valeriansin Posted August 17, 2017 Posted August 17, 2017 I’ve noticed a few threads on here about fillers / dermatology in Seoul, but not much English information, so I wanted to share my experience from Abijou clinic 아비쥬 (formerly Wynn clinic 윈크리닉) in Gangnam. I have wanted lip fillers for a while now and was after a very natural, soft plumping of my lips. I did a lot of research on which are the best brands of filler to achieve this. An overwhelming amount of research said that Juvederm is the best brand for lips specifically, providing a more natural, soft appearance / feel, more so than the other common brand Restylane. Everything I read suggested that Restylane gave a harder, more lumpy texture and needed a lot more work to look natural, even after the injections were finished. I felt confident Juvederm was what I was after, so I began contacting clinics specifically asking if they provided this brand and what the prices were. Abijou clinic have an English phone service so they got back to me with prices and they were quite reasonable. They recommended either Myeongdong or Gangnam clinic as they have English speaking staff there, so I booked in for Gangnam and felt very excited. Finally the day arrived and I am disappointed to say that the whole experience from the moment I walked into the clinic was a nightmare. The staff rolled their eyes at me when I went to reception because I couldn't speak much Korean, and made me wait for 45 mins past my scheduled time until someone who spoke English became available. This woman (not the doctor, but some kind of consultant) then sat down with me to talk about what I wanted. I said I was after Juvederm fillers in my lips, and was hoping for very natural, subtle volume. She said they had Juvederm, but Juvederm isn’t actually very good and it was likely the doctor would want to use something different. I told her I came to this clinic specifically because I wanted Juvederm, and she said "just wait and see what the doctor says". I was under the impression that when I met with the doctor I would be able to talk more about the look I was going for, and what options were available. Instead I was put back in the waiting room and immediately a nurse applied the numbing cream to my lips and covered them in cling wrap. Sometime later, I'm rushed into the injection room, and finally meet the doctor. At this point my whole mouth is numb and it's very hard to talk. I try to tell her that I want a very natural, subtle volume and I specifically want Juvederm. The doctor tries to tell me that Restalyne actually gives a smoother, softer texture and shape (which I knew from my hours of research is not the case). To me it seemed like they had some kind of deal with Restalyne because no matter what I said the doctor refused to give me Juvederm and kept insisting that 1ml of Restalyne was the best option for me. I eventually gave in, because I didn't want the doctor giving me Juvederm fillers if she wasn't experienced / confident with this product and therefore not getting a good result. Also, it was very hard to keep arguing with her with a completely numb mouth. But the second I agreed to Restalyne, the doctor starts opening the packaging and getting ready to inject. At this point we haven't even had a conversation about what it is that I want, and I had to stop her and ask her to please explain what she was going to do to my lips before she just rushed ahead and starting injecting. She told me she would add more volume to my top and bottom lip (exactly what I wanted) and would also inject some filler around the sides to give my lips and natural turned up / smile shape (not at all what I wanted). The doctor was getting impatient and frustrated with my questions, but I shudder to think how I would have looked if I did not have the confidence to stop her and ask her to clarify what she was going to do to my face before she did it. The actual procedure was very painful, but I don't know whether to fault the doctor for this or not. I was given both the numbing cream and 4 anesthetic injections in my face, so it was slightly concerning that I still felt the amount of pain that I did. She worked a long time on my lower lip and a very short amount of time on my top lip which concerned me. After it was finished I was quickly handed a mirror and then rushed out the door where the English speaking consultant was behind the counter. It was hard for me to see the result because my lips were very swollen and I was also being rushed. When I got outside the English speaking consultant looked at my lips and instead of saying anything positive she just quipped "you need more filler in your top lip". I couldn't believe she would say that given that the doctor was meant to fill both my top and bottom lip and yet the majority of the filler went into the bottom lip only. There was no goodbye, no thank you, just a quick appointment made for a follow up in 2 weeks. I wasn't given any instructions on aftercare, whether I could touch my lips, and if it weren't for Google I worry I might have done the wrong thing. It's now been 2 weeks and I have just returned from my follow up appointment. My bottom lip is disproportionately bigger than my lower lip, and there is a lump in the side of my face from where I think the doctor accidentally injected some filler. The overall texture of my lips is hard and bumpy. I raised all of these concerns with the doctor and the English speaking consultant and they tried to make up excuses for this while brushing me off and trying to get me out the door. The doctor said the lump in my face is not filler, but swelling from the injection site (then why is it hard and round like the filler in my lips? And still there 2 weeks later?). The English speaking consultant even had the nerve to try and tell me that 1ml of filler was never going to be enough (again, absolute BS) and it was my own fault for not getting more filler at the time. At no point did the doctor say that with 1ml would not be enough to achieve my desired result, otherwise why would she have gone ahead and done it? They tried to sell me on an extra 0.5ml at my follow up appointment which obviously I was not going to let them do, but I just cannot believe they injected 1ml disproportionately into my bottom lip and then tried to tell me 2 weeks later that if I wanted more in my top lip then I should have got 1.5ml when that was never recommended to me at the time. Overall I would strongly dissuade anyone from going to Wynn Clinic / Abijou Clinic. Their reception staff are rude, they have no interest in hearing what you actually want done to your face, they offer no advice or aftercare instructions, and they will try to blame you when they give you a botched result. The only thing they have going for them is their prices, and I can’t help but wonder if there’s a reason they changed their name from Wynn Clinic to Abijou Clinic and needed to re-brand. Beware guys! I know it's only fillers and they can be reversed if needed, but the whole experience was horrible and I'd like to save anyone else from that experience if I can
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