Eyes, nose, jawline, fat graft, Feb-March 2020

[ChubbyBun]

Hi all, I had a bunch of procedures done in late February and early March of 2020, and will be writing about it in this thread! Some of you might've followed my journey through KKT, Discord, or my blog, but I thought I'd post it here too for accessibility. 

Procedures done at Wannabe:

• EYES: incisional double eyelid surgery, ptosis correction, medial epicanthoplasty
• FAT GRAFT: forehead, temples, frontal cheek, chin
• UNDEREYE: fat repositioning
• JOWLS/JAW LINE: Accusculpt, threadlift (8 Mint threads), masseter muscle botox

Dr. Jin Premium Nose Clinic: rhinoplasty with dorsum augmentation and tip projection using autologous rib cartilage

Even though all of my surgeries were primaries, I knew that I wanted rib cartilage for my nose because of the long-term complication rate with alloplastic implants and donor cartilage, which made it seem inevitable that I'd need a revision surgery within a decade. I ended up picking Dr. Jin of Premium Nose Clinic without ever having an in-person consultation due to his experience with using autologous rib cartilage, natural aesthetic, and hearing positive things by word-of-mouth. 

For the other procedures, my short list was the following:

• JK
• Topface
• Namu
• Wannabe
• CWCMC (eye specialist only)

I had scheduled Wannabe, Namu, and CWCMC for the first day, and then JK and Topface for the second day. Here are how the consultations went:

WANNABE 

Alice is basically the most personable English speaking consultant ever- incredibly responsive and friendly. We'd corresponded over Kakao for about a month or so before I traveled to Seoul. The clinic was pretty easy to find and it was quiet when I arrived- one other client in the waiting room when I arrived, with 5 staff members at the front desk. I filled out some paperwork and they checked my passport to ensure that I hadn't visited China recently. I met with Alice for about 20 minutes and we continued our discussion now that I was actually in front of her. She assessed the thickness of my eyelid skin since I was interested in DES and medial epicanthoplasty- and she noted that I needed ptosis correction, which wasn't obvious from the pictures that I'd sent her. She also assessed the tissue around my jaw by touching my jaw and asking me to clench my teeth, since I'm pursuing non-invasive jaw contouring, and noted that it was a combination of muscle and fat that contributed to my square jaw, and suggested botox with Acculift and threadlifting. We then talked about my fat grafting aspirations- I'd already wanted fat grafting for my forehead and nasolabial lines, and she suggested that since I was already doing two areas, which counted as "full face" fat grafting, to also graft my frontal cheek area since that was sunken. After we had decided on the procedures, I met with Dr. Chang (also spelled as Jang), who agreed with the suggested procedures, and also suggested chin and undereye fat repositioning (I later learned that this was a specialty of his, and apparently he had invented a specialized needle for this procedure). Dr. Chang used that eye pokey tool to simulate folds for my eye- I wanted a slightly higher crease that would balance out the medial epicanthoplasty

Overall, good experience with the clinic staff, Dr. Chang spoke English and was easy to talk to, seemed attentive and knowledgeable. Quoted prices were on the higher end, and I ended up with ALOT of procedures: incision DES, ptosis correction, medial epicanthoplasty, botox, accusculpt for jaw, threadlift (8 mint threads), undereye fat repositioning, full face fat injection and tear trough fat injection

NAMU 

I'd been corresponding with Claire and she was very helpful but not always responsive- I get the impression that she's very busy. She seemed to forget that I was scheduled to consult today until I asked to confirm in the morning, and I think they had to squeeze me in even though the appointment had been made a month ago. The clinic was very busy with locals, and I spent about 10 minutes waiting before seeing Linda, the English speaking consultant. THEY DIDN'T CHECK MY PASSPORT and even though I'm American, I'm ethnically Chinese and definitely look it, so they don't seem to be taking Coronavirus precautions... Linda and I had a brief consultation and honestly I don't think anything interesting or important was said except that she suggested laser lifting instead of acculift, but also with threadlifting. I was to consult with Dr. Kirk, but he was in surgery, and I spent about an hour in the office twiddling my thumbs and taking photos of their B&A book. I also had the chance to observe the clinic hallway a bit, and it seemed pretty chaotic and frantic, which is a totally subjective opinion, but Eventually Dr. Kirk arrived and I think he just agreed with everything that I said, and I left feeling like nothing had really happened. I learned that Ulthera, the more expensive of the laser lifting options, was "stronger" and normally they would recommend 2 sessions of Doublo Gold for someone like me, but since I would probably only do one session, that I should go with Ulthera.(edited)

NAMU overall: clinic felt very busy and chaotic, not sure I would receive any attention after the surgery lol, but quoted very low prices (about 50% of what WANNABE quoted me for roughly the same procedures). Possibly a good option if I weren't doing something as finicky as eyes. The price was definitely right. I might be concerned if I were visiting at a later date since they don't seem to be taking precautions against corona virus. 

CWCMC 

I was referred to Dr. Choi by Dr. Jin of Premier Nose, and I believe that Dr. Choi is an eye specialist in the same way that Dr. Jin is a nose specialist- they prioritize functionality over all else, which I think tends to result in a natural look. Dr. Choi was extremely warm and friendly, his English was good, and he was the only one who shook my hand lol (he knew I was American and I had been talking with him personally over KKT). I didn't even speak to any of his staff (I don't think they spoke English?). He took alot of time to ask what I wanted and explain the technical aspects of the procedures. We never talked about price. I feel very confident that he is an extremely technically talented surgeon, as well as generally a really nice and considerate person, but I didn't feel confident about whether he would achieve the aesthetic results that I wanted. His before and afters were very natural, but when he was using the pokey stick tool to shape my eye crease, he never seemed to get a shape that I wanted. I don't think I was able to properly convey to him the shape that I wanted, whereas with Dr. Chang of WANNABE, he was very quickly able to make the eye shape configuration that I was hoping for.

