Hello. On March 30, I had silicone and ear cartilage removed by Dr. Jin at Boramae Hospital, and the nasal tip was supported with ear cartilage so the bridge wouldn’t become more uneven and the tip wouldn’t be lifted further.
This was my 8th surgery in total, including this removal surgery. The silicone was removed after 10 years, and the tip was done 1 year after my last surgery. 4 closed / 4 open Other than early removal because of inflammation at the first surgery, and two surgeries done out of aesthetic desire, all the others were revisions of only the tip because of tip-related complications, while leaving the bridge alone. I am not addicted to plastic surgery. Please don’t pick a fight.
I’m definitely not a broker, and I didn’t receive any benefits at all, but the reason I’m leaving such a detailed review is that I couldn’t find even one removal review from someone like me, with many surgeries and severe nostril deformity, so deciding to remove it was extremely anxiety-inducing and difficult. And even when I asked on another forum for advice about removal because of side effects and pain, I was treated like someone addicted to plastic surgery and got badly hurt by that. Community members here helped me a lot, so I’m writing this as a way to give back. I tried to get photos from the hospital so I could make an accurate judgment, but they said taking photos at such an early stage after surgery was meaningless and didn’t take them Since these are selfies, it was hard to match the angles, so they may not be exact, so please keep that in mind. 1: original nose 2: operated nose 3: removed nose
I’ll write as much detail as possible, so if you ask repetitive questions without even reading the content, I won’t answer. Don’t act cheap and treat the information in other people’s reviews like it’s been reserved for you.
<Original nose> - A long nose with a high tip and long columella compared with the low bridge - The nostrils were recessed, but the tip was long so they were hidden, and the nostrils were almost not visible
<Operated nose> - Compared with the number of surgeries, it looked good to the naked eye, but compared with my original nose it was severely altered, so my impression changed a lot. The nose itself looked bad, but it matched my face well, so people around me kept telling me over and over that I looked better before surgery.
- Silicone 3M / Tip: ear cartilage, postauricular dermis / Support: ear cartilage - The nostrils were pulled upward, becoming lifted and triangular - The tip was made excessively high, so one side of the ear cartilage protruded, and depending on the angle the nose looked unnaturally long, like it had been pulled upward like a witch’s nose - My columella was already long, but the support was made too high and the nostrils were lifted too, so the mucous membrane inside the nose and the nasal hairs were all visible - The bridge and ear cartilage were both showing white through the skin (it worsened over the years as the skin became thinner and the soft tissue diminished) - Silicone was moving around - Intermittent pain changed into severe pain that persisted for the past month - Excessive harvesting of ear cartilage caused ear deformity
<Consultation> Even for a patient undergoing a second surgery using only silicone and no previously used ear cartilage or septal cartilage, he would mention the possibility of using rib cartilage, so he always prepares for the worst-case scenario during consultation.
As anyone who has been there will know, Dr. Jin is absolutely not the type to do a delicate, gentle consultation. - If you want it done here, it’ll be done; if not, then not - If we remove it, the nose will get lower and wider and look odd. Is that okay? He has seen so many noses in severe condition that he seems pretty unfazed by most side effects. That’s basically his consultation style, and because I felt anxious and couldn’t trust it, I went more than 10 times over the course of a year, and canceled/rescheduled surgery about 6 times. I even canceled after completing all the pre-op tests. I had been delaying things while trying to gather more reviews from other people’s surgeries, but then about a month ago the bridge suddenly started hurting so badly it made me gasp, so I had to get surgery urgently.
<Diagnosis> He said that even if I removed it, there was absolutely no way to go back to my old nose. It’s easy to lift a drooped nose, but hard to lower a lifted nose again.
When I said I wanted the lifted tip lowered and the triangular nostrils corrected, he said they wouldn’t come down unless rib cartilage was used. He even drew a sketch of a case like mine and scolded me for wanting the maximum effect with the minimum material, saying that was being too greedy on my part. In the end, we agreed to lower my expectations a lot. (He said he probably wouldn’t be able to fix the nostrils, and even the tip would only come down a little if I was lucky.)
I mentioned that the left side of the tip had protruding ear cartilage, but he said that was nothing serious and that since my skin was so thin, lowering the height probably wouldn’t make much difference.. huh?
He said removing the ear-cartilage support might make it lift even more, so we’d remove as much as possible depending on the situation and otherwise lower it. He said people with many surgeries have blood vessels and tissue cut and scar tissue tangled so badly that when the nose is opened, it’s serious enough that there isn’t even much bleeding.. And if silicone is removed on top of that, it becomes extremely miserable and poor-looking.. so that’s why they reinforce the bridge with fascia or cartilage.
And after looking at the copy of the Boramae chart I brought, he laughed like “When did you start coming this often?” haha, and “So you’ve just been coming for consultations all this time and only now decided?” He laughed in a way that seemed half-absurd, which made me feel even more anxious I was kind of a nuisance, right I had gone about 10 times for consultations, but he always just gave me a brief exam; the final consultation lasted about 40 minutes, and he even shared lines from a movie as memorable quotes, scolded me for being too greedy, gave advice, and we had a good time laughing and talking.
