There weren’t many reviews of visiting clinics outside Seoul, so I’m writing one.
1. Busan Soom ENT Clinic - Consultant: Director Kim Mu-geon - Cost: I didn’t write down the consultation fee separately, so I don’t really remember - Consultation details I originally visited because I was being prescribed CPAP here. I mentioned septal surgery because my nasal obstruction was severe, and the director talked about septum, nasal valve, and inferior turbinate surgery. Overall, the explanations were kind, and it was nice that they used things like 3D photos to roughly show what I would look like after surgery. However, he briefly mentioned that an artificial implant (mesh) could also be used, but I didn’t know exactly what it was, so I had to search more after getting home. In the case of mesh materials, it seems opinions are still divided even among doctors, so people who are sensitive about artificial implants may not like it. The hospital is large and clean. But when I tried to have a cost consultation, the desk said the surgery details had not been decided yet, so I should consult next time; after visiting other hospitals, I realized this hospital was the odd one ㅋㅋ Since I was already getting CPAP treatment there, if the first consultation had gone well, I would have gone straight ahead with surgery, but I think this was a case where they lost a patient because of the desk staff.
2. Samsung Medi ENT Clinic - Consultant: Director Park Su-won - Cost: I didn’t write down the consultation fee separately, so I don’t really remember- - Consultation details I visited because it comes up when you search for septum. First, when I arrived at my reservation time, they said there was a short surgery and asked me to wait a moment, so I waited over 30 minutes. I had the surgical consultation while already annoyed, but the director did seem confident about surgery,. However, it seemed like they mainly do functional surgery rather than appearance surgery, and he said he personally does not recommend nasal valve surgery. The location was good, but the facilities did not feel that clean.
3. Co&Ping ENT Clinic - Consultant: Director Lee Ho-min - Cost: I didn’t write down the consultation fee separately, so I don’t really remember- - Consultation details After the second consultation, I wondered whether the first hospital had been recommending too much surgery, so I began seriously visiting clinics. The hospital had not been open for long, so the facilities were very clean, and the director was kind. (It seemed like he had worked at another general hospital before opening his own clinic.) He also said septal surgery was necessary, but there was no need to touch the nasal valve. There was a separate person in charge of consultation, and she had a nameplate saying head nurse; instead of explaining like a cosmetic surgery consultant, she mainly explained inconveniences related to admission/discharge. I liked it enough to think that if I were to have purely functional nasal surgery, I should have it here. (The cost was also the cheapest.)
4. Easy Soom ENT Clinic - Consultant: Director Lee Seung-ju - Cost: I didn’t write down the consultation fee separately, so I don’t really remember- - Consultation details I brought CT images, but they took CT images again, which felt a bit off. However, the director was really kind and gave the most detailed explanation. Since I haven’t gone around for cosmetic consultations, it was almost a bit overwhelming? As soon as the consultation started, he pinpointed the current problems with my nose and said that because my nasal valve stenosis was severe, appearance surgery would be necessary anyway. I liked that he personally explained the surgery price as well. But there are so few reviews that I’m hesitant.
5. Yoon ENT Clinic (for reference) - Consultant: ??? Director - Cost: I didn’t write down the consultation fee separately, so I don’t really remember- - Consultation details With two places saying appearance surgery and two saying function only, I had no idea what direction to take, so on my way home I stopped by an ENT clinic that does not perform surgery. The doctor was an older physician who had practiced ENT for a long time. It seemed he had also worked at a university hospital for a long time. So I just stopped by because I wanted to hear an opinion from a functional perspective rather than a surgical perspective. At first, he bluntly said that these days plastic surgery clinics make strange diagnoses and make people get nasal valve surgery, and that he would not write something like a medical opinion letter. So I was about to leave, but he said he would take a look first, so I had the consultation. But after looking with a nasal endoscope, he said that from what he could see, it did look like nasal valve stenosis, and if I wanted to breathe comfortably, it would probably be better to also get nasal valve correction. After hearing this, my suspicion that doctors at places 1 and 4 might have diagnosed me excessively just to make me do cosmetic surgery faded a little. If anything, now I’m even wondering whether I should go as far as visiting hospitals in Seoul too.
This is my first time writing this kind of post, so I’m not sure whether it has all the information others want. If you have any questions, please leave a comment~