It’s been 2 months since my 3-type facial contouring surgery.
When I was looking into surgery, here’s something absolutely nobody tells you anywhere online.
1) Can return to daily life one week after surgery: this is just a lie. Even at one week, I was still puffed up like a steamed bun, and I still couldn’t really eat properly. In fact, even now at 2 months, I still can’t eat meat and things like that very well. I can’t open my mouth properly, so burgers are a dream. And I hate the feeling of something being in there so much, especially around the front chin area. It feels exactly like I’ve been wearing dentures 365 days a year. And when I smile, the shape of my mouth looks weird, and since I like smiling, I end up covering my mouth when I laugh.
2) Swelling: even at 2 months, I still have that candy-like swelling beside my lips, especially in the morning. And if you have a habit of sleeping on your side, surgery will be really hard for you. I was told not to sleep on my side for at least 3 months, because if you get cheekbone surgery, pressure is applied to the cheekbones.
3) Irritability: first of all, because you can’t eat properly and because of the foreign-body sensation, your irritation shoots up fast. Just think of it as living your whole life with dentures in. The foreign-body sensation is awful, I can’t eat meat, and even if I’m hungry I can’t just eat whatever I want. This is really, really hard. It’s still the same even now, 2 months in.
4) Basically, after facial contouring surgery, for about 2 months you just have to live looking really ugly. Your face shape is still a bit awkward, you can’t eat freely, and you can’t exercise properly either (I’m a gym fanatic).
I had facial contouring surgery around October at a large hospital near Gangnam Station.
A friend had it done there and it went well, so I just booked without even checking any other hospitals.
Since I live in the United States, I only consulted with the manager (?) over KakaoTalk, paid the deposit on the surgery date, and came into the country.
From an end result perspective only, there is definitely a change. I think that’s because before surgery my cheekbones and square jaw were very prominent, and after taking a CT scan, the nerve line around my jaw was positioned high, so the area that could be cut was wide. I had good conditions for surgery, so that may be why.
If you asked me to do it again: absolutely not. It’s too hard, it costs money, and I keep thinking why I went out of my way to suffer this much.
A few things I couldn’t understand as a Korean American:
During consultation, it honestly felt strange that I was consulting with a manager (?) who was not a doctor, just a non-medical staff member. In the United States, even for a very minor surgery, it would be against the law to consult with a non-medical person. The doctor who actually performed my surgery was very kind, but I don’t think I even spoke with him for 5 minutes. Even when talking to other hospital staff, since I’m the F type in MBTI or whatever, I kept rambling about how I was uncomfortable with being teased about my face shape and things like that, but the response was basically a dry “so what?” kind of vibe, only saying what was strictly necessary and handling everything in a very formal way. They made me sign nearly 20 pages before surgery, but there was nothing about side effects or risks at all like in the U.S., where that kind of explanation is standard. It was just, read this and sign after you’ve read it.
On the day of surgery - I was taken up to the operating room the day after arriving in the country. In the U.S., they would first introduce themselves, like, “I’m the anesthesiologist, and I’ll be administering anesthesia now.” But here they just said something like, “The anesthesiologist will start anesthesia now,” without even introducing themselves, and I didn’t even see the surgeon.
The ward after surgery was also a bit sloppy, and I didn’t feel any real kindness at all. They only did what was necessary (removing the drainage tubes, etc.), said only what they needed to say, and it felt very much like they were drawing a line. After surgery, they just gave me one sheet of aftercare instructions and that was it. They didn’t even say things like, “it’s good to drink pumpkin juice.”
There have been lots of issues in Korea about proxy surgeries, especially at large hospitals. I really can’t understand that either. Korea is especially known worldwide for K-pop, and we’re a top-ranked country in many ways, but when I look at this side of things, I feel sad because we really are behind. In other countries, you can’t even imagine proxy surgery. If it happened, you’d go straight to jail. The doctor would lose their license.
This is getting long, but anyway, facial contouring surgery is a very major surgery, so make sure you look into it carefully beforehand and expect to suffer like crazy for at least 2 to 3 months.