Clinics and Consultations

[jadewyt316]

Hello!

I’m new here but I’ve been reading your site for awhile.

I will be going to Korea on February 10th and will have consultations the next day.

I will be going to by myself without hiring a translator.

I’ve shortlisted the following the clinics:

Item
Wonjin
JW (JW Plastic Surgery Korea)
Pitangui

I know Pitangui is one of the oldest PS clinic in Korea (or so I’ve read).

Are the other clinics reputable as well? I’ve only read “reviews” on forums but I don’t know if the reviews are reliable or not.

Many thanks!

[Sophie]

@jadewy316

Thanks for posting! All the clinics you have listed are clinics designated to treat foreign patients meaning they have passed government standards, are licensed and have English speaking staff on hand.

It really depends on how you personally define reputable or having a good reputation.

Here is an exercise to help:

What are the five most critical factors for you, in terms of meeting your standards as a reputable clinic?

We’ve done this exercise offline before with friends and you’ll be surprised how these differ from patient to patient. But this is a good exercise to follow because it means a clinic is meeting your own personal standards.

5 Critical Factors to be a Reputable Clinic:

1. Name Factor – Explain factor
2.
3.
4.
5.

(example factors)

Communication – The ability for the clinic to understand what I want, be on the same page, listen to me, be approachable and responsive before and after surgery for any concerns.

Bed Side Manner – The doctor’s ability to make me feel comfortable, genuinely cares about me and puts my health as his top priority.

Confidence – The clinic’s ability to achieve the results I want as demonstrated by previous cases they’ve shown me, the doctor’s diagnosis and approach discussed at the consultation.

Reputation – The clinic seems to have more favorable mentions than bad mentions from my research.

Once you post these factors, we’ll have some follow up questions to help equip you for your consultations.

[jadewyt316]

Wow!

Thank you so much for taking your time and effort in answering my questions.

I will use the chart as a guideline when choosing a clinic and surgeon.

I’ll continue to update this thread once I’m in Korea

Thanks again!

[jadewyt316]

Thanks, will do!

I’m planning on sight seeing too, I’ve already bought books and downloaded a few apps.

Ohhh, I’m so excited!

[jadewyt316]

I just came back from Item for a consultation. However, this clinic isn’t for me. The translator was Raina and she’s very nice and speaks English well. She was friendly and translated everything I said. But I just couldn’t connect with the doctor.

I’m doing double eyelid (partial incision) and epi.

The consultation was short but quite detailed. The manager looked at my eyes carefully and suggested what I need. After I went to the doctor, I didn’t wait long for the him. The doctor came and looked at my eyes and used a toothpick to find an ideal crease on my eyelid.

He seemed nice but I just feel he wasn’t detailed or paid close attention to me enough( the consultation manager was more thorough than him). It took less than 5 min with the doctor (consultation was at 10:30am). He didn’t tell me what types of eyelid ceases would suit me, and he barely looked at my eyes. He used poked my eyes with a toothpick once and that’s it. He just didn’t seem approachable to me.

The other thing that turned me off was that he was actually in MIDDLE of a surgery. He stepped out of a surgery to do a consultation with me :O

This raised a red flag fir me. How did I know? During the whole consultation. He spoke REALLY fast during the consultation. Even as a foreigner I knew he was speaking fast. So I asked Raina if the doctor usually speak this way or is he in a hurry? It was then that Raina told me the doctor was actually in a middle of a surgery…..

Anyways their price for double eyelid and epi was reasonable.
They quoted me: 2.9 million won but after discounts it went down to 2 million won (if paid in cash).

Anyways, this is just my opinion. Of course the doctor is qualified and is able to do the surgery but I personally feel that a person has to feel comfortable with the surgeon and be able to trust them to do the surgery on your face. But in this case I just didn’t feel comfortable.

Sorry if there are any typos or grammar errors. I’m typing on my iphone lol.

[jadewyt316]

Ahh! It’s such a long post….sorry…. I’m having a bit of trouble posting from my phone and on the tablet. I can’t edit it….

[FoxyFire]

Thanks for the update!

Item is a newer clinic, so its prices are competitive, but last time I checked they have only three doctors and are really making a push to take on larger clinics, which have a team of doctors, so their bed side manner may seem rushed as a result. That will be a common occurrence at some of the larger hospitals as well. I think it’s important to find a doctor your comfortable with and usually clinics that are a smaller boutique style and just focus on eyes will tend to be more patient during consultations.