<Surgery> Because all the ear cartilage had been used up at the previous hospital, only a tiny amount remained, so there was terribly not enough material and it seemed the surgery would be difficult and that temporalis fascia would be needed. The septal cartilage was almost nonexistent because my nose was so low in the first place..
But I told you my tip was excessively high, right? Sure enough, when they opened it up, they had stacked ear cartilage at the tip like a tower, so there was enough material from that alone to correct the bridge and tip; they cut it into pieces and reused it, and no new fascia or cartilage had to be harvested.
The bridge, tip, and nostrils were all just full of scar tissue, so they removed as much as possible, and they said there had been so many incisions inside the nostrils that it was covered in wounds; it took about 3 hours and was a difficult surgery.
They did not remove the ear-cartilage support but lowered it, and fortunately there was no inflammation, though they said they didn’t know why it had suddenly hurt so much before haha
<Recovery care> I had general anesthesia, and the moment I woke up my throat hurt so badly it felt like it was burning, but I couldn’t drink water because I had to fast for 6 hours, and that was the hardest part My nose didn’t hurt, but my throat hurt terribly, and I felt dizzy and nauseated. Also, I naturally have a lot of phlegm, and after surgery I had bloody phlegm for 3 days and my throat was hoarse, and for two days even urinating was difficult unless I strained.
I had been told before surgery and consented that the activity of organs such as the lungs, kidneys, and heart would be reduced.. anyway, it was harder than I expected
There was almost no nosebleed, but there was a lot of runny nose. From the second day, the glabella protruded even more than the forehead, and my eyes and cheeks were bruised and swollen like balloons. I had once heard Stella-nim say that danggui-su-san (an herbal medicine) helps swelling and bruising, so I bought some at the pharmacy for 500 won per pack and took it for 3 days; after that, walking and ice packs helped, and by day 4 the bruising was only slightly left and the swelling in my eyes and cheeks had gone down, and by day 6 the glabella had gone down by half.
Even though it’s the second week, it still hurts when I touch the bridge and glabella area. The major swelling is gone, but a lot of minor swelling remains.
I met my friends on day 8, and they didn’t know I’d had it removed until I told them ---> probably because the swelling made the bridge still look there, and in the second week, when I sent photos, everyone recognized it from the bridge.
- The stitches inside the nose were dissolvable, but maybe because of that, it felt uncomfortable as if my nose were full of boogers
- Maybe because they removed so much scar tissue, the swelling and bruising were the worst ever, but after about 10 days it seems like people around me can’t tell.
<Condition after removal> - The heavy, weighty feeling and pain in the bridge are gone.
- I already had a weak chin, and because the tip was high, my mouth looked pursed and my weak chin looked even worse, so my lower face was stressful too. Now that the nose has been lowered, the overall balance is somewhat better, so the pursed-looking mouth and weak chin look a bit more natural again. In a few months, when the capsule is absorbed, the bridge will become much lower than it is now, but I hated how chalk-like it looked, so even if it’s lower, I really like the bridge now. It’s filled with ear cartilage, so it doesn’t look bumpy or shredded, and if anything, lowering the nose seems to make the forehead line look better.
But the problem is the frontal view of the nose My columella was originally long, and I regret not asking them to remove as much of the support as possible and raise the columella a bit.. The nostrils are lifted, but because the columella is long, the mucous membrane inside the nose is more visible.
When I looked in the mirror on the day the stitches were removed, the swelling was so bad that my nose looked huge and long, and I felt depressed, but the doctor was very satisfied and said it turned out very well... Every time I went, he said it turned out well.
- The protruding left ear cartilage was not improved, just as the professor had originally said. Maybe because they removed scar tissue during surgery, it looks a bit more prominent now, but it doesn’t bother me much yet; however, once all the minor swelling is gone, it will probably look worse Still, I won’t have a revision just because of this. (When looking down at the nose from above, the left side seems higher and more protruding)
- The scar tissue inside the nostrils got worse Maybe because I’ve had so many surgeries?.......
- Human greed really has no end... Even though I agreed when they said the nostrils couldn’t be fixed, I’m still so upset that they’re triangular At the consultation before surgery, they repeatedly told me to let go of expectations because it couldn’t be fixed, and I had already lowered my expectations a lot, but even so I still feel disappointed when I look in the mirror....... I get irritated every time I look in the mirror or take photos, wondering why I even had cosmetic surgery and had to go through all this emotional suffering.
- Especially among triangular nostrils, the hardest to correct is a straight-triangle nostril like mine, where the tip is raised rather than being an equilateral triangle (as mentioned on the 431 website).
