Hello everyone!!! As of today, I’ve removed all the tape too, so I’m going to write up my review. I also got a lot of help from this community, so I wanted to take the time to carefully put together only the essentials. I marked the really important parts with three stars (***). This is not an ad, and it is not a review written at the hospital where I had my surgery.
First, broadly: 1. How to choose a good hospital 2. How to get results as close as possible to the nose shape you want 3. How to reduce swelling quickly 4. Review I’ll go through them in that order, so please read carefully!
1. How to choose a good hospital In my case, I did a huge amount of research on four platforms: Babitalk, Gangnam Unni, this community, and a Naver anti-plastic-surgery cafe. I also asked around a lot because there are many people around me who have had cosmetic surgery. So, if I liked the before-and-after photos on each platform, I went to the hospital website and looked at more before-and-after photos. If I still liked them, I used the community’s “Find Reputation Far and Wide” “1-Day Free Pass Full Hospital Premium Reputation Analysis” and read all the surgical reviews for the hospitals on my list. The reason this community was so helpful is that there really isn’t a hospital with no bad reviews. In the end, to get the nose shape you want, you have to think carefully about what your ***top priority*** is. In my case, shape was the most important thing, because my first surgery was a complete disaster, and I had the mindset that inflammation was something I could manage well myself. You have to set priorities so that when you read reviews, you can get a sense of which hospital might produce the result you want.
Another important standard is that 70-80% of the post-surgery nose photos from the hospital you’re interested in should be close to the ideal nose shape you want, otherwise the chance of failure is lower. Every doctor has different tastes and different shapes they are good at producing, so it seems like at least 80% of that particular doctor’s output should match the shape you want for the chance of failure to be low. It’s a matter of probability. And you should think not just about a nose that looks pretty by itself, but about what kind of nose will harmonize well with your face. It’s also important whether that hospital, and that doctor, are good at making that kind of nose. I originally had a short nose and upturned nose, so I went to a doctor who is good at creating a nice tip on men’s short noses/upturned noses, and I’m 200% satisfied now.
2. How to get results as close as possible to the nose shape you want I prepared a portfolio first. It started with pre-op photos (short nose/upturned nose), photos after the first surgery (pointing out why it failed; for example, silicone placed too high so the bridge between the eyes was pulled in, or the columella was lowered too much and it became droopy), and photos after the revision surgery (I also included photos showing spreading after dermis was inserted). Then I collected photos of the ideal nose shape I saw here and there and put them all in. The doctor should be able to get a rough sense of the line and shape I want. After that, I also attached photos from that hospital’s own output that I liked. ***The most important thing*** is this may sound funny, but everyone, if you’re truly desperate and hoping this will be your last surgery, make a dough by mixing Vaseline and flour, then stick it well onto your current nose to create the shape you want, spread foundation over it to remove the borders, and then take photos (from several angles) and refine them a bit in Photoshop or blur the edges more. It won’t be exact, but it can help you predict fairly closely what shape you might get after surgery. I think those photos helped the doctor understand much more clearly what nose shape I wanted. And it was also a good idea to just take front, 45-degree, and side photos with bare skin and make a before-and-after with Photoshop. It also helps to attach photos of celebrities/influencers whose faces resemble yours, even if only in image form. In my opinion, if you prepare your portfolio carefully, the doctor can approach the surgery more seriously too.
