(2021.11.22) I had revision facelift surgery.
The text below is a post I uploaded to a Naver cafe around one month after surgery, on (2021.12.28).
I was quite careful before choosing this hospital, and after much thought, I had the surgery with trust. If there had been even the slightest room for doubt that something like this could happen, I would not have had the surgery... This is what happened to me at a hospital where I had no such doubts at all.
As I write this now, 4 months have passed since surgery, and many things have happened during that time. I will upload them soon.
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The doctor I am so grateful to may be an object of resentment to someone else. You cannot predict how another person may change in a given situation, and in a special relationship like that between doctor and patient, those variables cause great pain.
During my first surgery, communication after surgery was poor, and the result was also not good. As I looked into revision facelift surgery this time, communication with the hospital after surgery and responsibility/aftercare were important reasons in choosing a hospital.
The hospital where I had my revision surgery was a new hospital, but its cafe was actively operated, so I strongly trusted that even if a problem occurred after surgery, it would be properly guaranteed. That felt like a major advantage.
The fact that people within that hospital cafe widely said that the doctor was always open to patients and had a good character also made my decision easier.
I had revision facelift surgery about a month ago.
Around 3 weeks after surgery (2021.12.15), a question was posted in that hospital cafe asking what surgical method was used, and the doctor left a comment saying it was his surgical method. But it was *a different method from the surgical method explained to me before surgery. *It was a method I had suggested because it seemed suitable for my current condition, but he said he did not do it because it was dangerous.
At that time, it had only been 3 weeks since my surgery, so I wondered whether the surgical method had changed in that short time, or whether, after entering the operating room, he thought that method would also be okay for me and operated using *that method. If so, I was curious about the reason too... So I posted a question asking about the surgical method used on me,
and the doctor forcibly removed me from the cafe.
The doctor had commented on the post I uploaded, and as I was continuing with replies, I pressed the button to register my comment, and a pop-up appeared saying, “You do not have permission.”
I was wondering whether the cafe was under maintenance or whether it was a temporary error, when I got a cafe notification. When I checked, it said I had been forcibly removed from the cafe. That was the notification I received.
Did the doctor accidentally press something wrong and forcibly remove me by mistake? That is how far I went in trying to think of it that way.
But when I looked at the stated reason for forced removal and Naver Cafe’s forced removal system, it requires three or four clicks to forcibly remove someone. It was not a process that could happen by a simple mistake...
About an hour later, I went back to check, and the question I had posted at the time of forced removal had been deleted, and the post I had uploaded before surgery had been blinded.
When I checked the timing, it seems he forcibly removed me within 1 minute after I left a reply to the doctor’s answer.
That day was the hospital’s day off, so I spent the day confused, not knowing what had happened, and the next day I was able to contact the counseling manager.
When I asked for an explanation of what had happened,
the reason I heard for the forced removal was, “It seemed like you were dissatisfied with the surgery, so he felt offended.”
The doctor had commented on my question post, and I was told by the manager that because my reply seemed like I was dissatisfied with the surgery, he felt offended and forcibly removed me. They also said he felt that I had continued to doubt him since surgery.
All I had done after surgery was attend 3 routine follow-up checks (the day after surgery / interim follow-up and treatment / suture removal and treatment).
And the only other time I posted in the cafe was on the day of surgery because there was a problem with the blood drain. Other than that, this was my first post 3 weeks after surgery.
Where did this sense of “continued” come from?
..........
Compared with other surgeries, I think a facelift is a major surgery, and I thought the follow-up process was that much more important. That is why a big part of choosing this hospital was the advantage that communication was good. But after experiencing something like this, rather than saying I was angry, should I say I was dumbfounded...
No matter how many times I look again at what I wrote, I did not write anything offensive, and the reason I asked was also a question a person who had surgery could reasonably ask... Especially since the doctor was the directly involved party, I thought he would have understood even better why I asked that question. For what reason I asked it. All of my questions and replies were based on what I had discussed with the doctor.
How can I think positively about a doctor forcibly removing a patient who had revision surgery only 3 weeks earlier?
Moreover, the reason was simply that he personally felt offended. Because it seemed like I was dissatisfied with the surgery, he felt offended... So then he forcibly removes me?
I tried to understand somehow. Because for me, it was not over yet. Surgery is not the end. It had been 3 weeks since surgery... There was still a very long way to go, and facelift surgery requires follow-up over a long period, and I was also a revision case... I could not understand it at all, but I tried to understand. For my own sake.
I had a phone call with the counseling manager for as long as 3 hours. Whatever my intention was, even if there were no bad expressions in what I wrote, if the doctor felt offended, then that could happen, and since feelings are free, I said it did not matter how he thought. I explained why I posted the question, and even why I left the two replies. What benefit would I gain from offending the doctor... I explained and explained again. Can it be any more miserable than this...
I asked them to convey all of my explanations, including that if he did it because he was momentarily angry, then I could understand even that. But the answer that came back was unchanged.
I said, wasn’t the surgery fee I paid supposed to include follow-up care and aftercare if something went wrong after surgery? How can a post-surgery patient be treated however he wants based only on feelings? Then they said I should come in for follow-up.
Aside from this incident, there were so......................... many other things... This post is already too long to include everything in one writing.
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Up to the text above, I wrote based on the conversations and posts exchanged with the hospital, and the text below is my personal opinion.
I had never doubted him. Once I had the surgery, doubting him would not benefit me in any way. Patients basically trust the doctor who operated on them. Especially a patient who has only recently had surgery tries to trust the doctor, even by forcing themselves to build strong trust. But seeing him act this way changes my thoughts. I become suspicious. Otherwise, there is no other way to explain it.
Right now, I am just hoping that even if there is no effect, there will at least be no side effects. For the past few days, I have seen a depression on my left cheek, and I am hoping it is temporary. Because I do not have the confidence to face that doctor. At a time when it is already hard enough to focus on recovery and think only about good things ahead, I am spending anxious and depressed days.
Many questions about surgical methods are posted in that cafe, and many small questions after surgery are posted too.
Why is he doing this only to me? Or have other people already been forcibly removed too? Was my comment something that no one was supposed to see, so he forcibly removed me within 1 minute of writing it, deleted the post, and blinded it? I worry whether treating a patient based on feelings like that is dangerous.
I do not even know what surgery I received. Because there is no trust left after the doctor’s actions. Forcibly removing a patient just because the patient asks about the surgical method they received is beyond dumbfounding; it is also frightening.
Seeing his still-kind attitude in the cafe even now gives me a lot to think about.
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