dwil20 Posted November 28, 2016 Posted November 28, 2016 I did V-Line surgery and revision of rhinoplasty at DA plastic surgery clinic about 1-month ago (on 21 Oct 2016). I would like to share some of my experiences with DA clinic to help others in their decision making. My Plastic Surgery Journey I had a crooked chin and nose due to my previous surgery in a small clinic in Korea 2 years ago. The experience from my first surgery was not really pleasant. Small clinics in Korea usually will offer a very attractive price. However, there are some risks involved. The doctors in smaller clinic might not have a proper qualification and sufficient medical equipment or staffs (i.e. anesthesia doctor). They need to outsource anesthesia doctor for my surgery and this could be very dangerous. As this doctor only works on part-time basis, he/she will not be on stand-by until the surgery finish and they might need to move to the other clinics right after they put you to sleep. There will be no first aid treatment by qualified professional in case of emergency and many have died because of this reason. Learning from my past mistakes, I actually spent more effort with my research to find a reputable clinic/doctor. I found DA from the search engine at Instagram #maleplasticsurgery. Apparently, DA also has a special category of surgery for guys, which really attracts me. You should check out the "before&after" segment in DA's website. Most of the surgery results are very convincing and they actually attached some post-surgery video in their website as well. Initially, I had shortlisted ID and TL hospital as well. However, these two hospitals have too many doctors and I was not sure if the doctors they assigned me is a good one. At the end, I decided to choose DA because of their star surgeon, Dr Lee Sang-Woo. He is the owner of the clinic and has appeared in many talk show in Korea, i.e. "Let Me In" and "White Swan". His video can be easily found in YouTube. Most of the reviews about Dr. Lee in this forum are mainly positive. Apparently, Dr lee specialty is on facial contouring and he is like one of the celebrity surgeons in Korea. I was actually very convinced with his works and credentials.Consultation I contacted DA through KakaoTalk (ID: daprsen). The response was very fast. The consultant speaks very good English and there was no problem in communication. I had a so-called online consultation by sending them my pictures. Based on the pictures, the consultant advised me on the possible surgery procedures and the price range. The price quoted from the online consultation was really high and I was a bit shocked at first. I frankly told the consultant about my budget and they advised me that they will try to work according to my budget. Eventually, the consultant helped me to make an appointment for a face-to-face consultation. It is advisable to make an appointment prior visiting the clinic. During my visit there, the clinic was very busy. Fortunately, as I had made an appointment the waiting time was only around 15 minutes. The consultation is quite standard, they will do a CT scan, take pictures of my face from different angle, and lastly, set a meeting with the doctors. Communication was perfectly smooth. The doctors actually understand English but they still engaged a professional English translator to prevent any miscommunication. After the actual consultation and meeting with the doctors, the proposed surgery for my case would be: 1) V-line and revision of genioplasty to fix my crooked chin and improve the shape of my jaw line. Doctor in-charge: Dr. Lee Sang-Woo 2) Osteotomy rhinoplasty (shaving part of the nose bone) to straighten the shape of my nose. Doctor in-charge: Dr. Choi Hang-Seok Both doctors are very friendly and humble, especially Dr. Lee. He is actually quite charming and cute unlike other doctors from other clinic. I believe those who had engaged and met Dr. Lee would agree with me. During the price negotiation, the consultant still quoted me with a very high price. I told them about my budget again and after some discussion and bargaining, they finally agreed to provide a "generous" discount. The final pricing was actually quite similar with the price offered by other clinics or hospitals.
dwil20 Posted November 28, 2016 Author Posted November 28, 2016 Surgery and A night of hospitalization Booking of the surgery date usually requires 3-days advance notice in DA. As for my case, it happened that they have available slot in the afternoon during the consultation day It usually requires 8 hours of fasting before surgery and I was lucky that I had not eaten anything when I went for the consultation. I was put to sleep with general anesthesia during the surgery. I could not remember anything after lying on the surgery bed. The whole surgery took 3 hours to complete but It felt like I was asleep for less than 5 minutes. When I was awake, it was really painful and I could literally felt my bones were being cut. The pain level was like 8 out 10 and my tears started to flow the moment I woke up. Eventually, after the nurse injected some pain killers, the pain slowly subsided. Somehow I find that my second surgery felt more painful compare to the first one. From my understanding based on the nurse explanation, the doctor need to cut on the same and previously cut area. The cell of this area had been damaged previously, hence the swelling will be more severe for the second surgery, thus explain the pain. My advice to others, it is very important to find a good and well-known doctor for your first surgery. Revision surgery is not as pleasant as the first one. Well, I do hope this will be the last revision surgery that I need to have. Post-operation experience was a torture as I had dry and bad sore throat due to the effect of general anesthesia (GA). I could only drink water 3 hours after the surgery. My condition was much improved after I was allowed to drink water. For the whole night, my neck was extremely sore. This is also one of the effects of GA. For those who are going to have GA for the surgery, it will be good if you could bring along a neck pillow. Trust me, you will need it! I was required to be hospitalized for 1 day after the surgery. During this period, the nurse will be periodically check on my condition, replaced the ice-pack and provide injection to prevent further swelling. Some of the nurses in DA speaks Chinese, It was a relief as it eased the communication barrier when I needed help from them. Post Surgery After the first night, my conditions was pretty much improved. After I had discharged from the hospital, I was able to walk around and did some shopping. It was no longer painful but there were a lot of restrictions on my movement and I could only have soft diet for the first 7 days. As I also did osteotomy rhinoplasty, I could only