CWCMC overall: I wish I had picked Dr. Choi just because he's so nice, but he only does eyes, and I wanted other procedures, and I didn't feel like he and I were on the same page about the results I hope to achieve

 

I ended up picking Wannabe due to a few factors

So outside of a few hard objective factors, like being licensed, accessible, seeing before and afters that seemed realistic and also aligned with my own personal ideal, etc., alot of my decision was based on "feel" or my "gut". It's entirely possible that I could've been just as happy or even more satisfied at Namu, but I picked Wannabe because of how they made me feel:

• Alice - honestly, she was a huge factor in my decision. The fact that I could communicate clearly with her and that I felt like I had her full attention whenever it was warranted made me feel comfortable and safe
• Dr. Chang - he very quickly and deftly manipulated my eyelids to the shape that I wanted to achieve, and I think that inspired confidence in me that he and I had similar aesthetic ideals. He also seemed calm (not stressed or overworked) and capable
• clinic staff - the staff were polite and helpful. call me superstitious but I think that if the staff are rude and stressed, that says something about the work environment
• only 2 doctors, and each doctor does a maximum of 4 surgeries a day, according to Alice

I'll post more as I finish writing about the surgeries and recovery process

Edited April 8, 2020 by ChubbyBun
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[goodbyesock]

Super interested in hearing more from you! Hope you are recovering well

[onlyoneknows]

hey chubbybun , did you already have your surgery?

[Yukino147]

Can't wait for the update!!!

[ChubbyBun]

Hey guys, I've been pretty busy with work and have been kinda unmotivated to write much lol. But I blogged everything as it was happening and have been taking update photos. Everything can be found here:

https://sites.google.com/view/chubbybunps/photos

Happy to answer any questions that you may have

Edited April 8, 2020 by ChubbyBun

[ChubbyBun]

Also, here's a quick B&A for those who don't feel like looking at 5000 pictures  my "before" pictures are probably not the most flattering pics of me, but that's okay... I'm currently 5 weeks post-op for nose, and 6 weeks post-op for everything else.

I went into this journey with the idea that I wanted to look more like my younger self, but with some improvements  so far, my friends and colleagues have told me that I still look like me, but... a little different. lots of them had a hard time identifying what I had done, or whether I had anything done at all

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out so far:

• I'm very pleased with my eyes and undereye area.
• Jaw area still feels a bit swollen, but it's definitely slimmer than before. Right now my smile is slightly asymmetrical though
• Nose is my biggest insecurity right now. It's been the slowest to deswell, and Dr. Jin told me that it will probably take a long time since I have thick skin. Since I had autologous rib cartilage implant, that will take longer to heal than an alloplastic or even donor cartilage implant. I wish my nose were smaller, but I know it'll take more time before it gets to its "final" appearance
• Rib cartilage harvest site was pretty painful for the first two weeks, but is basically unnoticeable now. I started running and doing calisthenics and yoga again this week, which have felt great 

Edited April 8, 2020 by ChubbyBun

[crystaaaal]

The nose is nice and looks younger

[cactus]

oh wow, you look incredible! i especially love your nose. will look into dr. jin. what were his fees like? 

the contours of your face look softer and more youthful and it seems like all traces of under eye circles have vanished! 

[mr.mardan]

hi may I know how much Dr. Jin quote for Rhino? im thinking to trust him for my nose job. 

[Joce]

Your results look so good! Super natural  For what it's worth, I think your nose looks great (that profile especially!). Would you say that recovery was difficult? So far I'm planning on going alone, but I'm wondering if I should try to find someone to bring with me. 

[ChubbyBun]

thanks for the feedback, everyone, it's appreciated

I went alone and I was physically fine during the recovery, but the mental and emotional side was a bit tough. I was in contact with my good friends basically all day, and that made a huge difference. I think if you feel like you have a good remote support system, you should be alright.

Dr. Jin's fees are quite high-- i think he is quite busy and it'll be hard to negotiate. if you can bring all cash, you may have some leverage as I think he prefers cash payment. feel free to reach out to me via KKT or discord if you have more questions about fees

[Chitchit]

2 hours ago, ChubbyBun said:

thanks for the feedback, everyone, it's appreciated

I went alone and I was physically fine during the recovery, but the mental and emotional side was a bit tough. I was in contact with my good friends basically all day, and that made a huge difference. I think if you feel like you have a good remote support system, you should be alright.

Dr. Jin's fees are quite high-- i think he is quite busy and it'll be hard to negotiate. if you can bring all cash, you may have some leverage as I think he prefers cash payment. feel free to reach out to me via KKT or discord if you have more questions about fees

Hi chubby bun, would like to connect. Have u got a kakao id? 

[ChubbyBun]

https://open.kakao.com/o/sCHi1WSb

[lizlizgnocci]

You look great! This is the kind of natural difference I'm looking for. Do you use Kakao to talk w people about your experience? I'm interested in Wannabe as well so I'll add you on Kakao if I can ^^

[squeen1009]

wow! I think the surgery went really well. Most importantly I think it looks really natural, it just looks like you lost weight. I would love to hear more about your experience going there alone and how you handle the recovery by yourself? I am thinking about going alone as well, but afraid that I might be too uncomfortable from the surgery to do everything myself. Did the clinic help you with anything?