Before before before before after after after after* Don't be surprised if you see the exact same photos posted on ㄱㄴㅇㄴ or ㅂㅂㅌ... I wrote that review too... To leave proof(?) that it's real, I'll also upload photos that aren't in my ㅂㅂㅌ/ㄱㄴㅇㄴ reviews. For reference, the photos were taken before surgery and at 4 months after surgery.
I had the typical ET body type: my body was thin, but only my belly stuck out... At least before, my weight was around 47-48 kg, so I could get by on that, but once I gained weight and the first digit changed, I really couldn't handle it anymore. So after thinking about it for a long time, I decided to get abdominal liposuction and started looking into it.
I visited three places in person. 1. The Line 2. The Slim 3. Edge Line
At Edge Line, I only had a consultation with the consultant, so I passed, and I debated between The Slim vs The Line. At The Line and The Slim, I had the consultant consultation + photo shoot + consultation with the director, and both directors recommended 360 degrees to me in the same way. (The shared opinion was that if they only removed fat from one area, like just the lower abdomen or love handles, the line would probably look odd.)
Anyway, after the consultations and thinking it over, I ultimately decided on The Line.
Honestly, The Line had a 10,000 won consultation fee + pressure to put down a deposit, so it annoyed me a bit. (If they were going to charge a consultation fee, they should at least take a CT scan, but there wasn't even that...) But under the condition that I regularly send reviews and photos, the surgery fee was 2.8 million won+, and I had heard that Director Cho Jae-ho had a reputation for being good, so I decided to do it there. For reference, The Slim quoted around 3.7 million won for the surgery, so it was also way too much for my budget...
So I set the surgery date, did the preoperative design, and proceeded. But while Director Cho Jae-ho was doing the preoperative design, he looked and said it seemed like the area above my buttocks should be removed a little too, so he would remove that area as wellㅇㅇ. (For free) So I was like, okay, expert... and agreed, and in the end I went into surgery for 360 degrees + the upper buttock area.
I think the surgery took a little over 1 hour, but it seems it took about 3 hours for me to fully come to after surgery. When I opened my eyes, the surgery was over, and I had an abdominal binder + bandage + compression garment on my abdomen. (For reference, they said I could get an expensive custom compression garment through the hospital, or just bring a ready-made one. I brought a ready-made one.) The nurses didn't really provide dedicated care; they just said, "When you're leaving, press the bell and call us~" so I just rested and then left.
Actually, even after surgery, I didn't have anything like severe pain, so I bravely walked to the subway station alone + took the subway and bus for 2 hours and got home fine. So I thought, if it's this much, it's bearable, right? But that was a huge mistake.
I couldn't lie down when sleeping. The surgical area hurt so much. I don't know if I should call it fortunate, but even though it was painful, lying straight on my back was possible. Lying on my side was absolutely out of the question. Lying on my side became possible about 2-3 days after surgery. It hurt a little, though...
Then I woke up the next morning, went to work, and worked. (This is possible, but in my opinion, just do it on a Friday, rest well over the weekend, and go to work on Monday... And if possible, take Monday off too, whether it's monthly leave or annual leave...) While working, once 24 hours had passed since the surgery time, I took off the abdominal binder + bandage I was wearing. Then I lived wearing the compression garment for a week.
And one week later, when I escaped the compression garment (they still told me to wear it about 8 hours a day until week 4), I had the stitches + staples removed. But there was a time when a bit of stitch remained near my tailbone. Since it was tangled with a blood scab, I think the person missed it. Fortunately, it got pushed out through the skin without any major problem, and I gently pulled it out with tweezers and removed it. When I later showed them a photo of that stitch, the hospital apologized like crazy...
The hospital didn't provide any separate aftercare except for 2 sessions of radiofrequency treatment. (They said I could do 1 radiofrequency session + 1 cryotherapy session, but I just did radiofrequency.) For the rest of the aftercare, there was a manual massage shop near my house that does liposuction aftercare, so I received 10 sessions there. (I started from day 10 after surgery.) But the manual massage hurt so much. By my standards, it hurt more than the liposuction... Honestly, if it were only the level of pain I had after liposuction, I feel like I could do liposuction again, but thinking about going through the lumpiness hell and the pain of massages to manage the lumpiness again, I really can't bring myself to get liposuction again... seriously... And at that time, maybe because the swelling hadn't gone down much, I couldn't really tell any difference in the line either, so I seriously felt hit by reality.
Like that, I spent about 2 months with lumpiness hell across my entire abdomen + doubts about whether this was really working. Honestly, until then I couldn't see much change, so I wondered, did I waste my money -_-?
But the person doing the manual massage said, "Right now it's because there is a lot of lumpiness. And the fact that the lumpiness is evenly distributed means that they removed it evenly with the cannula, so don't worry. Your back line has come out really nicely now, so once the swelling goes down, it will be okay." So I decided to trust it and wait for now.
Then when I reached month 3 and took progress photos, my abdominal line was definitely much more organized than before. (Now that I think about it, I remember the hospital also told me to wait until month 3, and that was eerily accurate...) And when I entered month 4, I lost a lot because of swimming + cutting out carbonated drinks. Of course, now because of work stress, I've been drinking carbonated drinks... so I did gain a little from there... haha....
Saying this now, but to state only the conclusion, I was extremely satisfied. First, the stress I had because of my belly definitely decreased, and people who don't know I had surgery tell me my belly has gotten much smaller... haha... Of course, scars remain. About 1 cm each on both panty lines? But when I say scars, they don't swell up a lot or anything; they remain a bit like spots. On top of that, I originally have freckle-like spots around that area, so they don't stand out much. (If you're concerned about scars, I think it would be good to apply scar ointment consistently after the stitches are removed.)
If you're really bothered because of abdominal obesity, it's not bad to do a lot of legwork, get many consultations, and get liposuction.
+) And when I went here for my 3-month progress check, I felt like I had come to hear the results of a health checkup... While reporting my progress, they asked whether I had been sleeping a lot lately, whether I was eating three meals a day well... They said certain levels were high in my last blood test, so I should be careful about what I eat... They told me things like that. Thanks to that, I found out my cholesterol level was high and was told not to eat eggs or dairy products... ^_T