My Personal Experience @ DA Clinic (DAPRS)

[tinzy]

Hi everyone,

***My name is Tina and I wanted to share my plastic surgery experience in Korea with DA Plastic Surgery. I was NOT paid or sponsored to advertise the clinic. You may see my before/after pictures on the clinic’s social media sites, but I volunteered for the staff to use them because I had such a positive experience. I just saw that another user posted her review on DA and she was a selected as a model for the clinic. I'll be giving you my perspective as an ordinary patient.***

BACKGROUND:
3 years before:
I went to a large well-known plastic surgery clinic in Gangnam. I had non-incisional eyelid surgery, epicanthoplasty, and rhinoplasty using a silicone implant and my own nasal cartilage for the tip. I had typical small eyes vertically and laterally. The consultant recommended non-incisional and I liked that it involved less healing time. My original nose was quite short so the doctor recommended lengthening it. My experience with this clinic was the typical “factory” experience.

3 years later:
My eyes were very droopy and uneven. The epi was noticeably uneven as well as the eyelids. I was in obvious need of ptosis correction too. My nose tip became droopy and looked even more short than originally. It was also crooked and lacked any definition or shape. I HATED my nose and eyes so much. It was a little depressing seeing pictures of myself and I didn’t like looking at myself in the mirror. I would never go back to that clinic even if they fixed it for free.

Spring/Summer 2016:
I started researching clinics for revision double eyelid and rhinoplasty. I narrowed it down to TLPS and Wonjin. Then I came on PurseForum. I saw a lot of posts mentioning TLPS, Wonjin, ID, View, MVP, Trend, Banobagi, etc. However there was one clinic I kept seeing pop up which was DAPRS. I had never heard of it before, but I noticed that users kept saying positive things about DA mainly in regards to facial contouring. I never thought about doing facial contouring before, but when I looked at the website I was so impressed with their results. They were dramatic, but not plastic monster looking. I did an online consultation request for eyes/nose revision and I received a quick reply the next day. Their English consultant was also very fluent so it made me feel even better. I don’t know about all of you, but my first impression of a clinic begins as soon as I contact them. Many other clinics took too long to reply or their lack of English ability made me uncomfortable. At this point my feeling toward DA was a good one.

My main point of contact was through a staff member named Sky. I could not have gone through this experience without her. She makes herself available for any questions/concerns and speaks English very well. She’s incredibly sweet and pretty—looks like doll! When I arrived at the clinic I also met another English-speaking staff member named Sarah who is also very helpful and friendly. I think a big part of why I enjoyed my time at DA was because of Sky and Sarah. I definitely plan to stay in contact with both of them because they’re two of the coolest people you will ever meet. I confirmed my arrival date with Sky and she set up my consultation. Easy!

CONSULTATION DAY:
DA clinic is super easy to find and in a great location. I first met Sarah one of the English speaking staff members. She introduced herself and walked me into the clinic to help me get settled. The overall vibe of the clinic is clean and relaxing. It has a nice modern interior that makes you feel welcomed. I filled out my paperwork and then waited to consult with the doctors. At this point something took a hold of me. I originally came for just eye and nose revision. However, I thought since I’m here and Dr. Lee is one of the best surgeons in the world for facial contouring…I might as well? At this point I said to myself “why not?” and opted for a breast consultation too. #YOLO! After taking my “before” pictures it was time to meet the doctors. I was a little nervous, but I was feeling really good about everything once I was actually there in person.

Consult w/ Dr. Lee (facial contouring):
Dr. Lee is the head of the clinic and one of the most talented surgeons for facial contouring. When I first met him I was surprised because he was quite young looking and actually pretty cute! Usually you’d expect an old and grumpy looking doctor to be the boss, but not in this case I told him that I didn’t want a super fake look and I definitely didn’t want a pointy chin. He agreed and said that I didn’t need zygoma reduction because my face wasn’t that wide to begin with. He suggested slimming my jaw, moving my chin forward, and doing some fat grafting. He wasn’t pushy and didn’t suggest unnecessary procedures. I definitely have a lot of respect for him because his results with previous patients are absolutely stunning.

Consult w/ Dr. Ahn (rhinoplasty):
Later I met with Dr. Ahn who did my rhinoplasty. He suggested lengthening my nose, which I 100% agreed with. He said that he would extend the tip of my nose because it was short and that the bridge was already high enough. The tip extension would be done through donated cartilage. I was a little nervous about this consult in particular because I hated my previous nose so much, but Dr. Ahn made it clear what he could achieve and that I wouldn’t be disappointed!

