pssk029 Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 The best way to get the most out of your money while simultaneously spending much less is by going with an acquaintance or someone who is a little knowledgeable around Korea and such.Back with a pt 2 for my original post! Thank you all for the great response to my first guide and I want to help all of you as much as I can so here I am! ^^ 1) First thing I'd like to discuss are about the apparent "popular" clinics within this forum. I haven't been on this forum for TOO long, but for those of you who have, you probably noticed that this forum has "seasons" when it comes to clinics and their popularity within the forum. What I mean by this is that clinics will be repeatedly mentioned and discussed as well as reviewed out of nowhere and will become the new "hot topic" within the forum. It's like a trend. Some good examples would be April 31. They were really popular in this site but the rage has died down recently. Another one would be gng, ID, banobagi, etc. Some of the recent clinics that I am a little suspicious of being promoted are X, Cooki, View, Hanabi, and most significantly, Opera. These clinics popped out of nowhere with constant reviews being posted. I have never heard of any of these clinics except for View (saw them on babitalk) and Opera ( blacklisted in Korea). Although I am not definite, I do suspect that Plastic Surgery clinics are well aware of this site, and use this platform as a way to promote their clinic whilst being disguised as a supposed patient or client. A lot of the reviews and posts in this forum are sponsored/advertised. These clinics and their brokers use this platform to get recognized and once they receive enough recognition, they quiet down. Clinics either offer their services for free or give a discount to their patients in return for a glowing review of their clinic. Some things that you can look out for that hint at a sponsored review is when the user uses pictures that seem too high quality/ posed or pictures that have the clinic's logo, posts that are oddly too detailed and seem to be excessively praising the clinic. 2) Lots of advertisement = bad clinic??? - Here's another thing I want you guys to take into consideration. I am not saying that all advertising defines a clinic as bad but I do believe that excessive marketing isn't always particularly good. Look at it this way. Most clinics that are famous and popular within locals in Korea are not going to seem popular in this forum or other review pages. The reasoning behind this is that a clinic that already does well and has a good reputation and large following doesn't need to over promote or advertise themselves since they are already doing well on their own. However, clinics that don't do well and have to yet build a reputation will advertise like crazy. For example, in the case of ID hospital + Banobagi + GNG they advertise like crazy. Banobagi not much these days but ID & GNG if you haven't noticed are pretty popular within this forum and other social media platforms such as YouTube. Generally, these clinics that are famous within foreigners normally cater more towards foreigners and try to focus their services and attention to foreigners because they are not doing well with Korean locals / don't have a good rep. This is why I'm here trying to help all of you as much as possible because it is truly difficult to find a legit review of a clinic these days since this forum is so heavily advertised. One clinic is specific I would like to talk about is Opera. Maybe they have put their act together and improved but they are blacklisted in Korea and therefore don't have a good reputation within the Koreans. This is why I think they have moved their focus to foreigners. Foreigners don't know about blacklisted clinics and they take advantage of this to try to lure them into coming to their clinic. This is not only opera, this applies to many clinics. 3) Medical Tourism agencies I briefly mentioned this in my original post but wanted to elaborate. I'd recommend against going with a travel agency. If you check my only thread in Purseforum called "The Ultimate Guide to Plastic Surgery in Korea" you'll see more of the reason why and more tips for your trip to Korea. Travel Agencies normally have their "go to" Plastic Surgery Clinics they recommend their clients because they have some sort of deal / contract with the Clinic itself in which they get a percentage/commission of the cost of your procedure. They don't try to recommend you to the best clinic for you instead they have a limited variety to choose from. Also, going to those big shot clinics that are partnered with the travel agencies, while the agency claims they give you a cheaper price, will only result in you paying much more for your procedure. Do yourself a favor and save yourself the extra $$. Now, everyone has their own preferences and I respect that. Some people prefer to simplify their trip by having someone do all the talking and organizing. If that is what you want then medical tourism agency works. Either ways, don't fully rely on them and do your own research too please! The best way to get the most out of your money while simultaneously spending much less is by going with an acquaintance or someone who is a little knowledgeable around Korea and such.