sssxccc Posted December 8, 2015 Posted December 8, 2015 Has anyone ever experienced a situation where they found like a special promotion that a clinic has for locals for a lot cheaper in price? Do you know if they would be willing to give you this price despite being a foreigner? or what would happen in this instance if you bring it up to them during a consultation and ask them about it. I found this recently on Opera for nose and if I am reading it correctly (thanks to google translate) it was 70,000 krw for nose?
jeet-dhindsa Posted December 8, 2015 Posted December 8, 2015 It's 700,000 Korean won, and it might just be sales or event price for tip-plasty. Korean's count in increments of 10,000 denoted as "만" I wrote a blog about this pricing topic around this time 2 years ago, which might be helpful. Korean Plastic Surgery Prices FYI: If anyone is curious about how numbers are labeled: 7만 = 70,000 70만 = 700,000 700만 = 7,000,000 In short, Koreans pay less, and foreigners pay more because they cost more to service. If it's a clinic that is experienced treating foreigners and Koreans it's less likely they will offer a domestic or native promotion. Clinics do not have to pay extra insurances, taxes and fees for domestic patients. And of course, Korean patients are the much more easier to attract and treat because they're in and out with very little to no hand-holding. When my ex (native Korean) had her procedures, she researched for 3 days, walked in, had a 5 min consult, surgery next day, post opp and was done. If she didn't get the results she wanted, she just shrugged and said oh well. Being a foreigner, and seeing both sides of the coin from the patient and clinic perspective. It definitely costs much more to handle a foreigner: marketing, communication, time, energy, effort, stress, taxes, insurances etc... Some small off the radar clinics who are not used to having foreigners walk-in, will probably offer or honor the domestic price, but after the more foreigners start trickling in (especially when people post about them), they will change and readjust. I've noticed that a lot people on tight budgets, and or out of fear from subjective reviews they read on this forum, may have developed a misconception that some how these off the radar clinics are some sort of Korean best kept secret, and are better than international clinics. That's a huge risk and gamble because most of the time they are not allowed nor insured to service foreigners, so if there is malpractice or a failed procedure, it will be extremely difficult to resolve.
sssxccc Posted December 8, 2015 Author Posted December 8, 2015 Oops ! I had wrote it wrong! YEs, I was aware it would have been equivalent to $700 haha sorry about that but thank you for the correction! This is good to know and good insight that you've provided. I actually went ahead and contacted the them to see what their response would be on that. When I was look for eye surgery for a friend earlier this year, I had also found a deal and I had emailed the clinic asking about the price, but they didn't respond back (ever). I guess I was just curious to see the reaction and how they would personally counter and justify why they would charge foreigners thousands more. I guess I kind of feel so ripped off. lol I'll post if I get a response back from Opera regarding this promotion that I found.
jeet-dhindsa Posted December 9, 2015 Posted December 9, 2015 I wouldn't look at it as if you're being ripped off, I'm sure you're getting more value than from back home. I got quoted $12,000 for my primary rhinoplasty in Los Angeles. This week I had a foreign patient have me and my nurse do all this last minute running around for him to make sure he can have surgery this Sat. I told my nurse to cancel a interpretation course she had on Friday and Sat to be on call for him. His budget was tight so we had to negotiate on his behalf and put our reputation on the line. We processed everything, got his deposit and paperwork done. And pushed the clinic to make room for him in their schedule and block any Koreans from having surgery that day. It was exhausting because he came to us so last minute. Earlier today he messaged us and said oops looks like my passport is expired, please cancel everything. If you multiple patients like this by 10 and they're coming to a clinic every month, you can see how expensive they become in terms of time, money and energy. That's what justifies the cost for foreigners
mindy3132 Posted December 9, 2015 Posted December 9, 2015 I just came back from Seoul on Saturday and had BA and rhinoplasty during my trip. For BA I went to TLPS and I noticed they had a promo on babitalk.com prior to the consultation. When I went to the consultation I was very happy with how Dr. Yim answered all my questions. I also liked that he was able to speak English pretty fluently and I was able to communicate directly with him for the most part with minimal translating needed. They also moved to a new building recently and the place looked nice. I also like how they have all the backup emergency equipment and have a 1:1 anesthesiologist with you during the entire surgery. If you have a friend coming with you they can actually watch your surgery performed on an iPad so you can be sure there's no doctor