[jadewyt316]

Second mini review is JW plastic surgery clinic. So I was only able to go to 2 clinics because of time and I felt comfortable with the doctor at the second. I went with JW to do my surgery.

My initial plan was to visit: Item, JW, Pitangui and Wonjin. Wonjin is actually a bit far from the 3 other clinics. So in the future if I was to do another surgery/consultation I will try to find ones that are cluster in the same area. The in house translator is Emily. She’s friendly and her English is very good. However, she’s also in charge of domestic and international marketing, so whenever she mentions about how great or different JW is from other clinics, I would be a little skeptical about it. So I said myself to trust my instinct and not her words.

Anyways, JW has 3-4 floors and has 3 doctors. They have 4 Chinese in house translators and 2 English. Emily said they have a lot of Chinese clients and that’s why they have more Chinese translators than English. I arrived on time for the consultation but had to wait 40 min for the doctor because he was doing a surgery. So the whole time I was Emily and we talked a lot. She asked if I went to see other clinics and I was honest and told her yes. I even told her what other clinics I’m planning to go afterwards too. When I finally got the see the doctor, he was inside of his office waiting for me. He was very friendly and approachable. He spoke English (with an accent) but I understood him no problem.

He took his time and looked at my eyes, and tried to see which fold suited my eyes and face. He recommended partial incision (Item recommended this too) and epi. The reason (which he explained) is that since I live abroad I won’t be able to come back for touch ups if I was to do non-incisional. He kept poking my eyes with this metal instrument but he was very gentle. We even chatted for a bit, talked about Toronto. I learned that his sister lives in Toronto too. He didn’t try to up sale me anything. I told him my eyes are even (one is bigger than another) but this was because one side of my face is lifted higher than the other. He didn’t try to say “we can fix it by doing other surgeries”, instead he told me not to worry as it’s normal. Everyone is not perfect if we are then we’re aliens. Lol.

Although, he didn’t mention this, I asked him if I needed lateral canthoplasty. This doctor does not specialize in lateral canthoplasty lol. There is another doctor that specialize in it and I would need to see him. Wow. I was surprised about this. They’re so detail about which doctor can do what procedures. I’ve read online that some doctors will perform procedures even if it’s not their speciality or best at it.

So when I was done with this doctor, I was escorted to another floor to see the other doctor who specializes in lateral canthoplasty. He was also waiting in his office before I arrive. This doctor understand English but did not speak it so Emily was translating the whole time. He was also very nice and patient. Again, he used this metal instrument to poke mu eyes and tugged the outer corner of my eyes and stuff. My eyes are a little slanted (never noticed before lol!!) and he can lower it a little by 1-2mm to make it even/lower. And he showed me pictures of clients who has the same “problem” as me.

But! He mentioned that since I’m from Canada the standard of beauty might be different (ex. Slanted eyes is normal and may consider pretty outside of Korea). I never took this into account. I didn’t want to look “white” or totally different. I just wanted my eyes to be more awake and be able to put makeup on. I took this into consideration, thanked him and left with Emily.

Emily took me to this little room to discuss about price. Double eyelid and epi = 2.3 million won Lateral canthoplasty = 1 million won If I was to do all three then after discounts it will be exactly 3 million won. I decided not to have lateral canthoplasty but still wanted a discount lol. So Emily’s final offer was 2.1 million won for double eyelid (partial incision) and epi. JW offer aftercare services such as deswelling with laser therapy and shampoo. And also free pumpkin juice (who can forget about pumpkin juice right? Lol!).

Item didn’t offer any aftercare services when I asked them. Only to come in and remove stitches and cleaning. I was quite pleased and impressed, I liked both doctors and I felt comfortable with them. The whole consultation was close to 1.5 hours. I got the impression from item that double eyelid surgery is a minor operation and that the doctor doesn’t need to invest time in it (profit wise). But at JW they paid close attention and was very detail about my eyes. Didn’t feel rush or anything, they took their time even though I’m just doing two small/common procedures.

So I decided to do my surgery with them and don’t bother to check out the other clinics. Not sure if this is the right decision but it was a decision I felt was the best. So my operation is today (13th) at 4pm and I will need to fast 6 hours before the surgery. I’m excited and scared at the same time haha. I hope my mini reviews are helpful. They are really a rough draft because I’m typing on my phone and writing it in the middle of night (can’t sleep because of jet lag). I will update how my surgery went and the aftercare etc., When I go back to Canada I will post before and after pictures too.

