For my first surgery, I was young, so I just got a lot of hospital consultations and went ahead with it right away. This time, for the revision surgery, I really came here often and read every last review and forum post about removal, which helped me a lot. I had never posted anything on a community before, but as the sedation anesthesia wore off after surgery and my mind slowly cleared, I suddenly thought that when I got home today, I had to write a review.
Before surgery, I remember feeling very anxious and wanting to know at least something in advance about how it would actually go, so I’ll focus on that kind of thing.
First of all, my first surgery started with rhinitis surgery, but overall my nose was large and round, so I went to ㅅㅋ* ENT, where they confidently said they would do everything I wanted while opening it up together if we were already at it (e.g. non-open, rhinitis, not using implants, etc.). The rhinitis part turned out well, but the shape was so sharp that I lived for 5 years thinking this just wasn’t right. But after the first surgery, the swelling was so bad for over a month that going outside was absolutely impossible, so I originally tried to plan for a month off again this time too, but finding the time was really impossible.. Fortunately an opportunity came up, so I diligently went to about 7 to 8 places for consultations and also searched this community hard before choosing a hospital and making a reservation.
During this round of consultations, I avoided places that were overly confident and said the parts I was worried about would obviously turn out well. Instead, I prioritized places that showed me cases similar to mine rather than only successful cases, places that gave realistic and sensible answers instead of the answers I wanted to hear, places with a lot of removal-surgery experience, places where the counselor didn’t seem annoyed or uncomfortable, and places that handled paperwork and records well. I paid attention to whether the hospital itself felt like it was run for the patient.
At the hospitals I thought were decent, I visited about 3 times (sorry to the hospital) to ask about things I remembered, look at new cases, and so on (really sorry...).
I sent the reservation deposit of several hundred thousand won in advance and just washed my face the morning of surgery before going. I wore tracksuit pants, but they had me change into hospital clothes. After waiting a bit, I again summarized my last questions and the parts I definitely wanted improved for the doctor, and I clearly restated my priorities for the parts they had said might not be possible and that I should choose selectively from (for example, if you remove it with a non-open approach, there might be a chance it won’t be 100% removed). Since I can’t make judgments during surgery, I asked them to at least preserve the most important parts in case they had to make any decision lol
After that I went to the bathroom, left my phone and all other belongings in the waiting room, and went into the operating room. The operating table was just flat, with straps to secure the arms and legs After I lay down, they tied my hair back again on the crown of my head like a topknot, and they also strapped my arms and legs tightly in case I moved during sedation anesthesia. Hehe... The operating room was clean, and the person in charge of anesthesia was energetic (?) and nice, so I felt reassured. Then the doctor came in and anesthesia started right away. With sedation anesthesia, if you just endure the sting of the injection, after that time just disappears, so I was desperately hoping I wouldn’t say anything stupid during it........
As I slowly started regaining consciousness, I could also feel pain, but it felt like... charging straight ahead boldly at the entrance of a department store and smashing my face head-on into the glass automatic doors? Or like getting hit perfectly in the nose by a basketball? It was very similar, and more than anything, my throat was so dry! I hadn’t been able to drink water for over 10 hours the day before, and I had probably been breathing through my mouth for two hours, so my mouth was sticking together and it was really painful. ㅡㅡ But I endured it very maturely! It would have been so nice if they had sprayed some mist in my mouth during surgery After waking from anesthesia, I heard the sound of them taking photos of the cartilage they had removed, and it took a little time to finish up, but since a BTS song was playing I waited cheerfully.
Then I lay down for a bit and went to the recovery room, but there wasn’t much to recover from really (if after the first surgery it felt like a hangover after drinking 3 bottles of soju, this time it was more like the day after drinking 1 bottle?), so I almost immediately went to hear the doctor’s post-op review. They showed me all the removed cartilage and told me to ask if I had any questions, so I asked whether there was anything they couldn’t take out and whether the cartilage had been tied up, then went back to the recovery room. After sitting for a few minutes, I still felt fine, so I changed clothes and left. I got the prescription and instructions, went to the pharmacy for my medicine, and came home.
I had 5-year-old cartilage removed non-openly (my precious septum + someone else’s rib cartilage), and right now the swelling is so severe that it basically looks like I have a fist attached to my face. Costs or medical knowledge can vary wildly from person to person, so I won’t answer about that. Of course it depends on the original nose shape, your physical condition that day, what was done in the first surgery, and the hospital staff, but I hope there are some people who can feel a little reassured after reading this review!
If I get promoted after writing 10 comments, I’ll come back with feedback.
--- I finally got promoted and came back, and since a lot of people asked for the hospital name, I’ll just write it here! I had the surgery at ㅅㅅ* in Apgujeong. (I found it through this community too, so it’s obvious..)