Consult w/ Dr. Jang (eyes):
Dr. Jang is the only woman surgeon at the clinic and she is super cool—she’s like Superwoman! She also speaks English very well so I didn’t need Sky or Sarah to translate. She noted that my previous double eyelid surgery and epi were not done very well and that she would do her best to correct it. Dr. Jang recommended ptosis correction along with incisional double eyelid surgery. We also agreed to extend the outer corners too. She’s very meticulous with her work so I felt really good knowing that she was going to operate on me.

Consult w/ Dr. Koo (breast):
Dr. Koo does DA’s breast augmentations. I thought about getting implants before in the U.S., but I was always scared it would look too big and fake. When I looked at Dr. Koo’s before/after pictures I immediately wanted him to do my breast augmentation. He has a good eye and knows what will look good on your body. He helps you achieve balance with your body proportions. I tried on a couple implant sizes using a bra. He went over the different types of implants, saline vs. silicone, teardrop vs. round, inframmary incision (under breast) vs. transaxillary incision (armpit). He definitely knows what will work best for you, so he helped guide me through these decisions. I ended up getting round silicone implants with an inframmary incision and we decided to go with 354cc. My implants are also made by Natrelle which is a high quality brand approved by the FDA and commonly used in the U.S.

It was a long day because I was getting so many surgeries, but I felt confident that I was in good hands. All of the doctors are extremely talented and knowledgeable. Of course they have busy schedules, but I never felt rushed. They made me feel comfortable by giving their honest opinions and assuring me that they would perform surgery with great care and safety. At the end of the day, their goal is simple: they want to make you look good.

I’m not going to post prices of the surgeries publicly. This is because everyone’s body is different and the prices will vary from case to case depending on severity. If you’re really concerned with costs, definitely email the clinic for an estimate with your pictures. I can honestly say they don't overcharge foreigners.

Surgery, recovery, and my concluding thoughts will be in the next post!

 

[tinzy]

SURGERY DAY:
The day of the surgeries I came to the clinic at 10AM. I changed into the hospital gown, washed my face, and gargled solution to clean my mouth (because you can’t brush your teeth the first few days after facial contouring). I waited in the consult room and each doctor met with me once more to go over the procedures. Sarah went in the operating room with me to go over basics. It wasn’t my first time having surgery so I wasn’t too nervous. Dr. Kim was the anesthesiologist for my surgery. His voice is very kind and comforting to hear. He speaks English so I remember hearing him introduce himself and telling me that he was going to make me fall asleep. It was all very standard and before I knew it I was asleep!

8 Hours Later…
I woke up and felt very sore. I wasn’t in a lot of pain, but I was EXTREMELY thirsty. You can’t drink water for an hour after surgery. I think this was the most uncomfortable part. The nurses monitored me throughout the night and made sure I was ok. For me, the breast implants made it very difficult to move. I think if I had just done surgeries on my face I would’ve been fine, but combining it with breast implants made it very hard.

RECOVERY:
I was allowed to go back to my guesthouse the next day. Moving around was so difficult. I couldn’t even open a bottle of water because my arms were sore. I had to make sure to gargle a saline solution to clean my mouth because of the incisions inside. My chin was numb and I couldn’t open my mouth very well. I couldn’t really breathe through my nose because of the bandage and cast, and of course I had trouble moving around because of the breasts. I had to take my medication 3 times a day, but otherwise I was in bed for pretty much the first week.

After the second day of recovery I had a follow up appointment. They will check to make sure everything is ok and will wash your hair for you. I felt a lot better after they did that for me

After about a week I went in for another follow up appointment. They took out the stitches from my eyes and nose. My nose cast and dressing were taken off, and the facial contouring bandages were taken off too. I felt so much better. The first few days were awful. However, I think after one week everything starts to get better. Even though I was still swollen I knew that I liked the results. The doctors came to check on the progress and they were satisfied with the results too. Dr. Lee went over the scans of my face from before and after. He went over the results and said from now on I will keep deswelling and my face will get better and better. Dr. Jang looked over my eyes and said they looked very pretty. Dr. Ahn checked my nose and said it turned out great. Dr. Koo checked my breasts and was very happy with how they turned out (he jokingly said, "I think I like the results even better than you!" lol). All the doctors and myself were actually surprised that my face wasn’t that swollen just after one week. Either way they did a laser dewswelling treatment.

After about another week I had my third follow up appointment. They took out the stiches from my mouth and did more laser deswelling treatments.