[jadewyt316]

HI!!

Sorry for the delay but I just came back and I had to start work right afterwards. My eyes are still healing but so far it’s healing pretty great. I was initially worried that the inner corners of my eyes would be uneven but right now it seems even (after the swelling went down).

My surgery was scheduled two days later after the consultation and I was super nervous. My surgery actually got delayed because the patient before me decided to added one more procedure so that bumped me at a later time. However, JW offered me a free spa/facial while waiting (it felt nice!). Anyways, during the surgery I was super nervous but it didn’t hurt at all. People say the injection was the worst part but honestly for me, I didn’t feel anything. However, near the end whenever I felt slight pain I would go “pain” and the doctor will inject more anesthesia. I felt a bit of tugging and I could smell something burning. It didn’t hurt but it was a bit uncomfortable. Overall, I would rate it 3/10 for pain. The whole procedure took longer than I expected – a little over 2 hours. During the whole time, the doctor would ask me to open and close my eyes to see if the crease was even or not. He was soooooo particular about this. He stitched and restitched my right eye at least 4 times. I actually got irritated and he said “don’t worry, 5 more min. I promise”. LOL!! – I was just really uncomfortable lying there not moving for 2 hours and I was starting to get really hot and sweaty. So I guess he could tell I was getting a little impatient.

So after the surgery, I was totally fine and I was able to walk myself to the recovery room. The nurse put an icepack on my eyes and waited for 20 minutes. The whole time in the recovery room, Emily was with me. It felt very nice and reassuring. I felt safe. Afterwards, I was given 2 icepacks, 5 days worth of medicine, some cotton swaps and ointment for the eyes. I was told to take the medicine on time (3 times a day) and put the ointment on my eyes 2 to 3 times a day. Emily helped me grabbed a taxi and I went back to the guesthouse.

Once I got back the guest house and looked at myself in the mirror….I was horrified. I was just not used to seeing myself all stitched up and bruised. I started to panic and thought I made a big mistake. I felt regret immediately. Honestly, I thought I was mentally strong enough but I was wrong. So no matter how much you’ve researched and prep yourself, you will be a little shock right after surgery. I tried to sleep but I kept having bad dreams. The next few days, I got used to looking at myself and I kept telling myself that it will get better.

In total I went back to the clinic 3 times – 1st time cleaning, 2nd time to remove the top stitches on my eyes and 3rd time remove the all the remaining stitches including the inner corner. And each time they would use the laser treatment on me to help with the swelling. Oh, I got to use their shampoo service once too.

However, the only problem I found was that I only saw the doctor ONCE after the surgery and it was on the 3rd time I went back (7th day after surgery). He came to check up on my eyes and said everything was good. I kind of wished that I saw the doctor sooner and didn’t have to worry the whole time.

Before and after (2 weeks):

Right now, my main concern is the scarring in the inner corner of the eyes. There is a raised bump on the lower left side of my eye. Hopefully it’ll smooth out…

Sorry for the low quality of the picture, I took it on my iPhone.

[polaroid]

Whoa, love your super detailed explanation of your experience!

[FoxyFire]

@jadewyt316

This is great, thanks for sharing your experience, it will really help others understand the process. especially the physical and emotional aspect. That feeling you described is something that resonates with a lot of people right out of post-opp. It sounds like their post-opp care overall was fairly decent. Usually the routine follow up at large clinics is that the nurses attend to clean-up and care, but if there is a problem will and should notify the doctor, and the doctor at some point should check on the patient before they leave the country, and it sounds like he did, but it’s always good to see the doctor the first time around to help calm some nerves.

Keep us updated on your healing process! And we’re sure a lot of folks out there might need some tips and advice from you.

[jadewyt316]

I will post updates and check this thread frequently in case anyone have any questions

[jadewyt316]

4th week

 

 

 

 

 

 

My right eye looks great but my left eye doesn’t look as nice…
I feel that my left eye’s inner corner is not as “round”/even as the right.

[Jeet Singh]

Thanks for sharing! We can sometimes be our own toughest critics, although more time is needed, how do you feel about the whole process and decision overall?

[swoodard]

This is SO helpful! Thank you so very, very much @jadewyt316!

[Author]

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