I had surgery during the week last week and after some time I’m posting a review, so exactly which day of the week I had surgery is being kept private for personal information reasons...
First, to describe my nose: it was an average bulbous nose that wasn’t too severe (one or two clinics said during consultation that it wasn’t a bulbous nose, so opinions differed by doctor...), and it was a hump nose with the tip area pressed down (kind of like a saddle-nose feeling). It was a moderately large nose. (I’m male.) Probably because of the hump, the bridge wasn’t extremely low either, and I didn’t particularly want a high bridge, so I didn’t do the bridge, didn’t shave down the hump, and for my first surgery I chose a no-implant procedure where the tip and the sunken area above it on the dorsum? were filled with ear cartilage (autologous cartilage). The cost was 4.4 million won, with no discount, and it seems the price is the same for each surgery. It doesn’t seem like there’s a difference where the same surgery is cheaper or more expensive for some people. (I don’t know whether it’s more expensive if silicone or another implant is used. Consult and ask.)
I was told the surgery would take 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours.
Oh, and the director said that if you have a hump, shaving it down unconditionally can actually make the nose look blunt and the bridge look low (so maybe another clinic suggested shaving it and putting in silicone). I had already been thinking I wouldn’t shave it anyway, but still... if you have a hump, please take this into account.
I paid a 300,000 won reservation deposit 2 weeks before surgery, and the remaining balance could be paid on the day of surgery.
I was told to arrive by 9:00 a.m., so I got there at 8:56? As soon as I arrived, I went to the manager’s office and filled out a questionnaire about whether I had any chronic illness, whether I took any medication, whether I had any anesthesia experience, and a consent form for rhinoplasty. After filling everything out, I paid the remaining balance right there in the manager’s office, then went to the powder room, changed into the surgical clothes (like a gown), washed my face, gargled, took out my contacts, and lay down on the operating table once. The nurses set everything up, and at that time the director came in, touched my nose, and shined a flashlight on it (probably checking the operating table height? shape? setup). Up to this point, it took me less than 20 minutes.
And I had gone with a guardian, and there was a small recovery room for one person, which the guardian could use. I haven’t been to other clinics, so I don’t know if other places normally allow this too, but I thought it would be good for people coming from out of town with a guardian. My guardian said they were hungry, went to a cafe to eat brunch, and sat there for about 20 minutes before coming out lol. Also, if you write the guardian’s number in front, they said they would contact them before the surgery was over, so my guardian was also at Pascucci on the first floor and came up after getting the call.
I went to the director’s office for the pre-op consultation, and they printed out several front and side photos of my face, drew a lot of sketches, showed me other people’s photos, and explained how much the tip would be lifted in Photoshop, etc. We talked for about 30 to 40 minutes and then I went into surgery. The director was really, extremely kind, gentle, and soft-spoken, and explained everything I was worried about. He’s amazing. I was really anxious, so I asked the same thing many times in different words, but he never got upset and explained everything enthusiastically. Between the two reservation consultations and the pre-op consultation, each session seemed to last more than 30 minutes, almost 40 minutes. The atmosphere was good too, and it helped calm my nerves before surgery.
After the consultation, they told me to use the bathroom before surgery, and I ran into the director in the bathroom. He even took out the door stopper that kept the bathroom door open himself, closed the door for me, and told me to use it comfortably so kind. (We didn’t go together; there seemed to be a staff-only route to the bathroom. I put my phone in the locker and went to the bathroom, and he was already washing his hands.)
Then I went to the operating table, lay down, had my face disinfected and got an IV? and after anesthesia the surgery started. The IV hurt a bit. After the anesthesia, I got extremely dazed and had a ton of dreams, and when I woke up, the nose surgery was still in progress. I could hear all the conversations between the director and the nurses (about the surgery). They also asked me whether I was awake and asked things like, “Who recommended this to you?” and “Oh, did that person have surgery?” They asked very gently. I was high on the anesthesia and probably answered like a complete idiot... I could barely talk, and I don’t remember it well either. I was very dazed.
