Surgery Experience at DA Plastic Surgery (Seoul, South Korea)

I did V-Line surgery and revision of rhinoplasty at DA plastic surgery clinic just 3 weeks ago (on 21 Oct 2016). I would like to share some of my experience at DA clinic here.

Prior to the surgery, I had a crooked chin and nose due to my previous surgery in a small clinic in Korea. The experience from my first surgery was not really good. Hence, I actually spent more effort with my research to find a reputable clinic. I found DA from the search engine at Instagram #maleplasticsurgery. Apparently, DA has a special category of surgery for guys, which really attracts me.

Some points to highlight about DA is their star surgeon, Dr Lee Sang-Woo. He is the owner of the clinic and has appeared in many talk show in Korea, i.e. "Let Me In" and "white swan". His video can be easily found in youtube. Based on many reviews, Dr lee specialty is on facial contouring, which what I was interested in. He is like one of the celebrities surgeons in Korea and I was quite convinced with his works and credentials.

I contacted DA through KakaoTalk (ID: daprsen). The response was very fast. The consultant speaks very good English and there was no problem in communication. I had a so-called online consultation by sending them my pictures. Based on the pictures, the consultant advised me on the possible surgery procedures and the price range. So, I roughly had an idea and could prepare the budget before heading to Korea. However, it is important to know that the proposed surgery and pricing could differ during face-to-face consultation. For the pricing, it is actually quite similar with the price offered from other clinics.

After the actual consultation and meeting with the doctors, the proposed surgery for my case would be:
1) V-line and revision of genioplasty to fix my crooked chin and improve the shape of my jaw line. Doctor in-charge: Dr. Lee Sang-Woo
2) Osteotomy rhinoplasty (shaving part of the nose bone) to straighten the shape of my nose. Doctor in-charge: Dr. Choi Hang-Seok

Booking of the surgery date usually requires 3-days advance notice in DA. As for my case, it happened that they have available slot in the afternoon during the consultation day It usually requires 8 hours of fasting before surgery and I was lucky that I had not eaten anything when I went for the consultation.

I was put to sleep with general anesthesia during the surgery. I could not remember anything after lying on the surgery bed. The whole surgery took 3 hours to complete but It felt like I was asleep for less than 5 minutes. When I was awake, it was really painful and I could literally felt my bones were being cut. The pain level was like 8 out 10 and my tears started to flow the moment I woke up. Eventually, after the nurse injected some pain killers, the pain was slowly subside. Post-operation experience was a torture as I had dry and bad sore throat due to the effect of anesthesia. I could only drink water 3 hours after the surgery. My condition was much improved after I was allowed to drink water.

I was required to be hospitalized for 1 day after the surgery. During this period, the nurse will be periodically check on my condition, replaced the ice-pack and provide injection to prevent further swelling. Some of the nurses in DA speak Chinese, It was a relief as it eased the communication barrier when I needed help from them.

After the first night, my conditions was pretty much improved. After I had discharged from the hospital, I was able to walk around and did some shopping. It was no longer painful but there were a lot of restriction on my movement and I could only have soft diet for the first 7 days. As I also did osteotomy rhinoplasty, I could only use my mouth to breath. Hence, I felt a lot of discomfort due to the dry lips and sore throat for the first 3 days. I also need to consume sufficient pain killers otherwise the pain would start to come back.

The swelling was eventually the worst on the 3rd day. However, it felt more comfortable, as I could start breathing through the nose again. I could not wash my hair or face with all the bandages on my face. Fortunately, DA provided shampoo service and laser treatment for me to freshen up. Not many hospital or clinic will actually provide this service. So, the post-surgery service experience with DA was very pleasant.

After the 7th days, the bandages were finally removed. My jaw had more strength and I could start eating some proper foo, like rice and small-cut meat or vegetables. I was finally able to taste Korean kimchi again.

The stitches inside my mouth was removed on the 10th days. As for my nose, it took longer time to heal and the stitches could only be removed after the 14th days. Probably because this was my revision surgery and the wound would take longer time to recover. The pain during stiches removal was quite bearable. It was not as painful as what others had described. Probably the nurse that attended to me was more gentle and experienced. At the 10th days, I looked almost like a normal person although the jaw movement was still very restricted.

2 weeks after my surgery, I could resume back my normal routine and lifestyle. Most of the major swelling are gone and I looked very normal. Not many of my friends actually realized that I had a plastic surgery. Surprisingly, my overall recovery is very fast. The overall shape of my chin has been improved. However, the actual outcome of the surgery is still very vague as both my chin and nose still look slanted. Probably it is due to the swell and the numbness.I could not wait to be fully recovered and see the actual shape of my new chin and nose. For now, I will stay positive and will provide more before and after picture in future.