kioku Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 I super appreciate that you added this last bit! No one really talks about the 'I wish I had known' stuff since (I guess) it's a minor inconvience but it would definitely make life a little easier had you know beforehand especially after going through surgery! Definitely taking notes of this and best wishes on your recovery! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fresh_cucumber Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 OMG totally agree on this point! Sore throat was horrible! I wonder if humidifier would help.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortunecat Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 For travel humidifier, you can get those at Artbox in Korea which costs less than 20,000 won. Artbox has a lot of branches in Seoul. Do check them out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlydbest Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 There is a Daiso in Gangnam station exit 12 near McDonald's. Lots of cheap stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebebuffey Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 Hi all! Thank you for your responses and kind words. I was going to update today with Namu's aftercare but it turns out I'll have 2 more days of aftercare (this Thursday/Friday) so I'll post a full list of all aftercare I received after that. Something else I wanted to share regularly was "result updates" with my progress on swelling/healing. I've been taking notes of how I feel every day/every other day so maybe I'll share a big post with all of them for those who are interested, but right now I am 10 days post-op and got my rhinoplasty cast off 3 days ago. Some things I'm seeing/feeling: My nose has swelled since getting my cast off... which is normal according to the internet. The cast was holding my nose in place and when it was removed the skin beneath it swelled. It's now more bulbous than it was 3 days ago. My tip is extremely swollen (and has been since surgery) so it's "pulling up". You can kind of see it in the photo I posted a few days ago that my tip is upturned - it's not supposed to be like this and I'm pretty sure it's swelling from the short nose correction Dr. Joung did. Because of this, my nostrils show just as much as before and give me a pig nose. I think this is important to note: my nostrils showed from the front before. Now they're still showing, but with a mix of smaller alars and a swollen bulbous tip and bridge it makes it looks "off." I am extremely nervous. Claire has assured me that the swelling will go down and my nostrils will show less from the front and that this is all part of the process - and the funny thing is, I was mentally preparing myself for all these things! I told myself I wouldn't like it at first, that it takes time, that swelling will last for a year after because of the thick skin on my tip. I thought I was prepared - but there really is no way to prepare yourself when you're in the moment and start to panic that you're stuck with this nose or need a revision. It's terrifying. I'm making deals with God that if he pulls through and makes my nose look okay, I won't get any more plastic surgery. THATS how desperately I want this to work out. I'm not ready to share a front photo until the swelling looks better (that way I can say "well it looked bad HERE but look at what happened 2 weeks later...") but here is a view of nostril projection: *They said that as my tip gets less swollen, the nostrils will round out. And then here's a picture of JUST my bridge/tip. Again, not ready to show a full view of my nose. This is just from day 7 (the day I got my nose cast off) to day 10 (today). I just want to show how much MORE swollen it became after taking the cast off, because I was not expecting this. I'm very worried for flying, as I heard that makes it swollen again. phoebebuffeydiarypost phoebebuffeydiaryphotos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kioku Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 If it helps, in my opinion it makes sense about your healing process with the swelling. You want the cast there to ensure any bones he touched, tissue he removed etc that the area will stay in place. Then the cast removal is more so to let the area do it's thing and room to swell so that it can then go down to the size it's supposed to be. You wouldn't want the cast on for the whole recovery period bc then the swelling is limited to the space underneath the cast so it compensates by pressing down on what the doctor already crafted for the rhinoplasty, thus ruining the result. Hopefully my thoughts are somewhat reassuring as that's just my understanding of the recovery process, but feel free to disregard it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebebuffey Posted November 30, 2018 Author Share Posted November 30, 2018 AFTERCARE AT NAMU I had my surgery on Saturday, November 17, 2018. They kept me overnight because the surgery wrapped up later than expected, which I really appreciated. I was pretty out of it on Saturday and very uncomfortable, so staying in the hospital with a night nurse was good. That night I was hooked up to a heartbeat machine and she would come in every 15 minutes to record my heartbeat and test my blood pressure. I received my antibiotics and other aftercare items (I paid for antibiotics but Claire picked them up for me - it cost 30,000 KRW). I received 10 days of antibiotics, 2 compression packs, a mouth rinse, a forehead cream, and a nose cream.SUNDAY Nov 18, 1 day post-op On Sunday Claire and Dr. Kirk came in on their day off to see me for a first day check up. I had my