But since I was lying in one position on the operating table for about 2 to 3 hours, my tailbone really hurt, and the arm with the blood pressure cuff and the arm with the IV both hurt a lot too. When I said it was uncomfortable, they took off the blood pressure cuff I don’t know why the IV arm hurt... I guess I must have been tense without realizing it and had a lot of force in my body.
Also, because I couldn’t breathe through my nose, I had to breathe through my mouth during the whole surgery, so my mouth got really dry too. It was truly miserable. Maybe it showed, because the director kindly asked if there was anything uncomfortable, and when I said my mouth was dry, he said there was nothing that could be done about that lol And since I couldn’t sleep, while I was listening for what felt like about 20 or 30 minutes, my ear cartilage had some left over, and instead of throwing it away, they put it back into my ear. He said it was my own tissue too lol [My ears are unusually large, so even one ear had enough cartilage left over to lift the area between the nose tip and the bridge? the dorsum? the upper part of the tip?] And after sewing everything up, the surgery ended. They removed the IV, put on tape and cotton? a splint, inserted cotton into my nose, gave me a shot in the butt, and I left the operating room and went to the recovery room.
When I got to the recovery room and checked the time, it was around 1:11? 1:17? I don’t remember exactly because I was dazed, sorry sorry. The time I contacted them on my phone right before going into the operating room was around 10:01, so it really did take about 3 hours as they said.
In the recovery room I couldn’t really sleep and was a little dizzy, but it didn’t really hurt and I thought I’d probably be okay to go home... then I lay there and somehow fell asleep ㄷㄷ When I woke up it was 2:30 lol. My guardian came, I came to my senses, and the nurse gave me grape juice and chocolate, so I drank them, rested, and left the hospital around 3 o’clock.
In other reviews, I think they show you the surgery photos and then have a consultation saying it turned out well after surgery? (Maybe I’m mixing it up with another hospital review.) But because the director was in the middle of a surgery? consultation?, I couldn’t meet him when I left. I was a little curious about the inside of my nose... but I didn’t separately ask whether they could show me the surgery photos.
My original plan was to take a taxi home, but I was actually much better than I expected, so I took the bus and subway home. Once I got to my neighborhood, I was well enough to even eat porridge. The uncomfortable parts were not being able to breathe through my nose, barely being able to open my mouth, and the bleeding from my nose... That may be because I didn’t use the septum, there was no osteotomy for the bridge, and I’m a healthy adult male, so maybe that’s why. For physically weak female readers or readers who use osteotomy or rib cartilage, it might be harder?
And the next day when I went in for treatment, the director looked at me and said that because my cartilage was uneven, he aligned it as much as possible (during consultation, he had already explained in advance that because my nostrils were uneven, the cartilage might also be uneven). He didn’t show me the surgery photos I mentioned above separately, and just briefly explained things while doing the treatment. He didn’t specifically say it turned out well either That made me a bit nervous lol.
My overall review of the surgery is that there are occasional reviews saying the staff are unfriendly, but I honestly don’t understand that. Everyone was extremely kind, and since I had changed my surgery date and it was my first surgery, I kept calling and asking whether I could take this medicine, whether I could apply that cream, I didn’t remember the treatment time the next day because I was dazed after surgery, so I called several times and asked, and because it was my first anesthesia I also kept asking whether the anesthesia would hurt during surgery, whether I would wake up in the middle, etc. I was probably annoying, but they answered everything kindly and it was good. The director was also extremely kind and affectionate during surgery, consultation, and treatment.
Because of the splint and tape I still can’t really see my nose properly, so once the swelling goes down a bit after 1 to 3 weeks? a month? I’ll either write a review about the shape or edit this post and add more. I’m thinking about whether to post photos because I’m worried acquaintances might recognize me. Anyway, there isn’t much information about Goksaem, so I hope this helps. If you have questions about anything you don’t know, I’ll answer in the comments!