Another week passed by until my last follow up appointment. This was with Dr. Koo so he could check my breasts one more time before I flew back home. They prescribed more medicine and just like that my time at DA came to an end.

CONCLUSION:
I have to be honest. Since I did so many surgeries, the few days of recovery were really tough. In the beginning I regretted getting so much done, but now that I’m healed I’m actually glad I was able to do it all at once. I’m still a little swollen and I will be for a few more months, but people say I don’t look very swollen! The aftercare was also fantastic. A really crucial factor in successful results is staying in Korea long enough to heal!

I also think it’s really important to develop a good relationship with your clinic. Don’t make price your top concern when selecting a place. Although my surgeries were not cheap...think about it. Do you really want cheap surgery? It's SURGERY. Surgery is an investment and you get what you pay for. Also, don’t go into the consultation thinking that you know everything just because you Googled it. Listen to the doctor’s recommendation, they’re the expert and not you. Be respectful and be realistic.

I believe that my results turned out so well because I didn’t have unrealistic expectations. Yes, you can search for pictures of results you’d like to have, but in the end everyone’s anatomy is different. I never showed the doctor a picture of someone else and said “I want to look exactly like her.” I think this is the wrong way to approach surgery because you’ll only be disappointed in the end. Yes, you should have an idea of what kind of results you’d like to achieve, but don’t expect an exact replica of someone else’s features. They can only enhance and tweak what you already have.

I’m so grateful to DA for being so wonderful. The doctors, nurses, Sarah and Sky made everything worth it! I read so many nightmare stories and bad experiences with other clinics, so I'm really lucky to have discovered DA Clinic. You have to suffer for a few days in order to have the results you desire. Looking back I would do it again without hesitation. In my case I was really unhappy with the way I looked. People will judge me for going through all of this, but I’m very satisfied with the results. Many say that your happiness begins from the inside out, but I really think my surgeries allowed me to finally like myself. I regret nothing

 

[tinzy]

 

[kebro]

Thank you for your story, Tinzy! You look so good! I am considering DAPRS for vline and rhinoplasty, you make me more at ease with their care Were you alone in Korea? Also, how long until you were able to eat normally?

 

[carlabell]

wow tina
thankyou for your detailed review, ive been looking into alot of DA reviews and tis really helps alot
you look like you are recovering really well, looks like you swelling is all gone?
and im curious about your breast surgery, does it feel natural?
it looks great did you get the teardrop implants?

 

[gil_taylor]

great! thankyou
i love that you uploaded photos you look so pretty

 

[blobvy]

You look amazing! In most pictures I have seen from Darps everyone had pretty pointy chins, but your chin look so natural, exactly like I want mine. Which surgical procedure did he do to your chin?

 

[tinzy]

@Kebro No, I wasn’t alone. I have friends there who helped me. I’d say it was about 2 weeks till I was able to eat normally. I still can’t open my mouth wide and sometimes it feels stiff and sore, but I’m only a month in recovery.

@carlabell Swelling can last even up to a year, so no it’s not all gone just yet. My implants feel pretty natural to me, and as I already mentioned I had round implants

@Blobvy Dr. Lee moved my chin forward using forwarding genioplasty. No chin implant used.

 

[oreocream]

This is good stuff. Thanks for the DA review tinzy!

 

[jessicacorbyn]

OP you look great! thank u for review ^^

Blobvy said: ↑

You look amazing! In most pictures I have seen from Darps everyone had pretty pointy chins, but your chin look so natural, exactly like I want mine. Which surgical procedure did he do to your chin?

Click to expand...

which pics are these? the ones on their site?

 

[bellaroo_23]

beautiful great results!
@ABCchoco

 

[hikaribelle]

Hi @tinzy, thanks for your review. You look very pretty . I will consider DA if I ever need another touch-up. Were you asleep for the eyelid part of your surgery too? How did Dr. Jang know if everything was going to be symmetrical?

 

[tinzy]

Hikaribelle said: ↑

Hi @tinzy, thanks for your review. You look very pretty . I will consider DA if I ever need another touch-up. Were you asleep for the eyelid part of your surgery too? How did Dr. Jang know if everything was going to be symmetrical?

Click to expand...

They did my eyes first so I was able to open and close my eye for that part. I wasn't put to sleep until after my eyes were done.

 

[gobeautysave]

Thanks for the post, you look great! DA is definitely one of the top clinics.

 

[carlabell]

tinzy said: ↑

They did my eyes first so I was able to open and close my eye for that part. I wasn't put to sleep until after my eyes were done.

Click to expand...

did you feel anything? you were awake the whole eye surgery?