*** ALSO: XXX NOT ALLOWED 4) Other platforms to find reviews of clinics ** IF you read Korean** If you can read Korean I would recommend you go to plastic surgery Cafes. and pann.nate and search up the topics. If you do know Korean, try searching up on google or naver with the initials of the clinics you want to read about for real reviews. For example if I am looking for reading REAL and not promoted reviews of Dream I would put ㄷㄹ 성형외과 or for ilumi I would do ㅇㄹㅁ 성형외과. Most blog posts are from brokers or the clinic itself so try to look for like question and answer formats! I use babitalk too but I really don't recommend you go of on that. Most of those posts are written by brokers, trying to recommend their own clinics and therefore those reviews are false. Especially the ones that are "popular" or "trending" posts. Korean plastic surgery clinics can control what goes on babitalk and what doesn't therefore I'd be a little careful about that. Another one you could check out is the app Gangnam Unnie. It is all in Korean and I can tell it is heavily advertised and sponsored but if you would still like to see their before and afters you can check it out!http://pann.nate.com/talk (Try visiting this website) and searching keywords such as whatever procedure you're interested or the clinic name! These I think are real reviews.http://cafe330.daum.net/_c21_/home?grpid=KY9Q ( This ones called 안티성형) It helped me out alot, it gives out blacklisted clinics, and some reviews as well! 5) Some clinics I'd recommend checking out ! ^^ Eyes: - Beautyforever PS/ Gowoonsaesang PS - Dream PS - ImageUP - Marble - Ilumi - Kowon PS - Eight PS Nose: - Beautyforever PS/ Gowoonsaesang PS - Dream PS - Kowon PS - Cocoline PS - Nplus Clinic - Namu PS ** Most clinics I am recommending I either had personal/acquaintance experience or heard good things about. None of this is sponsored. Please don't ask me questions regarding facial contouring as I do not know much about it and/or clinics that specialize in it. Hope this helps!(: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daysuntilpretty Posted August 12, 2018 Share Posted August 12, 2018 This was really helpful! Thank you~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wondermuffin Posted August 12, 2018 Share Posted August 12, 2018 Great post! Didn’t have time to read all of it, but opera clinic caught my attention. I am very wary of the fake reviews online. Recently, a person who joined Purseblog forum on the same day, wrote an outstanding review for Opera. This was for a new-ish plastic surgeon in Opera that I personally consulted in Korea, but had doubts on, because of his youthfulness and lack of proper “before and after” photos. I wasn’t confident in his consultation and didn’t make a booking. For the clinics you recommend for nose and eye, did you get it from Naver or Soyoung? Have you heard of premier PS, I found it on soyoung and am very interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pear-orange Posted August 12, 2018 Share Posted August 12, 2018 thank you for posting this @pssk029 . the links you provided are very useful. I would like to say though, I disagree with several things. I don't think we should criticise all people who make a review in exchange for a discount. if we do, it would be very hard to get real before and after pictures in our research. many people are too lazy to post their experiences after surgery unless they got some benefits. And also, even popular clinics among locals do a lot of promotions on Purseforum. For example, the Dream clinic that you mentioned. No doubt Dream is a popular clinic among locals since they are known to perform surgery on SNSD. there are also many positive reviews about Dream on PF that I believe are genuine. But I still encounter many blatant promoters (probably clinic staff) of Dream on purseforum. they have been called out by other members as promoters on their own thread, and didn't dare to respond anymore. I won't mention any names publicly on this thread as not to violate PF rules, but if anyone here want to know the names of those promoter-members, I can DM you. The clinics that you recommended mostly have English websites and English-speaking consultants. If they don't need foreign patients, why bother having those? English-speaking staff is much more expensive to hire than staff who only speak Korean or Chinese. This is proof that there are hardly any clinics that don't want more patients. After all, there are thousand of clinics in Gangnam, and there isn't that much people who want to get plastic surgery. Cost/religion/social stigma/disapproval from family and friends being the inhibitors. Competition is definitely stiff. Furthermore, I have personally talked to a PF member on kakao who got a very bad botched job from Eight PS. So it seems selecting a clinic that is