bandages changed by Dr. Kirk and he said everything looked good. From Saturday to Sunday I had two IV drips - one was a vitamin drip and I think the other was pain medicine but I’m not sure.MONDAY Nov 19, 2 days post-op I went in to get fitted for a compression shirt (for my arm liposuction). I sat under a laser light for 1.5 hours.TUESDAY Nov 20, 3 days post-op They took off my forehead bandage and I found out Dr. Kirk was able to save all my baby hairs! Claire had originally suggested a hair transplant a few years down the line but now said she doesn’t think I’ll need one. I was given de-swelling injections through a vein in my foot because my hands/arms are sooooo swollen and I have very weak veins to begin with. Then I sat under the light laser for 15 minutes.THURSDAY Nov 22, 5 days post-op I got my hair washed but they didn’t take my forehead stitches out. The bandage under my chin (acculift on jaw/chin) was removed. I sat under the light laser again.SATURDAY Nov 24, 7 days post-op My rhinoplasty cast and stitches were taken off, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was painless. The head nurse did this for me and was so gentle. The stitches on my forehead were cut but not removed. I sat under the light laser for 15 minutes.TUESDAY Nov 27, 10 days post-op My forehead stitches and the ones on my back were removed - but not my nose packing or the stitches above my elbows. I was a little disappointed as I was told my rhinoplasty packing would come out today. I feel a little out of the loop on some aftercare things… originally I was told my forehead stitches would be removed day 5, but they weren’t. Then I was told they’d be removed day 7, and they weren’t (just cut). I was told I was going to get a facial today but I didn’t - because the area where the stitches were removed can’t get wet.WEDNESDAY Nov 28, 11 days post-op Last night Claire messaged me to split up the procedures I was going to get Thursday. Originally I was going to get a facial, de-swelling treatments, dermatology treatment (I have a milia under one eye), and chin filler all on the same day. Instead, I got a facial with some de-swelling treatment today, but I’ll get more de-swelling treatments and the rest tomorrow. I appreciate that they’re taking their time with my aftercare. The Namu dermatology center is clean and calm, very professional. I put my bag away then laid in a heated bed. First they used a cream on my bruises and put me under a laser light, then I did a facial with scaling - scraping away dead skin cells. The woman who helped me also massaged my face / nose / neck to promote draining of swelling through lymph nodes. There was a mix between hot and cold… she used a hot compress and later cold strips of cloth that she left on my skin.THURSDAY Nov 29, 12 days post-op After rubbing some lotion (or something) on my face and doing a few extractions, I was taken to a separate room to see Dr. Beak. First he used a laser on my skin for sunspots and dark marks - it was the most painful thing thus far (including surgery!) - but still wasn’t HORRIBLE. It zapped a little part of my skin… it felt like a rubber band snapping on my face but also being hot. He then used the laser to open a milia I’ve had under my eye forever… this wasn’t painful, but it was super uncomfortable because it was right next to my eye. He also did my chin filler. There wasn’t a consultation for it but I trusted him to do what suited my face and I’m super happy with the results. I ended up having to go back in a few hours later because I felt it looked lopsided, which I originally thought was because I wore my compression headband on my walk home (I wasn’t supposed to). He said it was because of the way a muscle in my chin “pulled” the filler - so they provided a botox injection for my chin and it looks a lot more even now. After getting the chin filler, the female esthetician took me back into the other room and did extractions on my skin, used a hot compress then cold strips to soothe my skin.FRIDAY Nov 30, 13 days post-op My last day of aftercare! I texted Claire beforehand because I felt like I wanted to get lip fillers. My philtrum has always been long, and due to swelling from surgery and the upturned look of my nose now, it seemed more pronounced. First the nurse took out my arm stitches, then my nose silicone padding and stitches. Out of everything, the final stitches hurt the most - and they didn't really hurt, just felt like she was tweezing my nose hairs. Dr. Kirk came in and checked my results again, and asked me if I had any questions. Then we went downstairs to the dermatology floor and they numbed my lips then put me under a de-swelling laser for 20-30 minutes. I went to see Dr. Baek and he injected my top lip with filler, and botox around the sides of my mouth. We went back upstairs and I sat under another de-swelling laser for 30 minutes while waiting for Dr. Joung to get out of surgery. He was nice and assured me that my tip and nose would begin dropping around month 3. Because of how thick my skin is and the bulbous tip he adjusted. They're hard right now and they need to soften and then begin to fall. I was hoping to ask him a few questions but he had to go, so I asked Claire instead. I had asked earlier if I could re-straighten my hair at Namu because I got it cut yesterday (at The Days salon in Hongdae - ask for Dean! Only 25,000 wan! I love it) and the ends were beginning to flip out. So I went back to the dermatology level and straightened my hair before leaving.OVERALL, I liked the aftercare provided by Namu. I felt the nurses and consultants were attentive, and Dr. Kirk checked in on my progress several times. I don't know