Facial Asymmetry Correction with View Plastic Surgery, Highly Recommend Consulting with Them

The copies of the xrays I requested for my orthodontist were a great help, I was able to get braces two months after surgery and made everything so fast. It is also interesting to observe what was done, and those are actually very subtle changes to the bone for how well it is reflected on the outside.

· Planning

It took a couple of years to decide if I really wanted to get facial plastic surgery, where to do it, with whom, and what was I really expecting from it. There are just too many options, and way too many concerns, but if I had to mention one, in particular, is safety, I suffer from chronic pain and had a horrible experience some years before when I woke up during surgery.
My second concern was that I didn’t want a translator or anyone working as an intermediary between me and the clinic, if possible, to be able to prepare everything prior to my travel to be at ease, because stress and haste worsen the chronic pain.
The third concern, the kind of results the surgeons would aim for from an aesthetic perspective: while I’m caucasian, I’m not looking for a sexy/curvy look, I’d rather have a natural and fresh look.

I went with the first option I checked, View Plastic Surgery. When I contacted them I was able to do so in very fluent English, and they were very upfront about everything, including their fees. I was able to ask about many things directly and didn’t have to wait too much for their replies. I never felt pressured to choose, which was the case with the other three clinics I contacted afterward, and when you are about to have surgery it’s not like you want someone insisting and telling you “you need this surgery” based on your pictures, instead they only suggested when I asked what could be done to certain parts of my face.
Once the dates were arranged, the person I was speaking with insisted I took care of my health, he wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be underweight or sick when I arrived at the clinic or they would reject my procedure, that I shouldn't drink alcohol, smoke or take any drugs the weeks prior to it.

They have a team specialized in facial bone surgery and I saw many examples of what they are able to do for natural results, and while I liked what I saw, what convinced me is that their medical staff includes anesthesiologist on-site, and this was going to be a longer surgery than the one I had before, I preferred the anesthesiologists being part of the clinic’s staff. They also announce how they have been over 15 years without medical accidents, and I’m guessing this is because they are ready for whatever can happen during the procedure, and how they have at least two surgeons planning and performing surgery.

· Arrival at the clinic

The day I arrived at the clinic everything was very comfortable and well organized, the staff was very friendly and able to fluently speak English, and there was even a very nice person who was able to speak in Spanish with me. While on one hand, I felt everything was very professional, on the other one I wasn’t nervous because of how easy it was to talk with them.
After getting tests, scans, and pictures were taken, I met with Doctor Yun Chang Woon, and it was great that he spoke in English too. Initially, I wanted to reduce the size of my mandible, my face has always been very androgynous and felt like there was something off about it, and also my eyes looked like I had an “I don’t care” expression (I’m also kind of pale and most people assumed I was sick or tired all the time... and I'm not the smiliest person in the world).

Doctor Yun was very honest with me and explained how I actually needed some reconstructive surgery, giving me an alternative procedure, double jaw instead of a v-line. I don’t know you, but when told there is something wrong with your facial bones that are going to get worse, of course, you need to correct it: my facial contour was longer on the left side, my chin was too projected to the front and my profile was concave, this made it look as if my face was sinking at the center and sideways, plus having problems keeping my teeth straight even with a retainer. He pointed at how it was noticeable in pictures, but seeing the scans was very definitive and decided to have the procedures suggested by him. I suspect this happened to my face due to my falling on top of my chin from a swing when I was 7yo…
Doctor Yun also pointed out that I had a good occlusion in my mouth and therefore they would be able to perform everything at the same time, and that I would need to go back to my orthodontist in a couple of months after surgery.

The procedures we decided on were: upper and lower ptosis correction, genioplasty, zygoma reduction, mandible and angle reduction (double jaw surgery), plus the insertion of a prosthesis behind my nose cartilage in order to get a more convex profile.
After that, I talked with another person about the risks related to those procedures, about responsibility on each part, and to learn about the recovery and what was expected for aftercare. I took my time to read everything, which again, was well written in English and I wouldn’t have signed anything that would have needed to be translated to me by another person. They replied to several questions I made and I felt satisfied with how everything was proceeding.

· Surgery

Next day was my surgery, I decided to pay a deposit in advance in order to have surgery on a fixed date, that way I was able to organize the days until they removed the stitches as a vacation plan in Seoul.
I got changed into some pajamas and then met again with Dr. Yun, he said my test came ok and how they would proceed with my surgery, and after that, they brought me to the operating room. Everything was very fast, there were a lot of nurses around and I didn’t feel nervous because of how well organized everything felt. Once I was laying down, the anesthesiologist ‘connected’ my arm to an intravenous line, I was surprised because I didn’t feel any pain, and then I just fell asleep at some point. The surgery took around 5’5h and they woke me up before leaving the operating room to tell me they were finished and that everything went as planned.

I stayed overnight in a room with a huge flat TV, there they explained that I had to wait some hours to be able to drink water, and how to use the product they had ready for gargles and how often I had to use it. I was surprised when I saw my face because I didn’t have any stitches in my face aside from the ones on my eyelids, they performed all the surgeries from inside my mouth, wow. Also, my eyes! Even with how swollen they were I could see them more open and bright than it used to be. There weren’t that many bruises, I was really surprised at how not bad it looked.

