* I’m writing this in the hope that it will be of even a little help to Dr. Lee Jae-su, who gave me a new life, and to the staff at Next Plastic Surgery who took such careful, detailed care of me one by one. Also, after the surgery I developed severe hives (or an allergic reaction), and I have a lot I want to say about that part. If you’re someone who has been thinking about breast surgery for a long time like I did, please read through it slowly even if it’s long, and I hope it helps.
[Reason for surgery] Since I was young, my breasts have been so small that I have never really been able to go to a swimming pool or sauna properly. During my growing years, I kept becoming a laughingstock among my peers, and to my friends it was just a joke, but it always stayed as a wound, and the surgery I most wanted once I became an adult was breast surgery. Photo reference _I was very thin in the upper body to the point where the breastbone and ribs were visible / size so small that even a 70AAA bra was loose
After looking into several clinics, I found that patient safety was their top priority, aftercare was good, and most reviews said they take responsibility for the patient until the very end, so I didn’t go to any other clinics and ended up going to Next as my first clinic.
Because this isn’t just something that looks good for a moment cosmetically, but an operation that involves putting in an implant you have to carry in your body for life as a woman, I thought the best clinic would be one that would keep treating me responsibly even years after the surgery.
[Consultation process] When I had the consultation, it went in this order: coordinator consultation / doctor consultation / coordinator consultation
Coordinator consultation (complexes, desired size, trying on a bra with implants, etc.) Doctor consultation (the problems with my breasts, how they could be made prettier aesthetically, what procedures would be good to combine, explanation of implant types and sizes, etc.) Coordinator consultation (price adjustment and setting the surgery date)
That was how it went.
It was the first clinic I visited for consultation, but they were so focused on the patient and explained what the problems with my breasts were (distance between nipples, breast shape, likelihood of rippling depending on skin thickness, etc.)
They explained even things I didn’t know, and not only that, they told me in detail how and to what extent those issues could be resolved through surgery, so I set a date right away, paid the deposit, and even had the pre-op tests done. And I think I trusted and decided on this place even more because there was an anesthesiologist.
[Day of surgery] On the day of surgery, after paying the remaining balance at the hospital, I changed into disposable underwear and a surgical gown, then had pre-op breast photos taken and the doctor marked the design.
I lay down on the operating table, they explained where the CCTV was, and I waited for the anesthesiology doctor (the fact that I could check the CCTV footage after surgery also made me trust them a lot _ it meant they were confident)
They reassured me that I was about to be anesthetized and told me not to worry, I counted numbers and fell asleep, and when I woke up after surgery, I felt like my breasts were extremely heavy and I had already been moved to the recovery room. (Personally, it felt like a heavy stone was pressing firmly on the upper ribs and my heart _ there was now an implant where there hadn’t been one, which was of course expected)
The doctor and a nurse explained how the surgery had gone, and since I was wearing a drainage bulb, they said I had to come back the next day to have it removed, so I stayed near Seoul for one night and planned to go back to the hospital. I came with my mom, and because she was so worried, while I was recovering in the recovery room the doctor kept explaining how the surgery had gone and reassuring her. They said that during the surgery they used dual-plane and that there was almost no bleeding. (To be honest, I thought, how could there not be any bleeding..? But after watching the CCTV, they had only worked on the dual-plane muscle, so there was really no bleeding at all..)
Also, at first I was scared, so I said to put in 310 cc, and if it seemed too small, it would be okay to change it during surgery, but the doctor put in 330 cc, and even now I’m truly grateful for that. (Sometimes I think maybe I should have gone bigger. But if I wear even slightly loose clothes, I can look puffy, so I’m living with gratitude for my current state.)
[Hives after surgery?] The day after surgery, they removed the drainage bulb and I went back to my parents’ house, and two days later, starting from dawn, I developed something like hives on my back to an almost disgusting degree. I was worried the surgery might have gone wrong, so I contacted the 24-hour coordinator service that only surgery patients can use, at dawn, and they replied right away. (Photo reference) The coordinator called me at dawn and said to come to the hospital in the morning and they would see me right away.
I went straight to Next in the morning and was examined, and they started treatment with an IV fluid drip and something like a medication, and prepared a separate room so I could rest and let it calm down. I was very grateful, but it didn’t get better, so Dr. Lee Jae-su worried about me, called a friend of his who is an internal medicine doctor in Seoul right away, and handed me over to an internal medicine clinic so I could be examined and then go home.
Honestly, I thought maybe this wasn’t the hospital’s fault and it was just that my body didn’t match the implant? I also couldn’t sleep at all at night because the itching on my back was far worse than the pain from the breast surgery, and I felt emotionally overwhelmed, wondering if I shouldn’t have had the surgery in the first place, and above all I felt so sorry for my family who were also having a hard time.
First, because my back itched so badly, I cut off short-sleeve shirts I didn’t wear and kept wiping my back with a wet towel, while also using cold compresses so heat wouldn’t build up. But it only felt cool for a moment, and the heat sensation was so intense that in less than five minutes the wet towels and compress packs would become lukewarm again and the itching would worsen again, over and over.
Even if I kept lotion and moisturizer in the refrigerator and applied them, it still itched, and above all, if even the slightest thing touched my back, the itching became so severe that I couldn’t even lie down. At the time, I thought that if the heat sensation went down, the itching might lessen, so I had a diatomaceous earth pack that was meant to reduce facial heat, and I mixed cold water into a modeling pack and applied it to my back.
As those who have tried it will know, the pack gives a cooling effect while it hardens, and once it hardens you throw it away, so I would put the pack on and sit there, and luckily, once the pack dried, I could lie down and even get a short nap. From that point on I was able to sleep little by little, and from then on the hives, allergy-like marks, and heat sensation improved a lot.
*I won’t write the pack information because I’m worried you might think this is an advertisement.
[Treatment and cause of the hives? allergy?] Looking back later, I had a large implant inserted and from the day of surgery I hardly slept because I kept tossing and turning, and on the second day I also barely slept, but once I started sleeping longer after applying the pack, the allergy on my back went down.
I think maybe I already had low immunity, and because I had a major surgery and couldn’t rest, it flared up. After that, I made a point of sleeping so my body could rest enough, and all the itching on my back subsided. Since then, whenever there is anything related to heat, I instinctively look for a diatomaceous earth pack first.
If any of you are experiencing itching, try lowering the heat sensation and getting enough sleep while watching how it goes. My immunity suddenly dropped a lot, and I wondered if it was because I couldn’t rest. And recently, while getting other tests, I also had an immune system test, and it actually came back showing that my immune levels were lower than other people’s, so I thought, ah, maybe that was why it happened then.
Anyway, I told the hospital that I was okay now, and at the next follow-up the doctor was worried, looked at my back again and carefully checked even what had happened at the internal medicine clinic, so I thought, ah, that’s why everyone praised them as a place that takes responsibility for aftercare until the very end.
This got so long, so if the response is good, I’ll write the next part too (post-op review _ the bread-loaf shape everyone talks about and the current feel, shape, etc.) :)