Ever since I was little, my nose has been a huge complex for me, so I really, really wanted to get my nose done. Even when I had eye surgery, I was already thinking about having my nose done a few years later, and I was waiting a long time for nose surgery, even planning to make only a very small incision for the inner corner so it would fit with a future nose job. I spent 1-2 years doing online research off and on, then for the past 4-5 months I really worked hard at researching, and finally went to 2 places out of my 8-person list! I guess you could call this my first day of in-person consultations.
First of all, my nose is short, bulbous, upturned, has no columella at all (it is tucked way in), has somewhat thick skin, and has wide alae (nostrils are maybe on the smaller side?), with some bridge height but a drooping tip and recessed columella, so it looks low and lacks dimension.
My top priorities were correcting the bulbous tip and bringing the columella forward.
My dream line is a straight, slightly straight-curved line (Karina, Min Hyo-rin, Lee Hyo-ri, Shin Se-kyung).
I want the tip to be not sharp, but rounded.
But that is literally just a dream line, and there is no guarantee or expectation that my nose will come out looking exactly like that.
I want a refined-but-not-too-flashy look, but I heard that to correct a bulbous nose, you have to go toward a more glam look, so I built my list around clinics that tend to create a more glamorous result.
I picked my list from places that are known for making noses look glamorous, and for big clinics with 2 or 3 surgeons, I looked up each surgeon's style and reviews as much as possible and filtered them down until I had about 8.
The list was ㅇㅂㄹ, ㄷㄴ, ㅂㄴㄴ, ㄹㅂㄹ (ㅇㅅㅇ), ㅇㅇ (ㅇㅁ), ㄴㅇㄷ, ㅁㅇㄷ (ㅇㄱㅇ), ㅍㄹㅇㅂ. The names in parentheses are the surgeons' names.
I called every place, but after excluding the ones with long consultation waitlists, and because I'm from outside Seoul, I only visited two clinics that could see me on the dates I could travel up. I'm planning to visit three more in two weeks. For the places with really long waitlists, if there is a place I feel confident about from the ones I already visited, I probably won't go there and will just choose from those and book.
Also, for my eyes, I had incision double eyelid surgery, inner corner opening, outer corner opening, and ptosis correction twice in my hometown. Within a year, one side came loose, so I got free AS with minimal-incision revision at the same hospital. Within two years, the same side loosened again, so I also got an eye consultation. I was considering under-eye corner widening, but it would be okay even if I don't do it.
My line is in-out (semi-out is my dream line, but semi-out does not suit my face), and I like the line, but since it loosened, I was planning either to raise it by just one point and do it again, or to revise it while keeping the current line.
Right now my eyelids have a little fat, and they are the kind of eyes that are good for corner-opening surgery. My eyes are naturally a bit long, and the outer corners slope downward. The inner corner opening I had was so minimal that it all stuck back together, and the one side that loosened reappears if I wear makeup or put on cluster false lashes, but when I remove makeup or wake up after sleeping, multiple lines appear and it looks loose.
I visited ㅁㅇㄷ and ㄴㅇㄷ for in-person consultations.
Before going, based only on my online research, I expected a cost estimate of silicone 3-4 mm, septal extension, and either ear cartilage or donated rib cartilage. My alae are a bit wide, but my nostrils are small, so I have no intention of doing alar reduction at all.
* ㅁㅇㄷ
The coordinator was kind. The staff who guided me after the CT and the people answering the phone were unfriendly. The consultation was about 10-15 minutes, and I was told that questions that could be asked either to the doctor or the coordinator should be asked to the coordinator. They said silicone 3.5, the septal material was relatively abundant, but whether it had strength or not could only be known after opening it, so they suggested opening it and using ear cartilage or donated rib cartilage. I had a tiny dorsal hump, so they recommended smoothing it and also suggested alar reduction. But this surgeon is apparently the type who tends to recommend alar reduction. The dream nose is a rounded tip like at ㅇㅂㄹ, but since I was worried that if they made it too glamorous for bulbous-tip correction the tip might become sharp, they said my nose would be hard to make sharp even if I wanted it that way. For now, they suggested doing the surgery without alar reduction, then if I wanted, I could separately do only alar reduction later, so the consultation ended with the plan to proceed without alar reduction and, after seeing the recovery, add alar reduction later if I wanted. I could view the CCTV, but I don't know whether I could see all of it. Since I couldn't watch over an hour of footage the whole time, they said they would skip around and show me. AS is free if there is an inflammation issue within one year; if I am unhappy cosmetically, material cost, anesthesia cost, and VAT are separate. There was a CT fee. If you exclude alar reduction, the estimate was what I wanted. They did suggest a deposit, but only as a suggestion, nothing more. The cost was around 4.0 million, or in the high 4.0 million range if using donated rib cartilage.
