After<right after surgery.. the side bulge was still there>After<the bruised area is narrow, right?>After<this is day 21. This is a photo taken right before receiving revision surgery at another hospital>This post is a personal account based on my own experience and opinions as a medical consumer, and I state that its purpose is to provide information to those considering cosmetic surgery, with absolutely no intent to disparage any particular hospital.On 1/24, I received arm/accessory breast/back bulge/bra-line liposuction from Director Kim Yoon-geun at DRA in Sinsa.
One-line summary: Personally, the effect was minimal for me.
I’m 163 cm and fluctuate between 57-58 kg, with a muscular build, so I don’t look that heavy for my weight, but even when I was at my slimmest, my arms were thick, so I decided to get arm liposuction to improve them.
On 1/13, I had a consultation with Manager Jeong Bo-young and decided on surgery. The main reasons I chose this hospital were 1) they make only one incision, 2) the anesthesia method the hospital emphasizes as safe and less uncomfortable for the patient, and 3) although he was not my surgeon, Chief Director Cho Jae-ho is fairly well known in the field of fat surgery, and I thought his surgical know-how might be reflected in the other doctors as well.
I visited the hospital for surgery in the morning slot on the 24th, and after returning home, when I checked the surgical result visually right away, I could see that the back bulge and bra line had improved a lot, but there was no visible change in the arms and accessory breasts. In particular, the side bulge that I most wanted to improve, meaning the flesh protruding from the upper arm when standing at a 45-degree angle, did not seem to have improved at all, so I felt that the final result might not meet my expectations.
Contrary to what many people know, swelling actually does not rise much immediately after liposuction, and from 24-48 hours later it begins to gradually increase and continues for about 2 weeks. (Refer to this paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3901919/)
And if you look at personal accounts from people who have had liposuction, they often say the immediate postoperative appearance is close to the final result. But aside from swelling, what ultimately made me worried was the area of bruising. Seeing that there was no bruising at all on the lower or inner parts of the arms made me wonder, was the suctioned area really 270 degrees? (See after photos) There is no bruising on the lower arm in the side-view photo or on the back of the arm in the rear-view photo.
When I spoke with the manager the next day, she said it was still too early to judge the final result and that it would take three months for the effect to appear, so we should wait and see. But as the manager already knew, I had to leave the country in March, so I was not in a situation where I could wait until then.Rather than worrying and agonizing alone, I thought I needed a professional opinion, so I went to another hospital and asked for an opinion, and they told me something similar to what I had been thinking. Based on the pattern of bruising, the suctioned area did not seem broad, and especially the side-bulge area probably would not change much. Based on what was currently visible, it was unlikely that I would get the straight arms I wanted, and although I could wait 6 months and get revision surgery, they said it would probably be hard to expect a major change by then. However, they said it would be reasonable to consider revision surgery before adhesions developed. After much thought, yesterday, 2/14, I had revision surgery at another hospital. When my measurements were taken right before revision surgery, my left and right arm circumferences were 29.5 and 30 cm respectively, and each had decreased by 1 cm compared with before my first surgery at DRA, so it wasn’t completely ineffective.
Anyway, after the long-awaited revision surgery! When I checked immediately after surgery, the side bulge had clearly disappeared in the front and 45-degree angle photos, and at a 90-degree angle my arms looked straight. I also felt like I should have done it at this hospital from the start, and although I spent twice the money and went through a hard time mentally and physically, in the end I got what I wished for. :)
As stated above, it may simply have been that I was unlucky, and even at the same hospital, results can differ depending on the surgeon, and everyone’s experience can vary, so please keep that in mind. At first I was angry that I had only wasted money and saw no effect, but in any case, it was the choice I made, and I do not want to shift responsibility onto this hospital, the manager, or the director. However, cosmetic surgery requires considerable physical and mental energy and also comes with a financial burden, so please understand that I wrote this in the hope that others will examine things more carefully based on my experience and achieve what they want with as little trial and error as possible.