kittymon Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 oh i see, didnt know about that, thanks for letting me know (: but does that mean that hospitals that are popular with locals are much better? have you decided on where to get the surgeries done? i'm thinking of consulting with TLPS. honestly i totally agree with you that discounts are secondary, most importantly are the doctors that's why seeking for opinions and reading forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessicacorbyn Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Which one is ASPS, sorry? I agree, listening is important. Better to pay more for the good doctor which is why I am saving 1st Braun is one of my top choices, how far in advance did you try to book? I know they are v popular with mainland Chinese but I definitely want to consult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oceanbelle Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 If the hospitals are popular with the locals, do you think they still have to advertise or focus on the foreigners market? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oceanbelle Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 ASPS is short-form for Apgujeong Seoul Plastic Surgery. About 60% of the patients are Koreans, and the price is not cheap but reasonable to me. I must say their customer service is really good. I screwed up their timing last Friday and they were kind enough to fix another appointment the following day for me. The consultant spoke to me asking me about my concerns and explaining the procedures to me for 15mins. Then I spent another 30mins with the doctor just on zygoma. He was very detailed with the explanation. He was quite funny. He commented that I have done my homework and it is his duty to explain the method he would be using on me, and the pros and cons of the surgery. The method used is about the same with other doctors I have consulted. Of all the doctors, I felt most comfortable with him. I managed to book Braun, but I didn't know the whole consultation would take up to 2-3hrs as I had to rush to the airport. So I had to cancel the appointment. But I will go back in Nov to consult Braun before I make the final decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessicacorbyn Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Is ASPS a clinic known among Koreans for facial contouring? I might book a consult, though I can't find their English site. The doctor sounds very good. And lots of places have rude money grabbing consultants, good that they are not. Let us know how your consultation goes ^^ I've heard Braun is good at "dolly face" if you like that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kittymon Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 umm not too sure about their marketing strategy, but if i were the hospital, if i'm popular with locals i would still target foreigners cos can earn more $? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hongkie_girl Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 Hi All, I'm 10 days post of after BA surgery with TLPS and stumbled upon this post and thought I would share. Prior to landing in Korea, my husband and I shortlisted 3 clinics (TLPS, Banobagi, and LaPrin) and made pre-op appointments with all 3. I paid a USD500 surgery deposit (to secure a Saturday surgery slot) to both TLPS and Banobagi as I was 80% sure I wanted the surgery on the Saturday during my (9 nights / 10 day) trip in Seoul, agreeing to the term that if I did not go through with the surgery it was fully non-refundable. Our plan was to land in Seoul on Thursday night, pre-op appointments on Friday, decide by end of Friday, and go into surgery on Saturday. To provide a bit of background as to why these 3 clinics, it is because: 1. we wanted to get Motiva implants (for safety reasons, and once you touch it, Motiva does feel like the superior implant compared to say Mentors / Polytech / Allergan, but it is more expensive than the other brands), 2. we were looking for a doctor that does sub-fascial placement (for the faster recovery rate and lack of animation deformity). I recollect there are less than 20 clinics in South that supplies Motiva implants and after eliminating those that didn't have English websites and clinics selling a certain "look" which I didn't want (i.e. Wonjin) , we were left with TLPS and Banobagi. LaPrin we also shortlisted initially due to the fast recovery time we saw on a very popular YouTube review, and as a comparison slash back-up plan. Our 1st appointment was with TLPS, Dr. Yim. Dr. Yim speaks fluent English, my husband (who did an immense amount of research for me) completely drilled Dr. Yim about his views on sub-fascial placement, Motiva, his past experience, and etc. Judging from Dr. Yim's reaction, it's either been awhile or he has never been asked so many questions during pre-op consultation. We found Dr. Yim to be well-studied, patient, kind, and most importantly, impartial- he did not sell any brand over the other, he did not urge me in any way to go ahead with the surgery. Dr. Yim had a look at my body, we tried on sizers, and thoroughly discussed what implant and size would be suitable for my frame. Mind you, Dr. Yim is not a fan of the obvious fake look, his skill is to make something that is fake look natural. I didn't want to use the word "natural", because there is such a thing as too-natural (floppy boobs) but he makes every effort to hide the fact that it is fake. No one says they want the fake look but after reading so many posts on RS, what one deems acceptable can differ immensely between people. Dr. Yim advised me that because of my slim frame, I would not have sufficient fascial tissue to do sub-facial placement, therefore he recommended dual-plane placement. If I insisted on sub-fascial, he will do it, only he does not recommend it. When we left the clinic, we still had the surgery time slot for the next day although we had not commit further by paying more. We told Christina (our TLPS consultant) that we will revert back by the end of the day. As for price, we were quoted USD12k, and small discount was possible. To be exact, they quoted USD12k but they would've charged KRW12m (which would have been close to USD12k given the current exchange rates). Our 2nd appoint was with Banobagi. Most of our time was actually spent with a