This kind of nostril is apparently called alar cartilage retraction, and the best in this field seems to be the 431 director (second is 101). I saw several people with worse cases than mine, and all of them had successful surgeries, with the nose shape itself looking natural and being exactly the style I like. Also, since it’s a surgery that lowers the nostrils by pressing the alar cartilage from above rather than adding cartilage to the nostril rim, it seems safer because there are fewer side effects.
But because I’ve had so many surgeries, the doctor said my risk was too high and, as soon as I sat down in the consultation chair, told me he wouldn’t do itㅡㅡ (Then why did he ask me to get a CT scan?) It was also a gamble because if things go wrong there, it’s a hospital with terrible aftercare that basically says “too bad,” but if they had agreed to do the surgery, I think I would have gone there. If the triangular nostrils are giving you extreme stress, you should go get a consultation at 431. But if it fails, they really won’t take it lightly
<Pros> - No consultation coordinator; the decision for surgery is made directly with the doctor - They don’t aggressively push surgery - They explain the worst-case scenario in advance - They have lots of removal experience and only do the minimum necessary manipulation - Safe - They reinforce a shaved and bumpy bridge with autologous cartilage - They do a good job improving functional issues
<Cons> - The consultation feels perfunctory, so the consultation fee may feel wasted and it can be upsetting - General anesthesia - The exact surgery fee is unclear and expensive. ---> I was given an estimate of 5 million won at Boramae, but Dr. Jin quoted 5 to 6 million won, which upset me (especially since there was no hospitalization and it still got more expensive) Moreover, I thought it would be cheaper because they didn’t harvest new ear cartilage and reused the old one, but it came out to 5.43 million won I kept quiet because I thought it was higher due to the difficulty of the surgery, but it still felt a bit much. - Since it’s an ENT hospital rather than a plastic surgery clinic, you have to pay a consultation fee every time you go for dressing changes or follow-up visits. - There are almost no before/after photos, and reviews are hard to find, so it’s very difficult to judge the aesthetics.
<Why I chose this hospital> The reason I chose it even though I was told the external shape issue wouldn’t improve was: First, the pain suddenly became too severe, so I wanted the removal done as soon as possible to avoid complications like contracture and to live as normally as possible with minimal manipulation.
But if I went to another hospital, they might do a lot of manipulation and it might end up being a revision surgery rather than a removal, meaning I’d probably have to fix it again later. And there didn’t seem to be another doctor with as much removal experience as Dr. Jin. Especially since I’ve had so many surgeries, I needed someone good at handling unexpected situations. Even if the aesthetics were a bit lacking, I chose it because it seemed like it would be a safe final surgery.
For me there were no longer any other options, so I don’t regret doing it here, but I do wish I had pushed harder about the shape My condition wasn’t good, the material was too limited, and there were limits, so after being scolded to let go of greed, I didn’t press the issue much
I think there are many people like me who are worried about surgery itself because they’ve had many operations, and my surgery went well without any issues so far, and I still don’t have complications like contracture, but I think I need to keep watching that. I don’t know about the contraction phase yet, but I do feel pulling in the incision area. And unless your nostrils are straight-triangle like mine, I think most cases will probably turn out well. I talked with more than 10 people who had surgery at Boramae over the past year, and unless it was a full reconstructive surgery where the nose completely collapsed and melted away, most people were satisfied. Of course, Dr. Jin isn’t God, so there were also people who had bad outcomes. And even when lowering the nose, even if rib cartilage is used, it doesn’t get lowered dramatically, so if the lifted position is causing you extreme stress, you may not be satisfied. During consultation he tells every patient that rib cartilage might be used, but that was said with the worst-case scenario in mind, so in most cases they actually do the surgery with ear cartilage or septal cartilage. If someone is going to have surgery with rib cartilage, they are told from the start at consultation that rib cartilage is the only answer, so don’t get too scared just because rib cartilage was mentioned. But I was so afraid they might use rib cartilage by bad luck that I told them absolutely not to use rib cartilage.(?)
If your tip deformity is not severe, I think removal at relatively cheaper places that are often mentioned here, such as Tami, Seo Sang-woo, or Kwon Won-seok, would be fine, and if aesthetics are important, it may be better to have only the tip refined at a revision plastic surgery clinic.
For people like me whose tip and nostril deformities are severe or whose nose tip is very lifted after surgery, it is hard to return to the original nose.. As you can see in the photos, the shape is almost the same as the operated nose and only the height has been lowered If the bridge were simply too high or if it were a pointy nose, it might come closer to the original nose, but I’m very upset too
I don’t like the shape, but at least it’s not more unnatural than a surgically altered nose, so I’m glad of that, and now I think I can live without worrying about complications, so I’m glad I had it removed. I only regret not doing it sooner.
This is purely my personal opinion, so please visit multiple clinics and decide carefully. There’s a lot of side talk and I wrote this on mobile, so the post is rambly and unfocused, but thank you for reading this long post, and I hope my writing helped even a little. I sincerely hope everyone’s surgery goes well.