3. How to reduce swelling Because I had the surgery secretly from my family, I had to get all the swelling down within a month, so over the past two weeks I did everything I could. That’s why, among my three surgeries, this one has had the least swelling ever. Of course, there is still some, but if I keep doing what I’m doing for two more weeks, it should go down a lot more. I can’t say my method is absolutely definitive, or exactly which medicine/method contributed most to reducing swelling, but sharing what I did:
- ***Walking*** 2-3 hours a day. If you do it during the day, UV light is bad for the scar on the columella, so do it at night! (It’s better not to wear a mask either.) Walking is the most important thing, really. - I ordered large cases of corn silk tea and drank it. I also drank a lot of water. - I slept sitting up for one week. After that, I used two pillows + a neck pillow. - I was really diligent with ***cold compresses and warm compresses***. - I used a swelling mist (I bought Pliset Visible Repair on Coupang. Not an ad. I just bought it because it was cheap and had good reviews. It seems effective, but it does get a bit oily... Still, I wasn’t going to meet anyone important anyway because I had the splint and tape on...) - I took ***NewVein, Dangguisusan, and Tripline***. They all have different effects, so I took them for two weeks and I’ll take them for one more week. Taking them for too long may not be good. NewVein is expensive but seems effective, Dangguisusan also seems really effective, and Tripline also seems really effective because around day 10, the swelling between my eyes got bad, but after taking Tripline it went down a lot. As for OneQ, I saw people on other sites (Coupang, YouTube) say it was effective, but when I searched this community there were also many comments saying it was just okay, and since it’s basically just a supplement I didn’t take it. 대신 I took a multivitamin every day (vitamin C, zinc, magnesium, calcium, etc.) and probiotics. If NewVein is too expensive, it may be enough to just take Dangguisusan and Tripline. They’re affordable! Also, if you buy them at a pharmacy outside the Gangnam area, they’re cheaper. - Keep moving around at home too (move as much as possible without straining the ribs or nose) - I did not drink pumpkin juice. I drank a lot of pumpkin juice after my first surgery and my revision, but personally it didn’t help. There are also many people on this community saying it didn’t help, and many doctors on YouTube saying it doesn’t help, so I didn’t take it. - I also bought and drank Fox Tea from Olive Young, and I think it helped because it’s 20% pumpkin and 80% red beans, and red beans are supposed to be good for swelling. Also, during the first week when I was breathing a lot through my mouth and my throat was dry and swollen, drinking hot tea helped a lot. It also tastes good (not an ad).
After the first week, my swelling between the eyes really increased, and I honestly got hit hard with serious anxiety. What helped then was continuously filming myself from the front, 45 degrees, and the side, and comparing it to the day before. Then I could feel that because I had done a, b, and c, it had gone down faster, so comparing them helped me pass the time. If I did d and it went down even faster, I would add d to my routine too And aside from the things I tried, “time is the answer,” so I hope you get through that anxious period well!
Other tips: - During the first week, it was hard to breathe through my nose so I ended up breathing through my mouth a lot, and my throat was often dry, so I ate a lot of ***throat lozenges*** and kept a humidifier on all the time. - ***Eye ointment*** should be spread on ***properly*** and generously. - When looking at your phone, don’t tilt your head down too much so blood doesn’t rush to your nose.
4. Review Right now, after succeeding with my second revision, I feel so upset that I spent so much of my twenties living with a nose shape I didn’t want... (with some anger too) It could have turned out like this all along... I was impulsive and had surgery when I was too young... I should have researched more... If I had known about this community back then... I feel that strongly... Still, I’m glad I got the shape I wanted even now. Now I think I can proudly say I had my nose done anywhere I go. Before this, it wasn’t the shape I wanted, and I hated my nose so much that I didn’t even want to say I’d had surgery. Anyway, everyone, please research carefully, and if you have that instinctive feeling of “This is it!!! If I do it here, there’s more than an 80% chance I’ll get the shape I want!!!” then think it through well and go for it. I recommend researching for at least six months before deciding. And you have to make your opinion very clear to the doctor. I wasn’t extremely unhappy with my face before surgery, so I kept emphasizing things like: only improve the flaws, keep it conservative, natural, harmonious with my face, don’t narrow the bridge between the eyes, and absolutely only use about 1 to 1.5 mm of silicone in the bridge between the eyes, never let the columella droop, etc., like I was submitting an order form. If you clearly organize the things you definitely want to achieve and the shapes you definitely want to avoid, you won’t fail. Post-op care is also important, so let’s all work hard on aftercare and maintain the shape well. I hope my post helped... I’m still so angry whenever I think about my first surgery hospital... Back then, there was already some height in the bridge between the eyes and the nasal bridge, and I asked them to put in only 1 mm of silicone, but without even consulting me, the doctor put in 3-4 mm and my eyes were completely pulled inward... So I removed the silicone after one month... For the second surgery, they also put dermis on the nasal bridge, but it spread completely and made the bridge thick.......... At last I finally have a really natural and pretty nose, and I’m so happy.. It was corrected so naturally that even if my family notices, I could just say it’s filler, and both the side view and front view are satisfying.. Once the swelling goes down, it should match even more naturally.
Everyone, fighting. This community helped me so much. Thank you all!!!
This review is a post-surgery review pursuing a natural look.