switching. During the negotiation, I was quoted a much high price initially. I showed them their babitalk ad which offered round implants for 4M and anatomical implants for 5M and the consultant Regina said she had to check with the doctor first to see if she can give me the promotional price. After a short discussion we settled on 4.5M KRW which is still very reasonable in my opinion for round implants (I don't like teardrop shaped ones). I also consulted with a few other clinics for BA and it ranges from 6.5M - 9M. The surgery was very successful and I had great pre-op and post-op care. I consulted with Dr. Yim 3 times prior to surgery, once initially, once when I requested smooth implants instead of textured round implants (he wanted to explain the pros and cons to me for both, textured is usually a bit more expensive and that is what the use normally but I prefer the feel of smooth implants more) and one last time right before surgery to draw lines on me and review the details of the surgery 1 more time before the operation. I stayed overnight at TLPS and left the next day at 9:00am. I was consulting for nose surgery by 10:00am at different clinics... Recovery was really easy. They gave me an IV pain pump for 2 days so I had continuous pain medication administered and I was in minimal discomfort. After the surgery I had 3 follow up appointments with Dr. Yim before I left Seoul. I was able to get 1 post op massage at 2 weeks after my BA, and if I stayed in Seoul longer I would have been able to get more, but it's not safe to break up the scar tissue before the 2 week mark as the pockets are still healing. Dr. Yim made a point to tell me that I am a lifetime patient and if I were to stop by in Seoul for anything in the future, I can always come to his clinic for a checkup and he would like to do ultrasounds to check the implants. So even though I got a very good promotional price for being a foreigner that doesn't speak a word of Korean, I was still given very good care at TLPS. There are other clinics on babitalk that offered even less than TLPS for BA (like 2.9M for round implants) but they are smaller clinics and I wasn't as comfortable doing something like BA at a small clinic.
jeet-dhindsa Posted December 9, 2015 Posted December 9, 2015 Glad to hear your treatment was a success and you're healing went well. That's a great deal IMO, and pretty exceptional, especially with an overnight stay included. The round type is middle priced, with saline being the cheapest and tear drop being the most expensive, but the implant material itself can still cost around 1M~2M, then there's anesthesia fees, medical tests, post-surgery garment, medication, surgeon’s fee (Yonsei Med School alum) etc... i think you got the upper hand in that exchange^^ I won't be surprised if they make a new policy over the next few weeks if people reference your case for the same deal.
sssxccc Posted December 9, 2015 Author Posted December 9, 2015 Thanks! This totally makes sense, but to me it's about a couple thousand difference. In this case if it is for the nose surgery, then it's 700USD vs. 4000+USD quotes that I am getting. This is quite a big difference. In reality, I've also gotten quotes from Los Angeles and most of the quotes were going for 6-7k (primary) which is comparable to some of the pricing that I'm getting in Korea, which I feel is not the norm especially for locals. I am not sure where you had gotten quoted to get a 12k quote in LA :O! Yikes! Even when I told my Korean (whom is a native, but moved to the states) friend that I went to Korea last year and had my eyes done and I paid 2.1mil krw she was shocked. Her mouth would not close. She did not know that foreigners got charged so much more since she had the same procedure done (and it looks good) for around $500.00 I totally understand the fees that they have to pay to have the consultants, but at the same time, their consultants who work there full-time are probably on a set rate (whether hourly or salary) to be there, which is easily made up by over charging foreigners, but I don't think that they necessarily need to by 3-4 folds to justify the costs. If you think about it, at the rate that they are charging foreigners and for the # of surgeries that they are performing a day multiplied by the increased cost for foreigners they would probably be able to cover the salary of one or two (if not more) translators for a year's worth of salary in one singular month. At the same time, I also understand where you are coming from, but because your organization acts as the middle man between the clinics and the individual (kind of like DocFinder) the basis of your company does rely on pricing foreigners higher so that you can get paid for your work done and commissioned especially now since the commissions/financial breakdown needs to be disbursed between you and the clinic instead of directly to the clinic (whom will pay for their staff off the "over charged" price they had set). Unless your organization is completely free and the service you provide is completely free then it doesn't make sense to me. Anyways, this is totally going off a tangent! LOL
sssxccc Posted December 9, 2015 Author Posted December 9, 2015 Thanks for sharing this mindy!! It helps and wow, that's a stellar deal on BA!
