lemontea1234 Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Hi everyone, I went to Seoul in October for revision double eyelid surgery (DES) and vline. I had been researching for approx 6 months and had been contacting various clinics via kaokao chat or wechat. I was set on doing revision DES but still a bit on the fence in regards to vline. Background: My first DES was approx 5 years ago. I had it done in Australia, it was full incisional DES but the surgeon didnt anything else other then the DES. No ptosis correction etc. The results were good for a year, but approx after 1.5year, my left eye became undone, and the right double lid line became hooded. Original line was tapered so known as in and out fold. I wanted it to be parrellel. Original surgeon had said it would make me look too cat like if I did epi as well. But now looking back at it, I dont think it was true. For reference this was what it looked like within a year of the first DES. This was my eyes post first DES 5 years down the track: In the end I had short listed a few clinics I was interested in. But I didnt go to all of the consultation I had originally planned. I had also organised a translation service from Gangnam medical center for one of the clinics. But decided to cancel their service due to not going to one the consultation originally planned. They provide their translation services for 60,000won for 2 hours and they're a government service. I will write about namu in my next post and why I had decided to go with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemontea1234 Posted November 20, 2018 Author Share Posted November 20, 2018 I had planned for 2.5 weeks stay in Korea. And joined the various kaokao chat groups that were catered to plastic surgery in Korea. I arrived on a Saturday and my inital first consultation was going to be with MVP. But since the news of patient's death there, I was hesitant and decided to cancel. Which meant I went to consult with Namu. Saturday clinics close earlier around 4pm. So thats why i only had 2 clinics originally booked then. I used NaverMaps to help me find direction to where Namu was. Theyre situated near exit 9, above the Starbucks cafe and opposite the gangnam tourist kiosk. The building was small but looked clean and well maintained. They had 3 levels, level 3 for dermatology, level 4 was reception and consultations and minor treatment room. Level 5 was for operations and recovery rooms. My first impression of the clinic was good. The receptionists greeted me, and understood that I was there to see Linda, the inhouse translator and consultant. She informed to sit in the waiting room, and gave me a form that was a mix of korean and english. With the korean words, the receptionist lady helped me translate and told me which parts were which. After waiting for a bit and filled out a general consultation form with a medical questionnaire (this was all in english) as well. Claire was introduced to me instead. At first like other people, I was a bit surprised and miffed that it wasn't Linda that I met. But, she quickly explained the situation and stated that Linda had the say off. I realised she was the 3rd person in the kaokao chat I had with Linda. There was a consultation fee of 10,000 won for Xrays which I was prepared for. Claire led me to get my photos taken and got my xray done in preparation for the Doctor to see me. I was lead into a consultation room where, claire asked me what I would like to achieve. I explained my qualms and she almost immediately understood what I was after for DES. I also her different photos of what I would like for Vline as well. Then Dr Kirk was introduced to me. My initial impression of him was that he was slightly eccentric but he was soft spoken. I had also noticed he had been at John Hopskins Hospital before. Dr Kirk can speak english, but claire will help to translate where hes more comfortable to speak in korean. He explained to me I didnt need genio or zygoma reduction. I simply had too much mandible muscle. My skull was small already, so to achieve a smaller face I had to cut mandible muscle as well. He also listened to my DES revision requests. Throughout the whole entire process claire encouraged me to ask questions. And Dr kirk will often ask me himself whether I didn't understand anything or not. The whole consultation took approx an 1hour 15min. In my gut, I knew Dr Kirk would be the one that be able to achieve what I would like to achieve. At the end of consultation we came to the agreement of: DES -Partial incision (Dr will use the initial crease from my full incision) -epicanthoplasty (he did warn me, my epi may revert back to Mongolian fold due to the intial muscle strength there) -ptosis correction VLine -Mandible bone reduction (approx 3.8cm reduction) -Mandible muscle reduction (approx 50% was the initial agreement, which is approx 11.4cm) He did say things may change intraoperatively. Depending on what happen in surgery. Afterwards, I paid my deposit. Claire explained exactly what aftercare they offered as well as airport drop