Jeonjeonjeonjeonjeonjeonjeon I’m posting a review of the face lift surgery I had at a plastic surgery clinic in Gangnam, Seoul, in September 2022. Last November, I didn’t know what to do, so I posted in the cosmetic surgery failure cases section, and many people left comments and wondered how things were going. But I’ve had such a hard time staying sane all this time ㅜㅜ I was letting everything go and avoiding reality, so I didn’t even come back here. I’m sorry. It’s very late, but I’ll post an update.
I’ll start with the day of surgery. When I went into surgery in the morning, they said it would be finished before 7 p.m., but when I opened my eyes, it was almost 11 p.m. Before surgery, during the consultation, they said this clinic’s director was so skilled that they didn’t even insert tubes or wrap bandages, but there was a tube inserted in my neck and a bandage wrapped around the circumference of my face. When I got up from the operating table and tried to walk, a nurse said in a pitying voice, “You were in a lot of pain.” The surgery ended so late and no one could be reached, so my family was in a panic. I also felt something was strange, so I asked the doctor, and he said it took a long time because there was a lot of bleeding.
Even by day 44 after surgery, the incision sites seemed to be opening up and oozing more and more. The cartilage of my ear was exposed, and I felt pain even when the wind brushed past it. Both earlobes were detached from my face and dangling. On my chin, in an area unrelated to the surgery, inflammation the size of a 100-won coin had developed, and fluid was streaming out.
The doctor who performed the surgery shifted the blame onto my constitution and me supposedly exaggerating, saying things like it would get better soon, that after 2 months it would improve dramatically, that it wasn’t skin necrosis, that it was because my blood circulation was poor, and that other people tolerate this level of pain in the cartilage area.
And he told me to come to the clinic every day to wash my hair, get disinfected, and leave, but since it was a two-hour round trip, even going once every 2–3 days was exhausting and felt like a waste of time and taxi fare. My family had to disinfect the wounds twice a day, so I felt sorry to them too.
They said other people don’t come this often, so I thought it was strange that I still couldn’t have my stitches removed after more than 40 days, but I trusted the doctor, who spoke as if it was no big deal and said it would get better soon. But when I took progress photos of the incision sites and compared them, the condition seemed to be getting worse, so I went to a university hospital.
At the university hospital, they said I needed to be admitted immediately, that my skin had become necrotic, and that my neck had a third-degree burn. They were furious, even as fellow doctors, asking how someone could make a person end up like this. They said we should treat the infection first and consider a skin graft, and recommended admission, so I was hospitalized for treatment. Because the decision of whether or not to have a skin graft felt like it would make my head explode, I went to every university hospital and burn specialty hospital in Seoul that would see me. Some places recommended a skin graft, while others said to watch the progress for now. Having recently experienced a failed surgery, I felt exhausted and wanted to postpone another major surgery and avoid reality, so I decided to watch the progress for the time being.
During that time, I went back to the clinic where I had the surgery, and after repeatedly questioning the doctor who performed it, he confessed to some of the facts he had been hiding. He said that during surgery, he accidentally touched my chin with an electrocautery device used for hemostasis and gave me a third-degree burn. He had hidden that fact and acted as if it were a minor wound, only putting Duoderm on it.
Seriously... Duoderm on a third-degree burn where the skin is becoming necrotic...? I think I understood why the surgery took so long, why the incision sites were such a mess, and why the nurse sounded so sorry for a patient waking up from general anesthesia and said I had been in a lot of pain. Since he caused injury through negligence during work, maybe he panicked and temporarily stopped the surgery while I was under anesthesia, or couldn’t concentrate on the surgery, so it took 4 extra hours? Didn’t he commit occupational negligence causing bodily injury and then rack his brain trying to hide it?
ㅇ The skin at the incision sites was not necrotic, and it would heal dramatically after two months (false) → It was necrotic, and the inflammation was getting worse. It would not close on its own and needed treatment after removing the eschar. ㅇ The painful area of the ear was not exposed cartilage (false) → It was cartilage. ㅇ The wound on the neck would quickly shrink if Duoderm was kept on it and would barely be noticeable (false) → It was skin necrosis from a third-degree burn.
If these lies hadn’t happened, I could have transferred to a proper hospital and received appropriate treatment to reduce the scarring and pain...
I’m still receiving treatment at another hospital. All treatments related to cosmetic surgery aftereffects are not covered by insurance, so I’ve spent a lot of money and a lot of time.
The clinic where I had the surgery hasn’t made a single phone call in more than half a year. My body and mind were so exhausted during that time that I wanted to avoid reality. So I kept putting off claiming compensation, over and over, but I felt I couldn’t delay it any longer and called them, and they didn’t even remember. Meanwhile, I had been regretting having surgery at that clinic every single moment.
Was the surgery itself successful apart from the scarred areas? No, it wasn’t. When I smile, the skin pulls so much that lines stretch sharply across my face here and there. When I take photos, it looks like there are horizontal knife marks below my cheekbones. When I smile, I actually look harsh, so I either cover my face while smiling or try not to smile. To hide the scars, I can only wear a bob haircut, and even when it’s hot I can’t tie my hair up. On the ear side where the cartilage had been exposed, I can’t even tuck my hair behind my ear. I go around covering my ear with my hair. My neck also seems to have been pulled too tightly, because when I lift my head, the skin pulls and sharp vertical lines form.
Even if I report him for occupational negligence causing bodily injury and he is punished, he’ll probably only receive a small fine, right? How am I supposed to be compensated for all this suffering, and for the scars I’ll have to live with until I die and the harsh-looking smile my face has turned into?
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