How do you choose a trustworthy, competent surgeon who you can be sure won't attempt to bamboozle you?

[Plastic_Redemption]

Reviews cannot be trusted. Before & photos aren't always legitimate. Many are photoshopped, many surgeons only show the good results and hide the bad ones. Shadow doctors exist and are a real threat. Board certification isn't even enough to ensure that a surgeon is good & can be trusted. So what can prospective patients actually do to ensure that they make a safe decision? How do we avoid the scammers, the predators who are only interested in money and lack basic human empathy? When you walk into a clinic & sit down with a doctor for your consultation, how do you know that they're genuine, that you can trust them and that they won't just swap places with a some other unqualified person/"ghost doctor" when you're lying on that operating table? Attempting to navigate the world of South Korean PS as a foreigner feels kind of like trying to walk across a mine field without getting blown to bits. With all of the corruption & manipulation that goes on, it almost feels impossible to make a decision that you can feel totally secure & confident in. The internet is filled with anecdotes & fraudulent information while there seems to be very, very little in the way of hard data on different clinics/surgeons. How can we educate & empower ourselves to make the best decisions possible? How do we avoid being victimized?