specialized BA consultant rather than Dr. Ban. And as a side note, the clinic was like a bee hive - too much queen-bee personalities and alpha females for there to be satisfactory patient care unless you're a celebrity. When we did make it to Dr. Ban's room, he basically told me what size implants I should get, answered a few of my husband's questions, and we were out. Once we walked out, we realized no one in Banobagi offered me sizers to try on! No way I was going under the knife with a clinic that couldn't care less because I'm not a celebrity or I didn't stamp "I'm wealthy" on my forehead. Dr. Ban understands more English than he can speak so the consultant translated for us. Banobagi quoted us USD15k for Motivas, also small discount possible. Our last appointment was with LaPrin. LaPrin is the first name Google comes up with if you typed in BA South Korea, due to a beauty blogger who had her BA surgery there. We found out when we got to LaPrin that Dr. Park specializes in subfascial placement however LaPrin only uses Polytech implants. The pre-op at LaPrin was different than the earlier two, arguably better. LaPrin uses the 3D Vectra imaging and ultrasound to scan and analyze. What the previous 2 doctors could not (or did not) tell us that the 3D Vectra could was that I only had 130cc. The standard requirement for sub-fascial placement is 20mm of tissue, the ultrasound scan showed I had 11mm and Dr. Park only requires 8mm. Also, Dr. Park puts you on IV sedation rather than general anesthesia during the surgery. LaPrin quoted us USD6k, local price I believe. When we walked out we were quite torn as to who to go with. Given that our decision really hinged on the fact that sub-fascial placement is pivotal to us, we paid USD500 deposit with LaPrin also (for Tuesday surgery). When we got back to the hotel that night, my husband and I were still unsure if we made the right choice. It was between a the preferred placement vs. preferred implant. We considered the experience between the 2 doctors but the different felt that the difference was so minor - both were at the top of their game. So we decided to do further research on the Polytech implants. Polytech has yet to receive FDA approval as it uses a material called Polyurethane. Polyurethane has been linked to liver cancer in rats and although in humans the chance is 1 in a million, I was also not about to take that chance of putting a potential carcinogen in my body. So we asked Christina at TLPS if we could have another consultation with Dr. Yim in the morning. We arrived for our appointment, and we simply asked Dr. Yim about his opinion on Polytech vs. Motiva implants. In summary, Dr. Yim stated that Motiva is still a young but he feels that it is superior and capsular contraction case on Motiva implants have yet to been reported, he prefers Motiva over Polytechs as he's read studies on liver cancer associated with Polytechs. That was enough for us, also we felt that this is a doctor who keeps up with his clients post-op rather than being a beauty factory. We paid KRW10m in total. As I said, I'm 10 days post-op, I was discharged on the same day of my op, I don't have a blood bag. My implants look great, I have very minimal bruising (size of the nail of my pinkie on my right breast), my breasts are not veiny, I'm not suffering from any pain, just post-op soreness and tightness which is lessening day by day. TLPS and Banobagi are well known with BOTH locals and foreigners due to the Korean TV show - Let Me In (Korean version of The Swan I guess). I want to stress that I understand money is a factor and no one likes to pay more than the next person for the same thing, however, the difference is we don't speak Korean and therefore have to accept the fact that the clinics will charge more depending on, not only the fact we are foreigners, but also which country you are from. If you think about it on a global economic scale, there's every chance that the Chinese patients are paying an even higher premium. However, your choice should be dependent on whether you like the doctor's work, how you feel about the doctor - which is more than just the end result, but the technique and technology they are employing. If a clinic offered me a quarter of the price and told me that they did not use an endoscopy I would refuse it right away because without an endoscopy they will be tearing through nerves and blood vessels. What you're not paying monetarily, you could be paying with pain and irreversible damage. On the back of all this, we were in touch the clinic English consultants all the time - Christina (from TLPS), Han (from Banobagi), and Chloe (LaPrin). All 3 speak fluent English, feel free to PM me if you want further details. Christina an extremely sweet person who respected my space when appropriate and an extremely high degree of care throughout the days I was in Seoul. Therefore I have no complaints about TLPS, and am really glad that I chose this clinic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherry-bear Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 @hongkie_girl Thanks for sharing ! I have to agree that prices aside, the doctor/ clinic should give you a comfortable feeling when you select your doctor. Of course everyone wants a deal but nobody really wants to compromise on a less experienced doctor. Unless you really cannot afford it , for that you may want to request for a partial sponsorship being the clinic's model. In my opinion, as long as the prices are within a good range (at least not higher than prices you pay back home), post surgery care is MOST important. A lot of trouble comes when clinics don't take responsibility for revisions, follow ups and blame everything to swelling. Since many of the hospital staff are not properly trained to deal with customer feedback, it is important that any patient should keep a good impression with the doctor for future communication (In case the staff leaves!) . With pricing not as a priority when choosing a doctor, I'm sure hongkie_girl left a relatively good impression?? No good senior doctor wants to be shortchanged just because all the other junior doctors are charge 50% lower! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hongkie_girl Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 @SlowBabe No, I had not gotten any medical history translated to Korean prior to my trip. I didn't have much language barriers to deal with at the clinics because my consultants were with me all the time, translating everything for me. Christina (from TLPS) speaks fluent English, she used to live in Seattle for a few years. Having said that, my Korean vocabulary consists of only 'hello', 'thank you', and 'yes'. If she does feel that language may be a problem and would like assistance whereby the clinic she wants to go cannot provide a proficient English translator, she can reach out to medical-tourism agents such as BeautiqueKorea where they will accompany her from consultation to surgery and post-ops. You can google BeautiqueKorea, their services are free, I've seen a few vloggers use agents. How do they make money if their services are free you might ask. They're the middle man, they will negotiate your surgery price on your behalf and they pocket a portion of what you pay. The pricing is not very transparent, although I never employed an agent since my clinics provided English consultants to service my inquiries, I've come across an agent and have yet to see a transparent pricing structure between: 1. what the clinic is charging, and 2. what the agent takes for their services. I've heard when I was in Korea sometimes the brazen ones pocket anywhere between 30%-60% of the price (i.e. they can probably negotiate a near-local price but you'll be paying a near-foreigner price and they pocket the difference). Therefore I would strongly suggest for your friend to find clinics that have in-house English translators. If not, then use an agent. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hongkie_girl Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 @Cherry Bear Good point. Part of the reason I ultimately chose TLPS is because I felt Dr. Yim cares, cares about his patients, cares about his work. At the end of my 1-week post-op, knowing that I was to fly back to Hong Kong that night, Dr. Yim told me I am welcome to come back to the clinic at anytime for a check up even if I don't feel if anything is out of place. He's a doctor that monitors all his patients progress, so that he himself learns and does what is best for his future patients. And girls, don't forget to bring your passport to get your tax refund from the surgery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimi60 Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Hihi do we get tax refund from works done in a clinic?? I don't know that!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hongkie_girl Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 Yes, as of 1 Apr 2016 foreign patients who get cosmetic surgery in Korea can claim tax (VAT) refund. The official site from the Korean Medical Board is here: http://www.medicalkorea.or.kr/notice.do?method=getView&gcd=G1001&cmscd=CM4028&nno=267 Only the (426) clinics listed on the site qualify. The site is simple and it's pretty straight forward. I asked my clinic to issue me the tax refund documents, took it to the refund point at the airport and they issued me cash. I know that you can get the refund downtown, before you get to the airport, if the amount of the medical expense is small (<2m KRW), but because of the cost of my BA was beyond that threshold I got the tax refund back at the airport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaliyah Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 I already made a thread about my experience with TL, but I thought I'd make a comment here too. I got chin reduction, cheek implants, revision rhinoplasty, and fat graft to undereyes. All at once! The recovery was really hard but so far is so worth it. ^^ I'm about 3 weeks post op as I'm writing this. I plan to post before and after photos after a few months. I chose TL because they have good reviews online, on google reviews and Facebook reviews. Also this clinic is one of the few that offers cheek implants in Korea. All the girls working there are really pretty too. Not all of them probably had surgery but some of them did and looked really dolly and perfect but still in a natural way which is the result I want. And they all wear matching outfits with the clinics colors which I thought is a nice effect. I absolutely love my English consultant Melissa! She is so sweet and even held my hand when I got injections because I'm so scared haha. My doctor was Choi Sewoon. He's very knowledgeable and patient to answer my 100 questions during the first consultation and also his English is quite good. My aftercare was really very good also. I saw one forumer saying TL didn't have good aftercare but that wasn't my experience at all. The clinic gave me so many things to take home to help with recovery and also pickup from hotel for all the appointments. And they also have a laser deswelling part of the clinic that you can do about a week after surgery. So far I love my results~ I wanted my chin to be shorter and more v shaped and I could see the results almost immediately. I still have a bit of mouth numbness but nothing that bad and I feel like it's getting better every day slowly. Most of my face swelling is gone now except at the cheek implants. The implants still stick out a lot but the Dr. Choi said the swelling for them takes the longest to go down, more than the other surgeries by a lot. I loved my nose right after the splint was taken off but it swelled up again after. It's definitely smaller and I love the shape already~ I asked for a more narrow bridge and tip, and more straight in profile view. The fat graft was the easiest part to recover from and I got a quick top up for the undereyes a few days ago. The clinic stored some of my extra fats from the first surgery for the top up which is great because I don't need to get them harvested again. I feel like I look so much cuter overall and very happy with TLPS and Dr. Choi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohblackrabbit Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 @Oceanbelle hi may i know how to contact beaun to make reservation? I cant find their email or contact no so far, thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choijaeyoung Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 Hey how was the aftercare at TL I am considering TL and another clinic for facial contouring surgery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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