For the eyes, they said we could keep the current line and do an incisional procedure, and that it would be fine to do it together or separately. I asked how long I would need to wait between the nose surgery and eye surgery if done separately, and they said it would be fine as long as it was two weeks after the nose surgery. I didn't ask about the eye cost separately.
* ㄴㅇㄷ
Even when I called to book the consultation, they were very kind. Even though I changed the consultation time on the same day, they adjusted it while still making the timing work. The consultation lasted about an hour (though I saw in many reviews that some people's consultations were shorter). They suggested silicone 2.5-3 and trimming it to 3 mm. Since there is plenty of septal material, they seem to prefer using the patient's own material rather than donated rib cartilage. They didn't bring up rib cartilage and only suggested using ear cartilage. They said there was plenty of septal material, and while they touched my columella directly to check whether the septum had strength, on CT it was slightly deviated, but they said that for people whose septum is not straight in a 11-shape, only about 1-2 out of 10 people are like that. They said this degree of deviation is average and that I have more septal material than most people. They were so thorough, holding me and talking through everything until I almost wanted to stop the consultation and leave, so I was really moved. They looked at overall facial balance while checking my nose line, and said that although I have a bit of projection in the front and side cheekbones, the line from the forehead down to the chin is harmonious, so they don't stand out. In the surgeon's view, my bulbous tip is not that severe, and it is not really an upturned nose either; the alae and columella being tucked in make it look flat and wide. Because my nose is short, they said the tip needs to be lowered while the height is increased, so after lowering the tip and columella first, they suggested shaving the dorsal hump and then raising the bridge. They even took my hand and pressed their own columella while explaining things with a lot of enthusiasm. They said even if it's not them, this is a nose that would still show a dramatic improvement at another average clinic.
For the eyes, they said my eyes already open well, so there is no need to open them further. If I really want to, it would be better to do an outer-lower corner opening rather than just a lower corner opening, but they seemed to think it is better not to do anything. For the eyes, they suggested either a buried suture method with just a 1-point lift or keeping the current line as is.
They explained everything I was curious about before I even asked, so I had nothing to ask. The coordinator also did not push or suggest any deposit at all, and emphasized that after surgery, the doctor personally checks you on every mandatory day, not just the next day when the packing is removed, but also when the splint and stitches are removed. There was no CT fee. I could view the CCTV, and the coordinator explained everything before I asked, so I had nothing left to ask. For a first surgery using only cartilage, it was on the expensive side, with the nose estimated in the mid-4.0 million range and the eyes in the low-2.0 million range.
So far I have only visited two places, but I left ㄴㅇㄷ feeling satisfied with the consultation, and next month I plan to fit in three or four more clinics. For the nose, people say you should expect to open it two or three times, and of course I do have the thought that I might need revision, but as long as there is no major problem, I plan not to be greedy and just live with it.
I have seen a lot of good and bad reviews while doing online research, and I have also heard a lot of different people's opinions, but in the end the choice is mine. So I plan to keep thinking carefully while going to consultations and make a deliberate decision. Since this is a surgery I've waited for for a very long time, I do not want to rush it.
I wrote this hoping it helps, even a little, both people like me who are planning nose surgery for a bulbous nose and people who are not.
After I do more in-person consultations next month, I will post another review! If there is anything uncomfortable or problematic, please let me know in a private comment and I will revise it.
It's been raining a lot, and it's hot and humid, so to everyone out there doing clinic visits, fighting!!
+ The route by which I found the clinics was that every clinic I called for consultation and every clinic I visited in person said they came from this community.