<Surgery day><Immediately after surgery><Day 2 side view><Day 2 front view><Day 3 front view><Day 3 side view> This is a voluntary review I really wanted to write. Photos from the consultation to day 3 included (long post warning)
I work for an airline, and because of COVID I ended up on leave for quite a while, so I finally got to have the nose surgery I’d been wanting for so long!
Last year, I got fooled by ads on hospital apps and Instagram ads, and even went to a hospital that was cheap too. I once had this happen where one eye was done by the original doctor and the other eye was done by another doctor;;; (It was local anesthesia, and they were openly experimenting on me)
When the original doctor handed my left eye over, "Okay, now do this side." The other doctor took over and operated, "Oh, this patient asked for a thin line!"
So the starting line of my left eye was thick, but the end part became thin lol
Both eyes did end up a little uneven, but I’m the type who just says fine, fine, that’s okay for most things, so I thought the surgery turned out well enough and let it go.
Then I watched a YouTube video by Dr. Vendetta that pointed out proxy surgery and ghost surgery, and realized: Ah, I was just a human being like a lab rat on the operating table It was really dangerous
After that, this year, because I had to stay on leave for a long time due to COVID, I decided, Let’s finally smooth out this flat nose I’d been surviving on with fillers! and joined this site to look for a clinic!
I really made up my mind to find a truly, truly good clinic this time!
My criteria were: No large hospitals, no corporate-style hospitals. Absolutely avoid clinics where the consultation manager talks about how many millimeters of silicone or whether mesh will be used. Avoid hospitals that are so insanely crowded they run like a factory. I wanted to meet a nose specialist with more than 10 years of experience as a board-certified plastic surgeon and have surgery there!
So I worked really hard searching online, and for about 3 weeks I went around in person, planning to visit about 7 or 8 clinics.
The first clinic was one that had come up a bit in our airline community. It was a one-doctor clinic under the doctor’s own name. Since they wanted 7-8 million won for a first surgery and were going to use mesh, I thought that was not right. Then when I said I was also going to consult at other clinics, the consultant asked where, searched it up right there, and then awkwardly put the other clinic down, saying I should look into it more because it wasn’t very good..;; So I didn’t do it.
The second clinic was said to be a one-doctor plastic surgery clinic for celebrities, and the doctor was very passionate about beauty. The desk was full of charts and some unknown glass bottles(?), giving off a quirky-doctor(?) vibe; but since I already had nasolabial filler and that area was puffy, they also recommended nasolabial surgery, so I didn’t do it.
The third clinic was also one that had been talked about in the airline community. It was no different from other large clinics that aggressively advertise and promote on plastic surgery apps. The consultant, a blonde and young-looking person, told me to take my mask off, diagnosed me first, and said I’d need silicone..... The ENT specialist doctor seemed trustworthy, but I didn’t do it because of the consultant. It also had a very factory-like feel (packed with people), and if you go to a site called Sungyesa, the reviews are;;; really bad, so I thought I was right not to go!
The fourth clinic is where I had surgery, and I think I posted a review before after going for a consultation and making a reservation about a month ago! Please refer to that post!
Briefly speaking.. the doctor spent a full hour consulting with me;;; There was no consultation at all with the consultant, and after the doctor’s consultation ended, I only received reservation instructions!
The doctor had even made a large nose model by hand to help many patients understand (I think this part really resonated with me).
They had roughly made a nose model out of things that looked like they were bought at a stationery store, and had me move it around myself so the doctor could teach me how the surgery would be done; (a really amazing experience)
Because I had a one-hour consultation, at first I thought it was just because I work in a job that deals with people a lot,
"Ah, maybe because I’m good at reacting?"
That’s what I thought. But when I looked up reviews of the doctor, it wasn’t just me - every patient who came in got a one-hour consultation.
At the end, when I was leaving after the consultation, the doctor personally opened the door, walked me to the consultation room, handed the chart they had written to the consultant, and said goodbye.
At that point I thought, "There are a lot of arrogant people who are completely full of a sense of authority, but the doctor seems like someone whose natural personality is genuinely good."