use my mouth to breath. Hence, I felt a lot of discomfort due to the dry lips and sore throat for the first 3 days. I also need to consume sufficient pain killers otherwise the pain would start to come back. The swelling was eventually the worst on the 3rd day. However, it felt more comfortable as I could start breathing through the nose again. I could not wash my hair or face with all the bandages on my face. Fortunately, DA provided shampoo service and laser treatment for me to freshen up. Not many hospital or clinic will actually provide this service. So, the post-surgery service experience with DA was very pleasant. After the 7th day, the bandages were finally removed. My jaw had more strength and I could start eating some proper food, like rice and small-cut meat or vegetables. I was finally able to taste Korean kimchi again. The stitches inside my mouth was removed on the 10th day. As for my nose, it took longer time to heal and the stitches could only be removed after the 14th days. Probably because this was my revision surgery and the wound would take longer time to recover. The pain during stitches removal was quite bearable. It was not as painful as what others had described. Probably the nurse that attended to me was more gentle and experienced. At the 10th day, I looked almost like a normal person although the jaw movement was still very restricted. 2 weeks after my surgery, I could resume back my normal routine and lifestyle. Most of the major swelling are gone and I looked very normal. Not many of my friends actually realized that I had a plastic surgery. Surprisingly, my overall recovery is very fast. The overall shape of my chin has been improved, especially when I smiles. However, the actual outcome of the surgery is still vague as both my chin and nose are still looking slanted due to the swells and bruises. I could not wait to be fully recovered and see the actual shape of my new chin and nose. For now, I will stay positive and will provide more before and after picture in future. Some Pros & Cons about DA Pro: 1) High profile doctors with good credential and always appear in famous talk-show in South Korea 2) No shadow doctors as the doctors in-charge for the surgery is put in writing 3) Great post surgery service with facial and shampoo service during the recovery period 4) Doctors and consultants understand English 5) Fully equipped with necessary medical equipment and professional medical staffs (i.e. anesthesia doctor) for safety concern Cons: The initial quote provided before the consultation is usually very high. This could be a turn-off for some people. You will need to do some bargaining and usually the consultant will provide you with a generous discount during the actual consultation. But, most importantly DA will still provide you with the certificate to claim 8% tax rebate from the airport. One of the big hospitals actually quoted me with similar pricing. However, for some reason that hospital did not allow me to claim the tax rebate. So, I had more points and reasons to choose DA for my final decision.
motty26 Posted November 29, 2016 Posted November 29, 2016 wow u are already super cute even before surgery... do u mind if u can PM me the price of the surgeries please?
mblem Posted December 1, 2016 Posted December 1, 2016 If you don't mind my asking, did they provide the discount to be a model or real story on their site?
hcolumbus Posted December 1, 2016 Posted December 1, 2016 Great look, mate! May I ask which clinic you did your first rhinoplasty at? If you're not comfortable with sharing, perhaps you could PM me. Thanks!
dwil20 Posted December 7, 2016 Author Posted December 7, 2016 They gave me more discount if I allow them to use the before and after picutre of my surgery. Not really as a model, just some pictures for them to use. I think they offer most people with the same deal. Total price that I paid for my surgery is 12 mil won.
dwil20 Posted December 7, 2016 Author Posted December 7, 2016 I did my first rhinoplasty at YNY Beauty. It is a small clinic in Korea. Not trying to bring YNY down, but I think the doctor there did not do a really god job for me.
tt009015 Posted December 7, 2016 Posted December 7, 2016 Any nerve damage and sagging? Are you worried about that? Has osteotomy made ur noser slimmer
dwil20 Posted December 7, 2016 Author Posted December 7, 2016 I did not encounter that issue. The only bad thing about my previous nose is that the shape was not straight (slanted to the right). Yeap, after nose bone osteotomy, i feel that my nose looks slimmer and smaller. However, i think my nose still match my overall face shape. The swell on my nose is not fully recovered yet. It is only 6 weeks after the surgery now. As of now, I don't see any issue with my nose.
gats Posted December 7, 2016 Posted December 7, 2016 You're on their youtube channel too. They should have given you a bigger discount for promoting them.
gypsophila Posted December 7, 2016 Posted December 7, 2016 I love your results! I've contacted DA through kakaotalk as well, may i ask how long was it to get their reply? Since i haven't received their reply yet.. I'm planning to go there next year.
dwil20 Posted December 7, 2016 Author Posted December 7, 2016 The reply used to be quite fast. However, usually this period during year end is their peak season. The reply for my follow-up also become quite slow now. It takes about 1 - 2 days for them to reply I heard there are some changes in their management and some of the consultants have left. So, they are kind of lacking of manpower now. Maybe you can also try to send them email for consultation.
gypsophila Posted December 7, 2016 Posted December 7, 2016 I was thinking about sending email too. But in this case may be I should wait few more days and see. They must be having a busy time. Thank you so much!!
klausmikaelson Posted December 7, 2016 Posted December 7, 2016 Did you receive their reply on Kakao? I had my fc + fg surgery on 23rd Nov with DA. Post surgery care was so so so horrible. I had to stay for a night as well and there was no nurse on night duty after 12 am. I remember being very afraid having to walk to the toilet myself (with drip no less) in the middle of the night. The nurses were also extremely extremely extremely rude and definitely not friendly at all (Especially this China lady with the surname of Xu). Btw, i am surprise you received the rebate because they told me they do not have this policy when I requested for the receipt for tax rebate. Its been 14 days since my surgery and I have been trying to contact them desperately for the past 4 days. Dr Lee is really good but everything else of my surgery experience with DA sucks. To everyone who is reading this and considering DA, please be careful of sponsored reviews.
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