popular among locals is no guarantee of satisfactory results. Having said that, I agree with your recommendation to avoid clinics that primarily target Westerners. not because they are likely to botch people, but they tend to overcharge foreigners. after all, marketing (google ads, SEO, hiring English staff etc) are expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pssk029 Posted August 12, 2018 Author Share Posted August 12, 2018 Hey! Thank you for your feedback. I do completely agree with everything you said. However I did mention in my post that these things don't refer to ALL clinics. There is no doubt that all clinics no matter how great their reputation, will have their ups and downs. No surgeon is perfect. Just like medical doctors and surgeons, there will be mistakes here and there. I did mention that all the clinics I mentioned here were all by personal experience whether it be by acquaintance or myself personally. This doesn't mean that the clinic is flawless. As for the payed reviews/promoting, I do agree with what you have said. I should've made it clear however that by mentioning this I meant that those clinics pay extra attention to these clients who will be speaking of their clinic. They will make sure that their results turn out desirable and "perfect" to attract more patients. No clinic would like to promote less than perfect results right? Therefore people shouldn't fully rely on these reviews as they haven't heard the stories of all other patients who aren't paid to post. As for clinics that are popular within locals promoting as well, it is inevitable. What I meant by my comment was that certain clinics over advertise because they have a bad reputation due to previous behavior and/or results and try to rebrand themselves. (Some even changing their names). Of course, all clinics will want more patients whether they be foreigners or locals. Some just target mostly foreigners due to the previous reason above. After all, everyone wants to make income. As for eight ps having a botched surgery, as you said no clinic will have been perfect results and from personal experience with an acquaintance, eight ended up doing a very good job. I just want to make this clear for everyone reading this post NO CLINIC WILL BE FLAWLESS. Everyone makes mistakes and so do doctors and surgeons. Even the clinic I went to (Dream) has it's fair share of undesirable results. It is all up to you to decide what clinic. However you id recommend not turning down a clinic just because of one bad review, etc. Anyhow, thank you for your feedback. I believe what you have posted is something many have to hear and it'll help them a lot! (: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pear-orange Posted August 12, 2018 Share Posted August 12, 2018 Hey, I totally agree that people who get a discount to post pics may get much more attention from the surgeon, and so got better results than others who don't get incentive to promote. But I don't know how else we can get B/A pics from real people. My point is, it is probably not correct to think that clinics who do advertising on PF have bad reputation in Korea. After all, even good ones like Dream promote here. We don't know if they are popular among locals unless we have visited the clinic in person. Would you know why Opera was blacklisted? I only know that they received corrective action from government because of false advertising. Can't find anything about accidents/deaths/bad reviews for the chief doctors. It'll be great if you can post links to the bad reviews (in korean) here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lolalemons Posted August 12, 2018 Share Posted August 12, 2018 Omg thank you so much. Looking into dream medical for v line right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pssk029 Posted August 12, 2018 Author Share Posted August 12, 2018 I will pm you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pssk029 Posted August 12, 2018 Author Share Posted August 12, 2018 Definitely a good point! Thanks for the input. Couldn't have worded it any better. Also there are certain restrictions when it comes to plastic surgery on different faces. For example, rhinoplasty can differ depending on whether you have thin or thick skin, whether you already have a nice and proportional profile, and overall the shape of your nose. In my case, I have really thin skin and my doctor couldn't make it too high as there was a chance of my skin thinning even more. Definitely a little disappointing but that's the reality of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pssk029 Posted August 12, 2018 Author Share Posted August 12, 2018 Most of the clinics I listed I either had personal experiences with or heard good things from acquaintances that had surgery there. The rest, I found through a combination of research in babitalk, pann.nate, naver, google, etc. I haven't heard of Premier but don't let that stop you! Do your research and see if you can dig around their website a little and see for yourself (: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyunglee06 