My Lip Surgery at Deesse Plastic Surgery (Cheongdam Godess)

Overall Rating:	(4.0 / 5)
Doctor's Attitude & Bedside Manner:	(5.0 / 5)
Answered my questions:	(4.0 / 5)
Time Spent with meand follow up:	(4.0 / 5)
Staff courtesy and professionalism:	(5.0 / 5)
Payment process:	(3.0 / 5)
Wait times:	(4.0 / 5)

Deesse Plastic Surgery

Location: I had to taxi to the clinic a few times because there isn’t any station that is close to it. However if you want to use the subway, I used Sinsa Station Exit 8. You walk straight for ages (20-25min walk), passed the luxury brand district and it will be in a small alley on your left.

Consultation + doctor: I only waited for 10 minutes before being able to talk to the head consultant to tell her what I wanted and also listening to her recommendations. After that I consulted with Dr Cho who was very friendly but knew minimal English. I told him I wanted bigger and shapely lips. He examined my face and told me the 3 points that help with bigger/shapely lips (the philtrum, the cupid’s bow and the actual volume of the lips) were all flat and went through the different types of surgeries. He was reluctant to do the cupid’s bow surgery as it required cutting at the outline of the lips and may leave a scar. I didn’t bring any pictures and just told him to make my lips as big as he could possibly make them without it going overboard. The overall consultation was ~ 45 mins.

Type of surgery: Fat grafting on my upper lip (from my stomach) and stitching method on my bottom lip with minimal fat grafting. Fat graft acts similarly to normal fillers, however even though the retention rate for fat graft is low 20-30%, what is left will be there permanently. It was recommended to me to do a top up in 3 months if possible. The stitching method is permanent however there are restraints of how much they can make it bigger, so the change will be noticeable but not dramatic (in my case anyways).

Surgery: Dr Chi YongHoon ended up doing my surgery even though I didn’t consult with him initially, this was because my friend who accompanied me told me Dr Cho looked too young and I should go with the head of the clinic instead. Before the surgery Dr Chi wanted to confirm the desired look I wanted as well as talking me through what he will do to achieve this. I was under general anesthesia for a little less than 1 hour. I went to sleep at 10am and only woke up at 1pm.

Recovery: Personally I felt the recovery period was easy. There was not initial pain but it felt numb and tender. I could still talk and even ate soup straight after. It was only when drinking liquids it would leak out but was easily fixed by using a straw. The difficulty of drinking only lasted the first 3 days when the swelling was at its peak. They gave me a large bottle of antibacterial mouthwash to be use constantly after I eat or drink and it is recommended not to brush your teeth. They also gave me an ointment to apply to the stitches to help it heal quicker and to also create a film to prevent infection. They also gave me the standard pills all clinics give you.

Scarring: None on the upper lip. The bottom lip was stitched from the inside of the mouth, Dr Chi told me there would be minimal scarring because the mouth/lips heal extremely fast and because it is inside the mouth no one will see.

Check up appointments: After the surgery, I was told to come back the next day for just general cleaning and then 6 days after to take the stitches out. On day 6 they took the outer stitches and left the ones physically in my mouth. The next day (day 7) they took all my stitches out including the one in my belly button where the fat graft was from.

My overall thoughts on Deesse Plastic Surgery: It has been almost a month and so far I love my results. It is not dramatic but it is a very noticeable difference that has been noticed by my friends and family. It has given me a prettier smile (no more gummy smile) and a balanced face. In the future, I’d like to reverse the surgeries and do the stitching method at the top of the lip and fat grafting at the bottom. Dr Chi to come back to them when I am in Korea to check everything is fine and to get a top up for the fat graft, he told me most of the swelling and the final result will be seen in 2-3 months. It has been almost 4-5 month mark and extremely happy with the result.