I am a 30-year-old woman, and it has been 4 months since I received facial contour surgery x3 + facial liposuction + forehead reduction + brow bone reduction from Director Kwon Jae-hyun at Soda Plastic Surgery!
My face is on the long side, and while it was not exactly a peanut-shaped face, I had a recessed eye area, so the contours of my face were very visible. If I gained weight, I looked fine, but if I lost weight, my face would look like a skeleton, so I was always stressed even while dieting. Because I had prominent brow bones and facial contours, and my features were fairly defined, the masculine parts felt like a complex to me, and I often heard that I looked older.
Even worse, 8-9 years ago I had a quick zygoma reduction done by cutting the bone and pushing it inward to let it heal naturally. At first it was fine, but at some point a step-like irregularity formed, which made the facial contours even more pronounced, and I just lived with it My face was never really suited for quick zygoma reduction in the first place, but back then I was young and just wanted to change something, so I went ahead with surgery without really understanding how the procedure worked.. (This really made me realize how important consultations are) But as I got older, I had less time available for recovery, and I also got tired of visiting clinics, so at some point I thought I’d just have to live like this.. It’s not something to brag about, but I had never lived while being told I was ugly. Then again, women go through looks slumps every few months, right? I truly spent my whole life thinking, if only my face shape were okay. At some point, hearing that my face looked older because of its contours made me so stressed that I didn’t even want to look in the mirror.. It’s that feeling of being stressed even while putting on makeup, like if I just do this one thing, I’ll be fine and I want to do it right away. People who know that feeling will know what I mean.. So every time that happened, I started searching heavily for contour surgery reviews!
But realistically, even if I could somehow solve the financial part, I didn’t have the time to take several months off, so I always gave up. Then when I turned 30, I felt that if I didn’t do it now, I might never be able to do it for the rest of my life There’s that saying that contour surgery should be done when you’re still a bit younger, right? So when I had about a month available, I seized the moment, did tons of research and consultations, visited many clinics, and in the end I was drawn to Soda!
Both the director and the manager gave me the feeling that this was not a hospital that saw patients as money, and I really liked that the consultation focused only on what was realistically necessary and that they also pursued the aesthetic style I wanted (a refined, elegant style)! And the most important part, the emphasis on safety. Their understated aesthetic sense, surgical experience, honest explanation of possible side effects, and focus on minimizing complications made them feel very trustworthy. I really understood why people who go for consultations say they want to get married there They were truly sweet and gentle, so I couldn’t help but trust them.. I had another hospital reservation afterward, but I’m sorry, I canceled it and put down the deposit here. I asked them to do it as soon as possible, so there was a canceled slot a week later and I decided to take that date. Since it was already one week before, refunds weren’t possible anyway, so it was basically confirmed.. I even did all my blood tests on the same day! The price was higher than other hospitals, but even so, I still wanted to do it here.
Since I was already going to do it, I decided to do everything at once: brow bone reduction + forehead reduction + facial liposuction + contour surgery x3. I asked them to preserve the square jaw line and make it refined and not look older!! Safety was my biggest concern, but the director emphasized safety first before I even brought it up, so I wasn’t worried at all (My forehead was reduced from 7.5 cm? to 5.8 cm. They also advised me while thinking ahead to the possibility that, if an unavoidable scar later required hair transplantation, it would still be manageable-! I fell for that again)
Then I went into surgery alone, and the operation time was very long. Part of it was because my scalp was not very flexible during the forehead reduction, and part of it was because the screws from the quick zygoma reduction had not been fixed in place, so the weak bone was dangling loose and was difficult to stabilize.. Some hospitals even said they couldn’t do it when I consulted them. But Director Kwon Jae-hyun seemed to see it as such a routine case.. Surgical experience really matters like this
Anyway, the surgery ended well and when I opened my eyes, I felt like I had survived, and honestly I didn’t have any pain.. In fact, I came out after surgery thinking the IV drip I was given was a painkiller injection, but it wasn’t The pain was that minimal. Instead, I was insanely swollen. My face felt like it was about to burst, and they said it was worse than most people. Especially the right side was extremely swollen, and I painfully understood why contour surgery is described as more exhausting than painful. During the one day I was hospitalized after surgery, the nurse caring for me didn’t even get to sleep properly and took care of me while setting alarms, and I’m still so grateful for how sincerely she looked after me. She kept coming by on time to give me water, apply cold compresses, and check whether I needed anything, and I thought, wow, this is a job I could never do even if I were forced to.. I’m truly grateful again.
Anyway, after being discharged the next day, I spent 2-3 days struggling so much with my face feeling like it was about to burst that I could have mistaken it for pain. I mostly ate NewCare, and I took my medicine properly too. I’ve always had little appetite, so I only drank NewCare in order to take the medicine; honestly, if it weren’t for the medicine, I probably wouldn’t have eaten at all.. Eating felt like a hassle because it was hard Anyway, after enduring those awful 3 days, it was amazing how the swelling changed day by day.. Time really is the best medicine.. Once I got past the 3rd day, when swelling was at its peak, the facial swelling and pain disappeared, and they gave me painkillers as emergency medicine, but I didn’t even need to take a single one- What was more uncomfortable was not being able to wash myself(This was really hard) I also walked about 2 hours a day and diligently did hot and cold compresses.
