I was going to write this on another board, but I’m writing it here. My purpose is to share what felt strange while I was visiting clinics, so I’m writing this for reference. That’s why I can’t say where it is
It’s a plastic surgery clinic in the middle of Gangnam, but the interior facilities and cleanliness were like an ordinary, unimpressive neighborhood internal medicine clinic.. At a clinic that performs surgery, hygiene should be the top priority, so I wondered what the operating room would be like. (I also saw a review here saying they happened to see the operating room and were shocked -> it was deleted afterward..)
I had a consultation with the director, and from the start he gave a long lecture about the structure of the nose. Since it was actually my first nose consultation, I didn’t really understand the content. I wanted a consultation for correcting a hump nose, but after explaining general things about the nose at length, he looked at my nose with an endoscope and said that even though my nose had no functional issue, I needed nasal valve reconstruction too. Thinking about it now, I feel like it may have been an excessive surgery recommendation (At consultations at other hospitals, they also asked why I would touch a perfectly fine nasal valve).
Cosmetically, he talked about the golden ratio during the consultation, but during the long consultation, that only took a few minutes, and in reality the consultation was focused on function. He must have seen on CT roughly how much septal cartilage I had, but he said that if there wasn’t enough septal cartilage during surgery, he would use ear cartilage. (At other hospitals, they all said my septal cartilage was sufficient) I also saw reviews here saying the first consultation was thorough, but at the second consultation they clearly acted annoyed and were unkind.
The estimate for cosmetic concerns (hump nose) plus functional concerns (deviated septum, nasal valve reconstruction, crooked nose) was over 10 million won even though it was my first surgery, and if I became a surgery model, it was almost a 50% discount. The condition was to “share my ID and password” and post three photo reviews? on some cafe and some app. After hearing that, I didn’t look up reviews on cafes or apps. I only searched through this community and visited clinics in person.
The staff weren’t kind either. While waiting for the consultation, I wondered if they really had to say things like that at the front desk.
At the time, I wanted to get nose surgery quickly, so I wondered if I should do it at this first place I visited, but it was such a huge relief that I hesitated because of the price. (I didn’t consider the review condition because I didn’t want my photos circulating everywhere as reviews) Of course, there are probably people who had surgery at this hospital, did well, and are satisfied. But I saw a negative review posted a few days ago too, and it seemed exactly like that place.
So what I want to say is: 1. Visit as many clinics as possible, and get lots of consultations from several doctors about your problems and improvement directions.. 2. A doctor who just lists specialized knowledge is not necessarily a good doctor for me. 3. Decide when you meet someone who makes you feel, this doctor could improve my complex, could do it in the direction I want, and I can truly trust and leave it to them. It’s my face, after all