My nostrils were my complex, so I didn’t care much about a high bridge. I just asked them to make the line as natural as possible and make it so my nostrils wouldn’t be visible from the front~ (No flashy line)
They asked me to bring a few photos of the nose type I wanted, so I picked about four celebrities and brought them on the surgery day~
The doctor chose the one that could work best for my nose~
<Surgery day>
I arrived at 9:30, changed clothes, and took photos before going to the operating table
This is after the nose filler was dissolved; I had no bridge and only a little bit of tip~
The surgical plan was septum + silicone + ear cartilage~
We also decided to do alar reduction
When I lay down on the operating table, I was really... shaking so much. I kept trembling, lol, and the heartbeat sound thing was going so fast, beep beep beep beep lol. Sorry for causing noise from the morning
Every time the nurse did a step of disinfection, she told me in advance that it would hurt, and she was so kind when she said they would do a test injection in my foot, which I really appreciated~ (I’m sensitive to kindness because I work in service)
The nose disinfection was lol seriously insane, like what even is this? It was that harsh I kept coughing like crazy
Anyway, after all the nose disinfection was done, the doctor came in (my eyes were covered, but I could hear the voice), and before I knew it I was flying around in Egypt (meaning I was under anesthesia) It felt really good~~ like I was floating (?) Ah, that’s why celebrities go to plastic surgery clinics and get into drug problems, I thought
Then I slowly woke up, and after that I think they worked on my nose for about two hours (?)~ The doctor kept talking to me in a voice, saying to tell them if it hurt, so I felt reassured (I was one person who worried a lot after watching Dr. Vendetta about ghost doctors)
They kept telling me the patient shouldn’t be in pain, apologizing and saying not to hold it in and to 꼭 say if it hurt, and they worried about me a lot in between, so I was so, so grateful to the doctor
The nurses and the doctor managed the pain in the middle and talked to me, and lol music was playing behind them, lol BTS Dynamite was on, so I listened excitedly while half-dreaming and the surgery ended~
At the end they poured something on for disinfection, and my nose hurt like I was dying.
During the surgery, someone placed something on my body, and I heard the doctor say not to put anything on the patient’s body (so touching). Last year during my eye surgery, my chest was basically just the workbench
The doctor also personally did all the splint taping stitch by stitch~ They said I worked hard and left
The nurse helped me to the recovery room, where I used an ice pack and calmed down the dizziness~ Then after a while, the doctor came back into the recovery room, told me the surgery went really well, and explained that when watching TV I should alternate cold compresses on each side, then left (it felt a bit like a father telling his daughter how to do this and that because he was worried)
Here are some photos I took in the recovery room while getting IV fluids and feeling dizzy, so I could send them to my husband~
Completely swollen
<Day 2>
I dug through reviews on cosmetic surgery cafes, Sungyesa, etc., and they said day 2 is when swelling is the worst, and even though I’m not the type who swells a lot, I was very swollen too. I couldn’t open my eyes lol
Since my nose was blocked, I slept terribly. My mouth got dry so I’d wake up, then fall asleep again, repeating that lol
They said the cotton inside the nose is usually removed on day 3, but mine was removed the very next day~
Originally they were going to use the septum, but I heard during surgery that the septum was thin and slightly bent? Anyway, I was told they didn’t use the septum and instead used only ear cartilage~ So they quickly pulled out the cotton inside my nose, and it felt like my soul was leaving too it hurt
The nurse removed the nose tape for me, and it really hurt, but she seemed to try her best to do it as painlessly as possible~ She also changed the splint tape, and again the doctor removed and reapplied everything one by one and checked my progress~
I had seen reviews saying some clinics let you leave after surgery without ever seeing the doctor even once, so I was grateful..
And even the clinic where I had my eyes done last year, when I went a week later for a progress check, I waited a long time and then met the doctor who had operated on me, but outside the director’s office they just looked at my eyes quickly and said, “Ah yes, it turned out well,” and that was it~
Aftercare is important, and I had really seen a lot of reviews about clinics that are kind only during consultation and then ignore you after surgery, but here, from the consultant to the doctor and the nurses, it didn’t feel like fake kindness at all. It felt like genuine, heartfelt kindness, which I really liked!
<Day 3>
When I woke up in the morning, the swelling had moved down under my cheeks, but I couldn’t close my mouth I walk a lot every morning and evening with my husband and our dog, so they said my swelling was not as bad as other people’s~
Maybe because I didn’t use the septum, my recovery was fast, the doctor looked at my nose, removed the ear bandage, treated it, and taped it up, and for the nose they removed the splint and tightly secured it with tape, and before putting on the tape, they showed me in a mirror and told me to look at the shape, and I was like, huh!!
The shape was really sooooo smooth that I was surprised!
My mouth area is still swollen because of the alar reduction, but once the swelling goes down completely, I think it’ll be the nose I wanted, and I was so happy
Seeing the doctor talking to me about this and that and treating me while smiling, I really thought I was lucky to meet such a good doctor I’m truly, truly grateful to the doctor!! It was only day 3 and the line already looked like this, so I was so thankful
Honestly, after watching Dr. Vendetta’s video, I had the prejudice that most plastic surgery clinics in Apgujeong and Gangnam don’t treat patients as patients and only care about money.
But after meeting this clinic and this doctor, I thought, Ah, there are still warm clinics left in Apgujeong~ In the bleak plastic surgery district of Apgujeong, there is still a clinic like this left, and I felt glad to have found a place like this~
I’m uploading the day 3 line photos~~ I’ll post another review after the tape is completely removed this Saturday!
I wondered why this clinic didn’t have much advertising or many reviews, but... I think maybe everyone wants to keep the good things to themselves.
Anyway, that’s my review