I think they removed the contour stitches at 1 week and removed the forehead stitches on the 2-week mark. Once the stitches were removed, it felt so refreshing, and from then on the swelling really started to go down? Of course, I think the hospital’s care made a big difference too. Swelling laser and radiofrequency were the best-! Once the swelling improved a bit and I could go out, my throat suddenly became so dry and sore! My sore throat, one of the aftereffects of general anesthesia, appeared only after 2 weeks.. I finally understood why general anesthesia is so hard, and wow, it was so painful that even sleeping was difficult. The sore throat lasted quite a long time, maybe a month and a half? It also took quite a while for my voice to fully return
Then, after a month, I was finally able to go to a sauna, so exactly at the one-month mark I went to a charcoal kiln bath, and maybe because of that, the next day the swelling had gone down so much that I was surprised At that point I felt like I could meet people, and as long as I could open my mouth to eat, everyday life was possible. Honestly, even then it still didn’t look like a normal face.. It was only at the level where I could use the excuse that I had just had my wisdom teeth removed.
Still, eating became easier from about a week later, and by around one month, unless I was eating with someone who didn’t know I had had surgery, there wasn’t really anything uncomfortable or worth worrying about.
I kept wondering when one month would pass and when 3 months would come, but now it’s already been over 4 months, and the more time passed, the more anxious I felt.. In the early stage after surgery, I could naturally think, it’s swelling, but after 2-3 months I started wondering, what if the remaining swelling doesn’t go down, what if this is the final face.. Even though I knew there was still a lot of swelling left, I felt anxious. Contour surgery really seems like a procedure where you have to keep your mental state under control. Until more than a year passes, I think you keep feeling anxious and mentally exhausted.. But since there are so many people like that, I also think the managers at contour-specialized clinics must have a hard time Because there are probably so many people who can’t tolerate the swelling and file complaints
I had already seen friends around me who had contour surgery, so I watched the process of the face settling over 1 year and 2 years, and I went into surgery accepting that it wouldn’t be my face for 1 year, but I’m still anxious even now Of course, the surgery went extremely well and I’m very satisfied. But human greed is like that, right? If I think it’s not swelling, I’d be satisfied with it, but because I can clearly see that it is swelling, I get anxious, wondering what if the swelling doesn’t go down and turns into fat? People who have had contour surgery will understand Anyway, after 3 months, people who saw me for the first time in a while asked if I had gained weight because of the swelling, and they didn’t really know what I had done. They just thought I had put on weight and said my vibe had changed? But this varies a lot by person, and in my case, even at 3 months the swelling was still very severe and I didn’t look human (But other people couldn’t really tell) And after 4 months, I can see that the face is gradually becoming slimmer and the swelling is decreasing. My front cheek swelling was really severe.
The jaw line started showing after a month, and it was a V-line, but my front cheek was so swollen that it was puffy enough to make the line visible, and now I can see that it has decreased a lot! Still, it’s hard like swelling, though Honestly, not many people have had brow bone reduction, and because it’s such an unfamiliar surgery, I was unsure at first, but I did it with the mindset that if I was already lying down, I might as well do it, and the result was more dramatic and satisfying than I expected!
To be honest, it was a surgery I was still debating whether to do even until the day before, but the hollow-eye appearance was greatly eased, and it feels like my face became a bit softer and less harsh? It definitely does. I was a little surprised! It feels different even when I touch it, and since it’s near the eyebrow area, the scar isn’t visible, and I even forget that I had it done. I really felt that if you’re going to have plastic surgery, doing everything at once is the shortcut to saving both time and money
These days I’m living so comfortably that I almost forget I had contour surgery, but I’m still being careful, and it seems like the swelling goes down at different times on the left and right, just like the right side was more swollen after the first surgery! What’s so interesting is that on the zygoma area, the right side went down faster than the left, while the front cheek and jaw area went down faster on the left, and the scar tissue inside my mouth has healed on the left, but only the right side remains! Even at the follow-up check, they said my bones were joining together faster than most people, and since I’m a smoker, they said my sinuses were also fine without any issues! I was really nervous because I had been told I might need sinus surgery again..
Facial contour surgery itself is a major operation, and since I had several procedures besides contour surgery, I was very scared and worried about what if it failed, but the hospital itself felt like family, and because the atmosphere was genuinely caring, I think I was able to go through the surgery with much less mental stress. You really can’t ignore that.. Since there are so many hospitals these days that see patients as money, I think I was even more moved. The follow-up checkups are something I look forward to, and I’m so grateful to everyone there-!
Since I had several surgeries at once, I still have more swelling than people who only had contour surgery, but both the reactions from people around me and the face I see myself are so satisfying, and I’m really looking forward to the future-! I feel more anticipation than worry! Surgery is important, but they say aftercare is important too, so I’m very relieved that no inflammation or other problems occurred, and I’m also grateful to the director for performing the surgery so well!! If I could go back, I would still choose here, sincerely. I’ll keep taking good care of myself and post another review when I look even prettier-!
I wrote this kind of haphazardly because I haven’t been sleeping well and I haven’t had time lately, but if you leave questions in the comments, I’ll try to reply whenever I can-! I hope everyone chooses a good hospital and becomes more beautiful