This post is a written account based on my personal experience and opinion as a medical consumer. Its purpose is to provide information to people considering plastic surgery, and it is in no way intended to defame any specific hospital.
This is a review of arm, axillary breast tissue, back bulge, and bra-line liposuction I received from Director Kim Yun-geun in Sinsa on January 24. On January 13, I had a consultation with Manager Kim Bo-young and decided to proceed with surgery. The main reasons I chose this hospital were: 1) they said they would make only one incision, 2) the hospital emphasized a safe anesthesia method that is less uncomfortable for the patient, and 3) although he was not my operating surgeon, the chief director, Jo Jae-ho, is well known in the fat-surgery field, and I thought his surgical know-how might be reflected in the other doctors as well.
I went in for surgery in the morning on the 24th, and after I got home around 2:30 p.m., I checked the results visually right away. The back bulge and bra-line areas looked much improved, but there was no visible change in the arms or axillary breast tissue. In particular, the side bulge I most wanted improved, the fat that protrudes from the upper arm when standing at a 45-degree angle, did not seem improved at all, so I felt the final result would probably not meet my expectations. Contrary to what many people know, swelling does not actually peak right after liposuction; it begins to rise gradually 24 to 48 hours later and continues for about two weeks. (Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3901919/) And even from personal accounts I have seen online from people who had liposuction, the immediate postoperative state is said to be closest to the final result. But beyond the swelling, what made me most worried was the area of bruising. Seeing no bruising at all on the lower or inner part of the arms, I wondered whether the suctioned area had been less than 270 degrees. When I called the next day, the manager said it was too early to judge the final result and that it would take about three months for the effect to appear, so we should wait. But as she already knew, I had to leave the country in March, so I was in a situation where I could not wait that long.
Rather than worrying and agonizing over it alone, I thought I needed a professional opinion, so I went to another hospital and asked for an assessment. They told me something similar to what I had expected: based on the bruising pattern, the suctioned area did not seem wide, and especially the back-bulge area would likely not change much. Judging from what was visible at the time, the chances of getting the straight arm I wanted were low, and even if I waited six months and had revision surgery, it would probably be hard to expect a major change. They did say it would be worth considering revision before adhesions formed.
After much thought, I had revision surgery at another hospital yesterday (2/14). When my measurements were taken before surgery, the left and right arm circumferences were 29.5 cm and 30 cm, respectively, and compared with before my first surgery at The Line, each had gone down by 1 cm, so it was not as though there had been no effect at all. In any case, after the long-awaited revision surgery! As you can see from the photos taken right after surgery, the side bulge disappeared in the front-view and 45-degree shots, and in the 90-degree view my arm became straight. I even felt that I should have done it here from the start. I spent twice the money and went through a lot of physical and mental strain, but in the end I achieved what I wanted. :)
As I wrote above, I may simply have been unlucky, results can differ even at the same hospital depending on the operating surgeon, and each person's experience can vary. At first I was angry that I had only wasted money and gotten no effect at all, but in the end it was my own choice, and I do not want to shift the blame onto the hospital, the manager, or the director. That said, plastic surgery is something that consumes a lot of physical and mental energy and also comes with financial burden, so I wrote this in the hope that others will use my experience to judge more carefully and, if possible, achieve what they want without trial and error. That is all.