite disappointed to be honest. I booked with their consultation and said I needed a translator, but they didn’t end up having one. The consultation fee was 100,000 krw, the highest one among all the clinics I visited. The doctor recommended me to get double jaw, despite knowing I am leaving the country within less than a month. My Korean friend also felt like the doctor was a bit pushy (something I wouldn’t feel if I am there alone since I don’t speak the language)

As mentioned in the group chat, I talked about Jum Dental with quite so much detail. It was the worst experience of all. During online consultation, I specifically asked for a translator, and they said ‘sure’. When I got there, the form was only in Korean and my friend was the one ended up helping me to fill out the forms, which I felt really bad for. I attempted to leave at that time as I thought they may not have a translator to help for consultation. My friend asked the front desk lady and she said the doctor could speak English. The consultation fee was 50,000 krw. The consultation with the doctor was a super cringy experience. A couple of jokes were made during the consultation, but they were rather inappropriate. Doctor spoke good casual English but definitely not sufficient to explain medical concerns. If language is a barrier, a medical translator is a must. I was planning to get surgery, not here to play around…  anyways, my friend who is the most easy-going person got irritated from visiting this place… 

Last appointment I visited on that day was EverM Dental. They are near Sinsa station and they have separate floors for exams, consultations and surgeries. Consultation fee was 50,000 krw. They do not have an English translator so communicating with them was a huge struggle. The doctor explained things quite nicely with plenty of details. He was the first dental surgeon didn’t say to get double jaw. Instead, he suggested to move back the chin just by a bit based on my preference. I was pretty set with them after seeing the doctor. As most people suggested on this forum as well as in the Kakaotalk chat, the most important part is the doctor, not the staff. I listened and tried my best to communicate with his staff. Unfortunately, the professionalism of his staff was very subpar. She lied and lied over time. I video chatted with my family everyday telling them what happened. My friends and I also talked about it at home with her parents. They all think the staff I was communicating with was full of lies. Near the end, my friend’s mother had to help me out to communicate with the clinic through a Korean consultant. I felt so bad because she literally had to make phone calls and communicated back and forth with them during her work hours. After everything somewhat sorted out, this staff who was in charge of my case relapsed again!! My friend’s mom and my parents all suggested me to keep looking for other clinics. Because if communication is a barrier, you could imagine the aftercare and all that associated with the surgery. Also, why give your money to someone who is so incompetent and disrespectful? 

On Saturday night, my friend and her parents helped me to find new clinics, and after asking people on Kakaotalk, I decided to give one more shot, visiting EU Dental. Remember I said I may not end up getting any surgery for this trip if I cannot find a place I am comfortable with? Yeah, that was exactly what I thought. Before coming to Korea, I thought I would struggle to select the best one among all, but that was entirely the opposite. It was so different between clinics. Some really lowered my expectation. I didn’t expect much, because I would simply not put myself on the table if I am not confident with the doctor and the staff. 

Fast forward to Nov. 6th , I booked an appointment the night before with EU after talking to my parents and my friend’s family. EU is in the same building of the Starbucks right outside of exit 1 of Sinsa Station. It was the first appointment that I actually went in by myself. My friend had an interview that day. Thankfully, it wasn’t hard to find. It is a newer building comparing to other clinics I visited. I couldn’t decide to see Dr. Kim or Dr. Shin when they asked me online. I wanted to see both but the online consultation said to better just see one based on the style I like. Dr. Shin was away for a conference on Nov. 6th so my first appointment was to meet Dr. Kim. I was speaking to Kayla, their English translator at the beginning and she asked my concerns and my preference. She wrote them all done very neatly (I really care about details I suppose) on my file before I got to see Dr. Kim. I waited for about half an hour as Dr. Kim had an operation that day. During that time, Kayla was talking to me the whole time, sharing their clinic’s results to me and the people who visited there. I was not alone. I guess that was one of the biggest differences between their clinic and the others I have visited. I was never left alone. I think that was quite important to me. Dr. Kim finally came, and he had some casual English conversation with me. Once he started discussing my medical case, he turned to speak in Korean and Kayla was translating information quite smoothly. I actually liked that about their system, because medical issue has to be explained with professional language especially since I am working in the same field. Similar to EverM, Dr. Kim didn’t talk about double jaw at all. He said my facial bones are lined up pretty well and my bite is good, but he also noticed the position of my chin as well as the thickness of my mandibular bone. My right side is thicker than the left side and that contributes to my asymmetry. He also noticed my mandibular arch being a bit outward on the right side which also contributes to how my right face looks bigger from the outside. I knew Dr. Kim was good at giving dramatic result, but I preferred natural result. He asked whether I wanted to keep 1cm or 2cm of my mandibular bone, and I said 2cm. At the end, he said to Kayla to arrange an appointment with Dr. Shin for the next day, since he wanted me to find a doctor I truly confident with. My confidence about getting surgery in Korea was slowing gaining back after seeing Dr. Kim but I wasn’t entirely sure. I went home that night and talked to my friend’s family as well as my parents. 