off for free. Surgery was scheduled for 3 days later as they were booked out for Monday. I had my bloods done on that day by a nurse at Namu. But would need to come back on Monday for health check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemontea1234 Posted November 20, 2018 Author Share Posted November 20, 2018 Health check Preoperative check was conducted at a local general practitioner clinic. Linda this time accompanied me to the doctors. They did a full 12 lead ECG as well as a chest XRay. I was then had to wait, and saw the clinics doctor. He told me everything looked fine and I was cleared for surgery. Linda then gave me information sheet on fasting requirements and explanation of pre operative preparation which I was happy with. I was instructed to fast from midnight, in preparation for surgery at 9.30am the next day. Surgery Day: Arrived at the clinic at 9.30am. I was taken up to level 5 by Claire. I was led to a single room, I was asked to change into their clothes. Then they checked my baseline observations. Photos were taken again. The anaethetist came and talked to me, going through my medical history with me. She also asked about my Asthma and my allergy to an antibotics. After she was done, Dr Kirk came and we confirmed what I wanted to do. He marked where he needed to do the operation. Claire then came and went through the consent form and explained everything to me in detail. Then Claire led me to wash my face and gargle my mouth with a betadine mouthwash. I was then led to the operation room, and told to lay down. Claire was with me the whole time. She explained to me she would be in the room with me so that Dr Kirk and her will be able to confer what I would like. I didnt remember anything after a while as I was knocked out by the GA Initial Recovery: I remember my name being called out, I dont remember them shaking me or anything. It was all kind of a blur, first thing that registered with me was the pain. It was aching bone pain, it was sort of tolerable, but started to increase in intensity. I asked for pain medication as they wheeled me back in the room. They made me comfortable in the bed and gave me something for pain. I pinched my cheeks, chin and lips to check if my sensation was intact and found i could open to 3 fingers. After a while (time just was a blur, I really had no idea how much time went past), i started to feel nauseous. I asked for something to vomit into, the nurse gave it to me and said they gave me antimetic just before I came out. I said I would wait a bit and see what will happen. My eyes was also bit dry, so it was painful to open or close them. Linda came in then, and she immediately got me ointment for my eyes. That helped alot. Then the nausea came back even worse, I asked the nurse for antimetic. She said she will get the anaethetist, after she got the Dr. She stayed with me, holding the bag for me as I dry retched. The Dr came and gave me the medication, and i asked her what pain medication she gave me. I knew from work, there's one pain medication that have higher risk of nausea and vomitting. When she confirmed what I knew. I asked her to change it to something else, as the nausea was quite bad. She was hesitiant due to my asthma. But I explained to her I've taken the same group of medications with nil issues in the past. The next couple of hours was the thirst. All I wanted was water. Nurse came and checked up on me every 15min or so. I had a blood drainage tube in my mouth and bandage on my face. I was so glad they gave me the drainage. Otherwise managing my own secretion load with blood would been unbearable for me. When I finay got water it was such bliss. Linda came up with Dr Kirk to check up on me. Dr kirk explained in the end they only removed 6.3cm of muscle and bone was a bit less then planned. No pins or plates were used and everything went well. I didnt sleep all night (GA has that effect on me) I would make an effort to walk every hour and drink more water every hour. Even though i had an IV drip. I saw that their anaethetist stayed in clinic for the night. The nurse came and checked on me often and gave me meds when I was either due for them or asked for pain medication. Bandage was changed to compression sometime during the night. After a final check up the next day, i was allowed to go home. Namu called their driver to drive me home and gave me 2 bags, with my medication and english post op instructions. Appointments were made for deswelling and aftercare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemontea1234 Posted November 20, 2018 Author Share Posted November 20, 2018 Recovery period I was very swollen for approx 5 days. There were days when I wondered why I went through all of this. There was minimal pain, the pain medication they gave me was enough. Only thing was, when i went to sleep and in the middle of the night it will ache a little. When it aches a little, I took my own supply of paracetamol. I knew this was ok due to asking them what medication was in their medicine pack. They gave me pumpkin juice and