Cosmetic Surgery in Seoul- Hundreds of Clinics

After deciding that i want to get surgery, i am faced with the difficulty of shortlisting the clinics that i wanted to visit.

Some people prefer to bring a translator along with them since they don't speak the language. However I've heard rumors that translator, apart from charging you a daily rate, around USD $100, they get commission from clinics/hospitals. I can't confirm this rumor. I've tried contacting a Chinese translator that i am willing to pay her the same amount for her to help me to book accommodation and fetching me from the airport to the hotel but i will not need her service to help me book appointments and bring me for consultations. She rejected my offer straight away and said that its a entire package which means she needs to bring me for clinic consultation and help me to book all my appointment for consultations. This smells fishy to me, why would she not want to earn the same amount of money with less effort? There can only be two reasons, one, she is very professional and ethical and two, she gets commission from clinics by bringing patients to them and most likely its reason number 2.

Since most famous clinics/hospitals have their own in house translator i decided that i could do without a translator. The money saved could go to my accommodation and daily living expenses.


I am planning to get a zygoma reduction and also a v line surgery. Zygoma reduction is a procedure to reduce the appearance of prominent cheekbone which is a common problem in Asian. Prominent cheekbone makes someone appear older and in a female its makes them too manly. Personally, i think i do not have a very prominent lateral zygoma but my anterior is rather prominent couple with the fact that my face is asymmetrical so a zygoma reduction can help to balance my whole face. Most zygoma operation are conducted intra-oral and from what i've gathered online intra-oral has a higher chance of skin sagging. I do not know how true this is. One of the complication arising from zygoma reduction is skin sagging. I definitely do not want to undergo a surgery and ends up looking older than before but this is a risk one should understand if they decided to go for the surgery. Choosing a reputable and experienced surgeon helps to reduce this risk by a lot.

For V line surgery it helps to shape the lower part of our face. By reducing our mandible and also shaping our chin into a "V-shaped". Both surgeries are major and requires the surgeon to be extremely skilled.

I will be going to Seoul in December and hope to consult as many clinics as i want. Below are the lists of clinics i hope to visit.

 

1. Grand: Supposedly the largest cosmetic surgery hospital in Seoul. They have been very responsive in their email communication. The one i have been contacting is Eunji, her reply was honest and her english is very good, at the very least its way better than mine. I have already booked my appointment with them for a face to face consultation with Dr Seo. I know Grand is popular in Korea. Their 3D rotation malar reduction attracts me, it claims to reduce the risk of sagging and create a more 3 dimension face. The before and after pictures on their website is also another reason why i wanted to go there for a consultation because its simply impressive.
http://www.grandsurgery.com/eng/
http://www.grandsurgery.com/cn/

2. ID: The famous hospital for facial contouring. Dr Park Sang Hoon reported to be the surgeon with the highest IQ. I have read and saw fantastic results from them and of course i have also read negative reviews on them. I understand every famous and popular hospitals will face negative reviews and only by going there personally will i be able to judge it myself on whether the surgeon is reliable and skilled enough to handle my face.He was the one behind the V line surgery. I just hope that fame and increased influx of patients has not compromised on the his quality of work. We shall wait and see....
http://eng.idhospital.com/
http://cn.idhospital.com/

3. Smallface: Its not as big and reputable as Grand or ID but i have read reviews about them being able to produce drastic results hence the reason for their clinic name "Smallface". The name just gets to me, it struck a chord in my heart. I have made my appointment with them as well, this will be the first clinic i will be going when i am in Seoul. They are the only clinic i know which use external approach for zygoma reduction and they don't use screws to secure the bones. Some people who are not big fan of screws and having foreign objects in their body will find their surgery method very very attractive.
http://www.small-face.com/main/main00.htm
http://www.small-face.com/main/language/chn/chn.htm

4. BK: Who can forget about BK hospital? Internationally re-owned hospital which caters and probably the most foreigner friendly hospital. They even have a guest house for patients to stay in. I had a face to face consultation with Dr Kim before when he was in Singapore. Before that i read reviews online saying that he's not friendly and seems to be in a rushed. So when it was my turn to see him i was a bit wary that i might pissed him off. On the contrary, he was really friendly, when he saw me he commented i was very tall and asked jokingly whether i was a model. He even stood up to compare his height with me, he was slightly taller than me, maybe by 0.5cm. Haha. He asked me about my concern and during that time i only wanted to fix my nose and chin, i felt he really listened to me and didn't recommend any other surgery. Therefore, i too made an appointment at BK. Heard that sometimes they give out free pumpkin juice which can help in de-swelling.
http://english.bkhospital.com/
http://chinese.bkhospital.com/

5. Regen: The hospital where "You're beautiful" was filmed. They have some pretty impressive before and after photos too. Its an established clinic but there weren't alot of reviews about them. Maybe they don't do much international marketing.
http://eng.regen.co.kr/
http://regenchina.com/

                                                                      Lee Si Young
6.Cinderella: Rumors had it that Lee Si Young had her two jaw surgery conducted at Cinderella. Obviously it was a major success. Cinderella customer service leaves something to be desired. I dropped them two email and it has been two months and they still hasn't gotten back to me. I guess i should probably call them up but i'm afraid that they will hang up on me. I love to go to this clinic for consultation if time allows.
http://www.globalcindy.com/en/
http://www.globalcindy.com/cn/index.php?language=cn

7. Banobagi: Yet another big hospital which has a building on its own. They too have guest house for patients to stay. Their "all in one" surgery attracts me. So far, i've only read about one person going for facial contouring and she has gone M.I.A on me. This hospital is worthy of a visit, i have contacted them for an appointment and am waiting for a confirmation.
http://www.engbanobagi.com/
http://www.chinabanobagi.com/

There are other clinics i want to visit if time permits

• Dream plastic surgery. (http://www.dreamsurgery.co.kr/about/english/about.aspx) 
• Jewelry. Can't find their website
• Wonjin.http://www.wonjin.co.kr/en/index.asp
• Teium, for eyes surgery only. (http://english.teuimps.co.kr/english/03_plastic/plastic10.html）

The seven hospitals are the must visit for me, the rest i will try to go for consultation only if i have enough time. Each hospital has its pros and cons and ultimately whichever hospital i am going to choose it's entirely my own choice. I will not be pressurize by the sales consultant there. In fact, over enthusiastic sales consultants are a big turn off. I know most clinics have exceptionally beautiful receptionist, all of them are the surgeon's masterpiece, delicately crafted and mighty proud of. It's good to chat with the receptionist, provided they know Mandarin or English.

I am really counting the days to my surgery and hopefully it will be a turning point in my life.