A "Simple" Otoplasty (Ear Surgery) Gone HORRIBLY Wrong - Honolulu, HI

I had an awful experience with Dr. Shim Ching and I felt like I needed to write a review on Real Self (was actually encouraged to do so by another plastic surgeon--I've seen several this year for consults). And it actually frightens me that he has high ratings on "Real Self". It's despicable. I needed to share my experience to warn other of this one doctor's incompetence to perform a simple ear pinning procedure (or at least I thought it was simple). My mistake? Only seeing one doctor and receiving one consult. I had just turned 18 and hated my ears that stuck out FOREVER. I couldn't wait til I turned 18 so I could get them pinned. I saved up money and even had to get a personal loan for this surgery. I thought I did my research.. he had 5 stars on yelp afterall. I met with him and he was very confident. He looked at me quickly, talked about how it's a simple, simple procedure. It'll take him 10 minutes! Hell, he doesn't even need to sedate me! It's so easy and simple! I was like, wow, I'm so impressed, really? He said he does it all the time! So I'm excited, oh wow, ok eh, about $10,000.. eh, I was waiting all my life for this, let's do it. I go in for the procedure, a nurse hands me two pills, take these to help you calm down. Ok. He has me lay down, face forward on the chair. I'm a little bit relaxed, until, BAM, incredible pain! He was like, don't worry, just a little pinch! OW! OW! OW! OW! AHHH! I'm screaming, I'm crying, it hurts so much! He keeps going. I mean, even to this today, it was one of my most PAINFUL, UNCOMFORTABLE experiences ever. The pain was excruciating and uncomfortable with my face pressed against the chair, someone was holding my head down because I guess I was moving away from the needle. I'm assuming they were injecting me with a numbing agent. No one comforted me, no one said anything to me, no one stopped. He didn't care that I was in pain. He didn't care that I was uncomfortable. He just wanted to take my money and get the procedure done with. I mean, what kind of doctor is that? What type of person is that? Definitely not someone you'd want to be your doctor. After the "numbing" medicine kicked it, it felt a little better, but you can still FEEL everything. He was cutting, sewing, nipping, tucking. You could feel the needle and thread piercing your skin, going through your skin; you can feel the pulling and tugging as he went along, the cutting. You can also HEAR it so intensely since he's cutting and sewing ON my ears. It was extremely uncomfortable. And of course, the occasional shooting sensation of pain which caused me to yelp out and sob softly. Still no comfort. It took about 30 minutes, although it seemed much longer. After I was done, they told me to get up and I looked at the chair my face was shoved into and it was covered in my tears. I had cried so much, I left a puddle on the chair. Did anyone still say anything to my puffy eyes and red face? Nope, they just told me BYE and ushered me out. I'm still pretty optimistic at this point. Beauty is pain, right? Maybe all surgeries are like that. I'm not sure. Maybe this is normal? At long at my ears look fantastic, it was all worth it, right? Post-op appt comes along.... and the nurses say that they need to take out my stitches. They look at it and then say that it's "skin friendly" stitches so actually they don't need to take them out since apparently they'll just "dissolve" naturally. Cool, I thought. They called me later that day and told me that I needed to come back in because my stitches actually needed to be taken out. They're apparently "not skin friendly ones". Um, I thought you guys just checked me out..? Ok. Also no parking, so it's just inconvenient for me and really shows how "on it" they are, right? I go back and they look at me again, not really sure and they just take out some random stitches. Shows how much they care, right? You think Dr. Shim Ching would have made a note, or told them, or looked at my himself, right? Yeah, no, I guess he was too busy. After I removed the bandages and really got to see my ears, I was disappointed. The left ear was still sticking out and the right ear looks scrunched out and deformed. Hm. I told Dr. Shim Ching my concerns and he said that he never promised that they were going to look "perfect" and that my left ear was big so that's the best he could do. He also said that they're still swollen and I should just make sure to wear my headband every night for a few months. I wore it for a whole year... didn't change anything. I have been seeing other plastic surgeons recently and a couple of them have looked at my ears. That he cut the wrong parts, sewed improperly, and basically just "winged" it without actually knowing what he was doing. Wow.... So to sum it up, the pain was HORRIBLE, the experience was HORRIBLE, price was HORRIBLE, Shim Ching was HORRIBLE, and the results were HORRIBLE. Please think twice before going to see this doctor, especially if it's for plastic surgery, especially if it's for an otoplasty, and especially if you have a low threshold for pain.