It was very comfortable staying there since I could walk around the room and the hallway outside, it was a very quiet floor, and there was a fridge where I could exchange the cold packs I was given, plus the bed was amazingly comfortable. I must say I didn’t feel any pain or incommodity from the tubes in my mouth, it was just weird having to lay flat on my back to sleep, nothing else.

The next day I was able to leave the building, they gave me a card with the date of my after-care: stitches removal and deswelling treatment. The nice person who spoke Spanish accompanied me to the pharmacy to get my prescriptions and made sure I understood how I had to proceed with everything. Even the person in the pharmacy explained everything in English, how to apply the cream on my eyes when to take or not the extra painkillers.
While I did pay for the prescriptions, I was given the pumpkin juice, gargle bottles, and cold packs by the clinic.

· After-care

Both I and my husband were surprised at how the locals would ignore the state of my face, haha, in other countries people would even get close to you and ask what happened to you assuming you had an accident or the like, but in Seoul seems like people are used to bandages and swollen faces. In Seoul, it is easy to find face masks in pharmacies or stores like Daiso, but I wore these just to avoid direct sunlight exposure since people don’t really pay attention to your face. Oddly enough, they reacted strongly to the tattoos on my arms when those were showing. Ah, and you should be careful since some people will most likely bump into you when it is crowded and it is common to find people walking while staring at their smartphones.

I did walk around 10km daily, some days I would even walk up to 15km, they strongly recommended to walk to help with the swelling, not to eat spicy food and to apply the cold mask regularly. I was very comfortable all the time, at had lots of fun going around the city. Of course, I couldn’t eat kimchi nor bbq, but I will leave that for next time.

The third day after surgery was the peak of the swelling, my lips went dark and all full of blood and hurt a bit, it was really uncomfortable, but this was the ‘worst’ part, everything got better from here on. I had the contact of one of the assistants and was able to ask if this was ok, she reassured me that everything was fine and that I could visit the clinic if I felt there was something wrong. Still, I didn’t need to use the extra painkillers I was given.

On my first checkup I got my eye stitches removed and the ones inside my mouth checked, one of the assistants held my hand during the process since it can be a bit uncomfortable, she made sure I could relax. They insisted I tried to do my best with oral hygiene, it can be a bit challenging because of how swollen it can get inside the mouth. They also checked I was properly wearing the velcro band, not too adjusted nor too loose, and that I would not wear it all the time; in my case, this was the most confusing part because I was sure if I was doing it properly, but I was able to ask them a lot.
While I was waiting I saw Oli London, I guess you can spot famous people in plastic surgery clinics, haha.
I met again with Doctor Yun and he exclaimed “how did you get so thin??”, but I explained I can’t eat dairy, wheat or sugary stuff, and there aren’t many soft things I could eat during those days, nice that he would pay attention to that. I feel like this surgeon had a genuine interest in his patients, since the start his attitude and expression were coherent and focused on what I expected to obtain and what he thought was needed to perform. He said everything was looking great with my face so far, at this time he was smiling and seemed satisfied with the results so far, this made me feel even better. He explained that I had to train my eyelids by carefully opening them wide and moving my eyes in all directions to help the muscles regain movement and adjust to the new position; for the mouth, that I shouldn’t chew hard things while my zygoma bones got fixed in place again. I received some deswelling treatment, but apparently, I didn’t need much since it was going away properly enough.

Two weeks after surgery they removed the stitches inside my mouth and gave me the ok to go back home, by then I had no problems eating and go back to work.

· Back home

I requested copies of the before and after surgery scans and x-rays for my orthodontist, that way I was able to get braces two months after surgery, my retainers didn’t fit at all after surgery, it was a completely different mouth (this said by my orthodontist). They gave me a letter detailing the procedures, this is useful when you have to show your passport in airports to justify why your face looks different from the picture in the id, or in case you have any kind of complications or get surgery again.

It’s been six months since surgery, my face has been getting slimmer each month and has minimal ‘double chin’, I only see it when I tuck my chin a bit, but it isn't a concern.

In general, I like how bright my expression looks now, it reflects better how I feel. Did I get the natural and fresh look I wanted? Yes, definitively.
The experience with View Plastic Surgery has been perfect, I can’t think of anything that could have been done better, especially when compared to my previous experience in another country/clinic. They have been communicative, friendly, and professional. In fact, I wish to go back in a couple of years to the same clinic for rhinoplasty and for facial lifting, once I’m finished with the braces and also to let my face time to recover from surgery.

· One year after

I knew I would need to consider skin shagging and that lifting procedures may be needed after complete recovery, but I'm surprised I didn't develop a double chin, nor is my skin visibly dropping or shagging. Most probably I'll pursue ultherapy skin tightening in the future, for now, I want to wait two years after surgery to let my skin completely recover.

Muscle tone in the face and oral environment are responsible for keeping the bone in place and affects facial symmetry, after correcting the issues related to the bone structure, there are some issues that needed other specialists:
- My orthodontic treatment has been progressing much better than previously, my bite has become functional and my dentist and orthodontist attribute this to the surgery.
- I've consulted a physiotherapist about the muscles that were dropping on the right side of my face due to the previous bone asymmetry, and it would be interesting that I learn some exercises and facial massage to help the muscle tone, which will also result in the skin tightening.

On another note, I was interested in rhinoplasty, mainly to change the shape of my nose tip. Now I'm certain that it was a good thing it was not compatible with the other procedures received, and that it will be better to wait and see how my face progresses and take a decision in the future.