if all clinics have a dermatology center, but I was glad I was able to get facials and skin treatments from Namu as well during my healing. There were a few times when I felt communication lapsed, but I think this would be true of any busy clinic. phoebebuffeydiarypost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivi007 Posted December 1, 2018 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Thanks for sharing such a detailed review! I finally chose my doctor + clinic after consulting around and I'm very nervous about my surgery on monday! Looking forward to more updates and I hope your nose settles in asap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebebuffey Posted December 2, 2018 Author Share Posted December 2, 2018 My nose is already looking better! I'm going to post a 2 week update tomorrow with photos. (: Are you getting rhinoplasty Monday? Can't wait to read about your experience! I will say: getting chin and lip filler REALLY helped me feel better about my nose. Since I'm so swollen, the chin and lip filler balanced out my features... my philtrum area was swollen and looked longer than usual so the lip filler helped that, and the chin filler made my face look less round (I'm still de-swelling from acculift.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raussi Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Hi Stephanie! I'm glad that you are healing well. I want to have forehead reduction too, how do you like yours? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebebuffey Posted December 2, 2018 Author Share Posted December 2, 2018 TWO WEEK UPDATE ON ALL SURGERIES It’s 5:30am but I’m super jet lagged so I’ve been up since 3am so I figured - why not post now! I had my surgeries Saturday, November 17 and left two weeks later (December 1) and arrived home in California last night.Forehead reduction This is a surgery I’m VERY happy with. It was a more serious surgery than I realized, but I’m so glad I got it. I foolishly thought that forehead reduction was simple… just lowering the hairline. But not only do you have a long scar just under your hair line - there’s a risk of temporary hair loss (due to trauma to the area) and numbness from pulling the scalp down. Over the past two weeks the numbness in my upper forehead (between my brows) has gone away, but still feels a little ‘tight’ when I lift my brows. Dr. Kirk was able to save all my baby hairs so I won’t need a hair transplant in a year or two, something Claire originally suggested to help mask the scar / fill in my hairline. I actually didn’t get bangs to cover the scar; it’s a small, wavy line just under my hairline but when I have my hair down it’s almost unnoticeable. Once I go back to work I’ll just cover the area with some make up. TRC and fat graft under eyes The skin under my eyes is definitely smoother than before, the darkness less pronounced… but I think I’ll have to wait and see the verdict on this one. I’ve heard that a lot of fat grafts don’t “take” to the area they’re placed and I’m curious to see how it will look 1-2 months post-op / how long the fat graft stays in place. Rhinoplasty (bridge shaving; tip plasty; short nose correction; alar reduction) I was freaking out about my nose until about… two days ago. I wrote a ton of things on my own computer - just about how horrible I was feeling - but didn’t want to post any because I’m still SO swollen. The Eyes & Nose group on Kakao has been such a help… the members really put my mind at ease about the swelling and being unhappy with my nose at the minute. A lot of girls messaged me and provided pictures of their de-swelling, and one girl reached out with a video of a girl who had a similar issue to mine (upturned nostrils) that settled within 8 months. I will say: I like my nose a lot more than I did two days ago. My nose will not be “goals” for a lot of people - and that’s totally okay. My ‘before’ nose was wide and bulbous, and I knew I would never have a ski slope nose… and I didn’t want one. I have large features (large head, large eyes, large mouth, etc etc) so a small nose just wasn’t realistic. I wanted a similar ‘after’ nose, just one more flattering / in proportion to my face. I can already tell now that this nose will do that - even more so as the swelling continues to go down. (And if I get a lip lift… see ‘lip filler’ below.) My nose's tip is very swollen and wide still. Chin filler and lip filler helped balance out my face as it is currently and I’m excited to see what it looks like at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months… Acculift and buccal fat pad removal I know that a lot of people don’t think you should have fat in your face removed - and I totally get it. It’s not for everyone. But because I’ve always had a VERY round face with pronounced jowls, I felt I needed facial lipo. As I wrote in my first post, Claire suggested acculift over manual facial lipo as it’s gentler and doesn’t run the risk of as much sagging skin. She also suggested buccal fat pad removal as my cheeks were so large that just acculift wouldn’t made a big difference. At the moment, I can see the biggest difference in my cheeks when I look at a 45’ angle - I see a slight hollowness under my cheekbone. I’m hoping that over the next 3 months as the acculift works, I will see more definition in my face.Lip filler Getting lip filler was a last minute decision for me. A day after getting chin filler I realized that because my philtrum area was swollen, it appeared longer - and having a fuller top lip would help balance it out. It was more painful than the chin filler, but I like the way it looks. It’s very subtle since I already had pretty full lips - but it balances out my face and my lips now that the top and bottom “match” more. In the future, I’d like to get a lip lift / philtrum reduction in the US.Chin filler I chose to do chin filler rather than a chin implant as I’m still unsure my position on silicone implants in my body (a reason I decided against a silicone nose implant). I was able to get filler through Namu’s dermatology department - you can read more about it in my previous post with aftercare at Namu, as I got it done Thursday, November 29 (12 days post-op). I love the chin filler. It really helps flatter my face and balance my features, especially my nose as it heals. I’m seriously considering getting a silicone implant, or saving up enough to get this filler 2x a year... *see photos of rhinoplasty, you can see the chin filler in my before / after of 14 days.Arm lipo I will do an update on this surgery after 1 month, when I’m done wearing my compression shirt. But, here’s sort of a “review” of my healing process of arm liposuction. I had posted this on a different thread where someone asked if anyone had gotten lipo yet, and I realized I hadn’t talked much about it here since I’ve been more focused on rhinoplasty. It was more strenuous than I thought it would be - the most painful of any of my surgeries. I wouldn't say the pain is typical "pain" - but it's extremely uncomfortable. The first day, it felt as though I had worked out HARD for the first time in years. Like, Crossfit levels. For arms they made two incisions (per arm): above my elbow and on my back. My back and arms were so sore that it was uncomfortable to find a way to lay down without pain. In the beginning they cover the stitches with bandaids and then ace wraps, until you get a compression garment. A few times my bandaids moved and I felt like the stitches on my back got caught in my shirt, it was pretty gross. Once the compression garment was on, it was better... it felt like everything was held in and helped manage swelling and pain. For the first few days I was SO swollen. The ace wraps went from my shoulder to my elbows, and my forearms, wrists, and hands got extremely swollen. My skin felt really tight, and almost itchy. I would wake up in the middle of the night unable to sleep because of it, and I tried elevating / icing them. I assumed lipo was an "easy" surgery, maybe because of how mainstream it seems to be, especially in the US. I would get liposuction again if I needed/wanted to "spot-treat" an area (stomach, maybe), but probably not full body lipo all at once. (Though I met a girl while I was in Korea who did get full body and seemed fine a few weeks later.) I'm 2 weeks post-op now and my upper arms are a little numb but there's no pain in my arms/elbows. I do have some twinges of pain/soreness in my back still around the incisions. phoebebuffeydiarypost phoebebuffeydiaryphotos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebebuffey Posted December 2, 2018 Author Share Posted December 2, 2018 Just posted a 2 week update, see above! You can see my forehead reduction photos both under the forehead reduction section and the rhinoplasty section (14 day update photo). The scar is from temple to temple, and just under my hairline. As I said, Dr. Kirk was able to save my baby hairs so my hairline looks very natural. The scar is visible up close, but with my haircut (a blunt bob, no bangs), it's not visible. I will put a little make up on it when I go to work, and I'm applying scar gel to it still. I'll update on the healing process / scar visibility as time goes on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivi007 Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 The forehead reduction looks great and the scarring doesn’t look like it’ll be bad at all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkmmii Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Hey Stephanie, I love the chin filler on you! In your photos you really can see that it make a difference in the overall balance of your face. How was the overall pain level for your rhinoplasty and undereye fat graft? I heard anytime the surgeon is “shaving” any bone from the nose, it can hurt during the surgery and during the recovery period . I also heard that adding/ removing fat from under eye hurts a lot too? >< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebebuffey Posted December 3, 2018 Author Share Posted December 3, 2018 Thanks! I definitely agree about chin filler. I haven't been comfortable with the thought of implants in my body, but I'm debating a small chin implant after the filler wears away... we'll see. So I had a slight hump on my nose that I had never noticed before, and he shaved it down in a way that removed the hump and created a slight slope to elongate my nose. For the eyes, they first did TRC by going in under my lower lashline from the inside of my eyelid... sounds disgusting, I know. Then they added fat back. I will say that there was no pain for either surgery. My eyes swelled up and bruised badly - not sure if it was the rhino, the TRC, or the forehead reduction. They were completely dark purple almost to my eyebrow and underneath my eye as well. I'm over 2 weeks post op and I still have light bruising, unfortunately. I wasn't able to open my eyes fully for the first few days either. This wasn't painful, or even uncomfortable... I didn't notice it except in pictures. My nose was uncomfortable only because I had to mouth-breathe. I didn't feel any pain from my rhino until they took out the final stitches... then it felt like they were tweezing nose hairs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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