Posted August 12, 2018 Share Posted August 12, 2018 Have you guys heard about wannabe? They seem great in eyes surgery as well. Not my personal experience though. My cousin went there for double eyelid and removing her eyebags and she's very happy with the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jess-cook Posted August 12, 2018 Share Posted August 12, 2018 Never heard Wannabe, but well unknown clinic also be a good for surgery if someone is unless happy with their result. I kept looked at my consultant's eyes when I had consultation at pretty body clinic last March even though I dnt need eye surgery at all haha. she told me that Dr. Choi (one of doctor here) did her eye surgery before they moved to here. Quite surprised that Pretty body also has an eye surgery doctor !! From my experience,well-unknow doctor also can be a good doctor !! Good luck with Wannabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pssk029 Posted August 13, 2018 Author Share Posted August 13, 2018 Hi beautifulthang, I have not worked in this field. This is all drawn from my personal experience and years of research for my own benefit. Of course all clinics have promoters and advertising. That is part of running a clinic and owning a business. You want to make your clinic known and bring in as many patients as you can to make income. I did mention in my post that clinics promote for locals in apps such as babitalk and Gangnam unnie. Never have I said that clinics don't promote to locals. As for the research in naver, yes, a lot of the reviews are promoted or posted by the clinic themselves but if you look well, you can find some genuine reviews. It is pretty obvious when a review or post is sponsored or fake. Most people won't post a review revealing their faces without an incentive. Most real reviews will be someone asking a question and someone replying with a very brief explanation of their experience. You have to do extensive research to find genuine reviews. Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pssk029 Posted August 13, 2018 Author Share Posted August 13, 2018 Hi beautifulthang, I have not worked in this field. This is all drawn from my personal experience and years of research for my own benefit. Of course all clinics have promoters and advertising. That is part of running a clinic and owning a business. You want to make your clinic known and bring in as many patients as you can to make income. I did mention in my post that clinics promote for locals in apps such as babitalk and Gangnam unnie. Never have I said that clinics don't promote to locals. As for the research in naver, yes, a lot of the reviews are promoted or posted by the clinic themselves but if you look well, you can find some genuine reviews. It is pretty obvious when a review or post is sponsored or fake. Most people won't post a review revealing their faces without an incentive. Most real reviews will be someone asking a question and someone replying with a very brief explanation of their experience. You have to do extensive research to find genuine reviews. Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pssk029 Posted August 13, 2018 Author Share Posted August 13, 2018 Babitalk and Gangnam Unnie are both platforms used by clinics to advertise themselves BY posting their before and afters and having their clients do that too. These days, Koreans mostly rely on these applications rather than searching up reviews on naver. That doesn't go to show that many DO use search engines/websites for information. It is quite obvious (atleast for me) when I look through these applications when a "reviewer" is a staff member or broker of the clinic. They use these platforms as well to heavily advertise themselves by acting as patients and commenting and posting reviews. From what I know (correct me if I am wrong) those promotions that the apps offer come with the circumstance that they post their before and after pictures and reviews in return for a significantly cheaper price for their procedure. That in a sense is the same thing as paid advertising. I do agree with what you are saying about not being able to confidently tell apart from which review is real and which is not. That's something no one will really know for sure and it is up to the reader to decide. I am sure you are correct in many of the things you have posted. As I mentioned repeatedly, the information I am posting is drawn from MY personal experience and those of acquaintances and familiars. Either ways, I do believe that we are both here to spread information and awareness to the people here in the forum with good intentions. My intentions were never to misinform; I am simply inputting my experience and personal advice for people. Thank you for your input! I'm sure a lot of people will find your input useful! (: if you would like to correct me on something or have anything else you'd like to say regarding the post, feel free to post it on here or PM me. I'm sure everyone will appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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