First of all, from both the front and side, my nostrils show. I have an upturned nose. My alar base isn’t that wide, and the upturned nose isn’t extremely severe. My nasal bridge is on the low side, so I want to raise it naturally and slightly improve the drooping, arrow-nose feel when I smile.
1. Cheotdanchu - consultation fee 5,000 won My rhinitis usually isn’t severe, but when I catch a cold, I often get bad sinusitis, so I was thinking of having functional surgery together if there was a functional problem. I made an appointment to get a CT too, but the CT machine was broken, so after several failed attempts I just had the consultation. (They had said the consultation fee would be 25,000 won if I got a CT and functional consultation together.) When the director looked inside my nose, he said my septum wasn’t deviated, and if the rhinitis discomfort wasn’t severe, he wouldn’t really recommend functional surgery. For the cosmetic part, my columella was a bit droopy, so columella lifting + alar lifting + 2.5 mm silicone for the nasal bridge. If the septal cartilage was insufficient, they would use ear cartilage. He said they wouldn’t know until going into surgery, but usually 90% are done with septal cartilage only, and about 10% use ear cartilage. He said alar lifting is done through an incision inside the nostril, which was a bit unfamiliar to me, so if anyone knows about it, I’d appreciate it if you leave a comment. He showed me on a tablet roughly how my nose would change, but honestly I didn’t like that photo... And the price was the most expensive. Basic nose surgery fee + additional columella lowering fee, additional alar lifting, and an additional fee for upturned nose? That was a bit absurd. They added every little detail, but why an extra upturned-nose fee..? Anyway, they said if I did it together with functional surgery, the cosmetic rhinoplasty would be discounted a bit more.
2. Apgujeong Seoul - no consultation fee As expected from a large hospital, it had a factory-like feel, but the director was kind and explained things in detail. Here too, he mentioned the drooping columella and said it should be lifted. When I asked about alar lifting, he said, “Do you think that makes sense for you?” and asked why lift the alar, saying it was meaningless. He was confident that he could make it pretty without making the nose look long or upturned. Silicone 4-5 mm + columella lifting, nasal tip using septal cartilage, and ear cartilage if insufficient. Compared with other clinics, he talked about a silicone height that seemed too high, so I found it a bit odd (even though I pursue a natural look and emphasized that to the director, he still said 4-5 mm).
3. Be The New (formerly Konopi) - no consultation fee I waited more than 1 hour and 30 minutes just to meet the consultant. Originally I had some time between this consultation and the next one, so I was going to eat, but thanks to that I starved all day and was late to the next consultation..ㅠㅠ They said it was because the director’s surgery ran longer than expected, but it was a bit too much. Instead, because I had waited so long, they didn’t charge the 10,000 won CT fee. As soon as I saw the director, the first thing he said was, “What’s the problem..?” He said it in a nuance that felt like, why are you trying to have surgery at all, so I told him my biggest complex was that my nostrils show. He said the columella was slightly droopy but not severe, so it could be corrected slightly, and that I didn’t seem to be in a state that warranted nostril lowering or alar reduction. He also said functional nose surgery didn’t seem necessary. Silicone 3 mm + nasal tip septal cartilage + ear cartilage. He said ear cartilage might not be used, but in almost most cases they use it. I think you can just assume they definitely use it. What was unusual was that they harvest it through a front incision, not an incision behind the ear.
4. Coviju - consultation fee 10,000 won This was the only place that said I needed columella lifting and nostril lowering too. They said if only the columella is lifted, the nostril appearance from the side won’t improve much. Nasal bridge 2.5-3 mm, nasal tip septal cartilage, nostril lowering, ear cartilage. It seemed the best in terms of postoperative care. They said they don’t do separate events and there are no other discounts, but if you put down a 100,000 won reservation deposit on the same day, they give a 10% discount on the surgery fee.
I went around to 4 places for consultations, and it’s seriously exhausting.. Quoted price order: 1 > 4 > 3 > 2
+Added 5. Oblie - consultation fee 10,000 won I went, got a CT, and consulted with the director. They recommended custom silicone, and unlike other clinics that said they use septal cartilage as the nasal tip support, they said they make the support with ear cartilage, then layer septal cartilage on top of it and push it out that way. As I saw in many reviews, the director was kind, and they said that if I do custom silicone, they design the desired nose shape in 3D in advance and fit it, so the surgical result can come out in the same shape. The cost was the most expensive among the clinics I consulted at. It is expensive because it’s custom silicone, but even excluding that, it was the most expensive among the hospitals where I received quotes. At other clinics, even though I had consultation appointments, the long waits were tiring and the directors looked exhausted. Here, it felt like they don’t overbook, and the fact that everything proceeded without much waiting made me trust that they might take better care of me when checking progress after surgery. Above all, I worried a lot because of the cost, but at other clinics I wasn’t sure whether the result would come out in the shape I wanted. Here, I feel like they’ll make it the way I want, so I think I’ll do it here. Guardian live CCTV viewing available