nutritional drinks. And tried to drink heaps of water. They were strict on mouth care, so after every meal I would need to rinse my mouth out after eatting or drinking anything other then water. I went back to the clinic almost every 2nd day for treatment. First 3 treatments were deswelling LED treatments with deswelling injection. After the first 3, they then changed to warm massage to help with the facial swelling and also had facial treatments until I flew back. The consultants Linda and Claire was so very nice. They organised all my apppointments, and when I voiced concerns they tried to fix it. When I still had a black eye, they gave me cream for it. Claire also taught me eye excerises to strengthen my eye muscles. While Linda reassured me about a small bump I had, that it was swelling and would go down. Before I flew out, Dr Kirk checked for me again. And they took another xray on my request. And organised my ride to the airport. Overall, the consultants were very attentive and helped me with all of my issues throughout my stay and when I came back overseas. At the moment my jaw is still swollen and look uneven, but I know it will get better. I'm currently 1 month post op. Currently my eyes are like: Everyday it gets better. My epi was red and bit bumpy at the moment. But I've been applying ointment and been working well to help with scarring. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemontea1234 Posted November 20, 2018 Author Share Posted November 20, 2018 For some reason wont let me post the other photos. :/so heres some recovery period eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archonei Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 @lemontea1234 congrats on your surgery! I hope you continuing to deswell and feeling better. May i ask for the xray you paid did you get a copy and/or did you use it for consulting to other clinics? Also what clinic did you consider to go to besides Namu and MVP if there's any? Looking forward for your update, meanwhile rest well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemontea1234 Posted November 21, 2018 Author Share Posted November 21, 2018 Hi archonei, With xray I was allowed to get a copy. But I received it when i got back. I did xrays when i consultated with another clinic for vline. I went to EU to consult. I had short listed for vline: -Eu dental -TFD -EverM Revision DES: -Ive In the end, I decided to stay with one Namu since they offered me good after care, the dr knew what he was saying, he gave me realistic possible downsides. Also, since I wanted to do 2 procedures, I decided to stay with one place so they can do aftercare all together. Rather then runnning to different appointments. It was a good thing, as due to stress my glandular fever flared up. I'm better now, but would have definitely tired me out more running to different clinics for appointments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemontea1234 Posted November 24, 2018 Author Share Posted November 24, 2018 So in regards to my vline surgery. This is my before: My after (1month post op. I will say I am wearing makeup but minimal. No filter on photo either) It doesn't look like much. But i requested for a natural subtle change. Im more swollen on my right side, but its getting day by day better. Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowie Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 i dont see any difference.... for v -line face at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemontea1234 Posted November 24, 2018 Author Share Posted November 24, 2018 Sorry. That photo wasnt the best. But this was one of my befores: Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabriellaa555 Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Hi, thank you for sharing your results. Are you able to take a pic which is not selfie or not so near from the camera? I am considering jaw shaving and still debating if it is worth for just a small natural change. Maybe you can pm me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hashtaggoals Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 No offense.. what does this even mean...???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livflorence Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Wow! That’s a huge change! You look so good now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabriellaa555 Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Sorry don't take me wrong. I would like to ask for after pic which is not selfie or not the camera so near face, your before is took a bit away from camera, so to compare the after should be similiar. Ie when i take selfie my face is nice, but if i stay away from camera my face looks wider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemontea1234 Posted December 15, 2018 Author Share Posted December 15, 2018 Hi. Im still swollen at the moment. Its normal to be asymmetrical at this point as everyones recovery process is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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