(below are written after I flew back home)

The next day morning, I saw Dr. Shin and Kayla was the translator. He asked what my preference was and said if I am comfortable with my lips, I don’t need 2jaw, but if that’s a concern for me, I need it that. I understood quite well. I like natural result, a result that still can well represents me. After seeing Dr. Shin, I told Kayla that I decided to go with Dr. Kim. I paid 500,000 krw by credit card that day and had blood test and x-ray and EKG done. There were some glitches happened during this. Before Kayla left, she told me I would have to pay for x-ray and EKG as well as medications. After she left, I was taken care by a different staff who mainly worked at the front desk who spoke fluent English, and I was asked to pay for my blood test because he said they had to send my blood test to a different hospital since it was ‘late’. I said to him, if I paid that out of pocket for the blood test, do I get a tax receipt from the lab as well? He said to me I would have to pay him instead … okay, I immediately noticed something was going off the path. I suspected he was a new staff and I also didn’t want to give him a hard time since he was not in charge of my case before. Kayla was the one who was with me the whole time, and I guess he wouldn’t know what Kayla told me before. So rather than playing with words, I texted in the group chat where Kayla and a different staff were there and expressed my concern. Thankfully, they resolved the issue very promptly. A different front desk staff who also spoke fluent English, Hye In, brought me to the hospital crossed the street and I had my x-ray and EKG there. Hye In was super friendly and warm-hearted. 

At that night, my friend’s family took me out for hand-made tofu soup, and it was so good. I probably ate too much, hehe. I started to fast at midnight. I brought a box of Kleenex, some facial wipes, two zip-up shirts, Vaseline, face cream, hand cream, a blanket, phone charger, laptop and more… I OVERPACKED. Please don’t overpack like me. I didn’t use my laptop at all. The humidity at the clinic was perfect and I didn’t use any cream lol 

The next day at 1pm, I had a pre-op meeting with Dr. Kim and he asked assured that I wanted to have 2cm left on my mandible. I had 3.5 cm to begin with, so I got removed 1.5cm on each side. He drew some marks on my mandible and my chin. My chin was slightly off- centre so he was going to fix it too. 

Hye In and Kayla talked to me in the recovery room and after I changed to my gown and rinsed my mouth. The other English-speaking staff Lena came in and gave me a lot of baby wipes. She talked to me the entire time while I was waiting for the surgery.  At 2:30pm, Hye In brought me to the surgery room and the room was soooooooo COLD. She stood by the door and translated things to me while the nurses were prep-ing on me. My legs were shaking the entire time b/c it was that cold. Dr. Kang the anesthesiologist came in and put a mask about 5 inch above my face. I remembered I breathed in twice and everything I saw started turning and I decided to close my eyes and I fell asleep. I woke up at 5:55pm. I remembered this because I dropped my phone under my bed and some staff I couldn’t remember picked it up for me and I took a photo and sent to my dad immediately. My lovely friend came to the room at 6pm and I was crying LOL I had really bad nausea after waking up and I was hugging my trash can for an hour… 

okay… I think I will continue later… have to go to bed and prepare lunch for tomorrow now.