My bulbous nose was a complex of mine, but I thought rhinoplasty was a surgery with a high risk of side effects, so I had only been satisfied with alar reduction surgery and Hiko. But even after doing every procedure possible for my nose, my bulbous nose still did not improve, so after thinking about it hundreds of times, I finally decided to have rhinoplasty.
My criteria for choosing a clinic were: 1. Accessibility (I live in Gyeonggi-do, so it had to be somewhere easy to reach by bus and subway) 2. A director with abundant experience using auricular cartilage (autologous cartilage) and who handles autologous cartilage well 3. A “single-doctor clinic,” not a large clinic or factory-style clinic 4. A place with thorough aftercare 5. Since my ideal was a natural-looking nose, I filtered out places with reviews showing flashy, sharp noses, and looked for places with many reviews of natural and subtly refined noses 6. A place that does the cosmetic part well while also performing surgery without functional side effects
Based on those standards, I only did online research, chose a clinic for an in-person consultation, and booked surgery right away.
Two years ago, I really wanted to have rhinoplasty too, so back then I went around for consultations mainly at large clinics and factory-style clinics famous for nose surgery. But instead of consulting with my desired nose shape in mind, most of them pushed the nose shape the clinic preferred, pressured me to use costal cartilage, and recommended excessive surgery like dramatically raising the nasal bridge and even adding forehead fat grafting. I could not trust them, so I gave up on surgery for a while. Then I thought I should get it done in my 20s, made up my mind, and did online research for 6 months.
As a result, after narrowing it down again and again, the clinic I decided to visit in person was a plastic surgery clinic. It was like finding a needle in a haystack, but this clinic won me over because it has one director, he handles auricular cartilage well, there is no pressure to undergo excessive procedures or surgeries besides rhinoplasty, the consultation clearly explains what can and cannot be improved, and the aftercare is thorough.
And the reason I was almost obsessive about finding a place that handles autologous cartilage well was that, more than anything, I did not want to use costal cartilage for my first surgery. I also did not want a nose that looked obviously “done” to anyone who saw it, and when I looked at reviews using costal cartilage, the nose shape was not what I wanted.. So since this was the only place that met my needs, I booked the surgery right away without going to any other clinics🥹
For my nose materials, I used auricular cartilage for the nasal tip and septal cartilage, and silicone for the nasal bridge! Originally, I wanted surgery without an implant, but I had previously had nose filler, and after dissolving it and getting another consultation, my nasal bridge felt lacking.. So before surgery, I also decided to put in silicone.
Maybe because it is a single-doctor clinic, during all three visits after surgery for cotton removal, splint removal, and stitch removal, the director personally checked my progress every time. He did not look carelessly at all, and he explained and checked everything in detail one by one, including how to manage swelling, how much swelling remained, whether the areas where the stitches were removed were healing well, and how to care for those areas
They have taken good care of me even after surgery, so even though it has not even been 2 weeks since the surgery, a lot of the major swelling has gone down and I am so satisfied. Even though it has only been 2 weeks, I can clearly see that my bulbous nose has improved, so I regret not doing it sooner.
If my criteria for choosing a clinic match your own standards well, I recommend at least going for a consultation!
Rhinoplasty is truly a major surgery, so I thought about it hundreds of times and carefully chose the clinic, and I am really satisfied. Thanks to Director Lee Ji-hwan, I feel like I am living a second life. Even people around me who tried to stop me from getting my nose done are saying it turned out so well that they should not have stopped me.
+ I had also seen reviews about side effects after rhinoplasty where the nasal structure was damaged and people could not breathe well, but because the director did the surgery well, I am breathing well without any functional problems.