jeet-dhindsa Posted December 10, 2015 Posted December 10, 2015 Well he's a top doc. It was from Dr. Paul Nassif aka Dr. 90210. He told me his junior associate Dr. Yoo can do it for $7,000-$10,000. mindy i was wondering if your price included VAT? Otherwise it would be around 4.95 million for the final price.
mindy3132 Posted December 10, 2015 Posted December 10, 2015 It was 4.5M with tax included, they did not charge me a single penny more for any additional services or medical equipment. They gave me the pain pump for no additional charge after I already paid but told them I am a big baby with pain and I am not sure if the pain killers they gave me would be enough. Especially since I was traveling there by myself but was meeting with some friends I've met online through a kakao group, I wanted to be cautious. A keller funnel was used as well, but they told me it is standard practice for them and it's already included in the price. Dream clinic on the other hand charged my friend additional for auricular (ear) cartilage harvesting for her primary rhinoplasty and I was shocked. She paid 4.2M too. I've never heard of another clinic that charged additional for harvesting cartilage. I found their pricing to be quite ethical. I got the full service as well, car pickups to/from the clinic for appointments and they took me back to the airport when I was leaving Seoul. They did not seem like they were upset I was getting the local price at all. They were all so nice to me from the barista downstairs to the nurse that was working from the night shift during my stay. They even apologized that they didn't have anything but pumpkin porridge for me to eat since they are used to having facial contouring patients stay overnight and that's all they can eat and asked me if I would like any delivery. I pulled a little bit of a diva move and insisted that I needed to leave at 9:00am because I wanted to consult at other clinics. They don't open until 9:30am and they usually start seeing patients at 10:00am, but they sent the driver and a nurse early to the clinic so I can be discharged and brought back to my air bnb rental. Heck after I had rhinoplasty at a different clinic, 1 day post op I went to their for a checkup for my BA, they gave me 1/2 a dozen packs of pumpkin juice for free because my face looked swollen. From my experience in Seoul, the people do not get paid a lot, but the cost of living is significantly lower. Things like manicure/pedicure, haircuts, massages - anything that is service based is very cheap because they do not have to pay people a lot. Imported products like Juvederm filler though is expensive. 500K WON additional is fair to cover the additional services I got from TLPS since I'm a foreigner. Even if they charged a bit more I would be happy with it given the level of service I got, but I would be outraged if they tried to insist that I needed to pay double because I'm foreign. I am curious though, how much additional do they have to pay to insure themselves to be able to accept foreign patients? Also what additional fee's do they need to pay? I am under the impression that they need insurance already to service local patients, not anyone can just throw a bunch of medical equipment in a room a call it a clinic. So I would like to have a better understanding of that as well.
mindy3132 Posted December 10, 2015 Posted December 10, 2015 If you can see their Kakao or wechat - try contacting them that way they are usually more responsive than email. I've had very good luck getting clinics to honoring their promo prices, from bigger clinics like The Line and ID to smaller clinics like Ruby, Cooki and Delux. I usually mention that another competing clinic is also honoring their promo prices and if they are willing to do so too. They usually jump right on it. But for surgeries like nose, they will try their hardest to bump your price up with additional procedures like alarplasty, bulbous tip reduction or osteotonomy since their promo price usually only covers tiplasty and bridge augmentation. Right now their influx of Chinese customers took a hit due to the economy there so they are more agreeable - take advantage of this time if you are going soon. Opera is a hot mess right now with their communication, they seem a bit disorganized when I went to check them out.
sssxccc Posted December 10, 2015 Author Posted December 10, 2015 Thanks Mindy for the advice! I am glad to hear this. I'll try to contact them and see how they respond. Hopefully they won't be put off by my English lol
peanutbutterjel Posted December 11, 2015 Posted December 11, 2015 Hi Mindy, May I know which clinic you did your rhino with? I am contemplating between Eight and Dream but recently found out that Dream doesn't have the licence to treat foreigners. I've been trying to contact Eight in english but haven't had luck, so tried in mandarin and my mandarin is half bucket. Shuffling between google translate to reply.
kathey Posted December 11, 2015 Posted December 11, 2015 Dream Medical Group or Dream Plastic Surgery? They're not the same clinic.
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