Long awaited trip, Korea 21th Dec

Hi everyone, 

We are a Singaporean Couple, currently in Korea, and in the midst of recovering from our surgery. Today is our Post-OP Day 3. I’m doing great now, so I’m sitting down to share with everyone our experiences.

We are very fortunate to be able to travel to Korea through VTL, even tho there were last-minute hiccups due to PCR Test changes 48 hours before our flight. Nevertheless, we are very grateful to be here and have completed our long-awaited surgery!

VTL

To be honest, everything went very smoothly here. As long as you got all the documents prepared in advance. My husband booked the tickets as soon as the news on VTL lanes between SG and Korea was announced, and after that, we just proceed to google and follow up closely on the Korea Embassy Site to check what documents are required:

1. Travel Insurance to cover covid/hospital-related expenses. 30MIL Won is required per person

2. Vaccination Certificated: This can be acquired through your SingPass.

3. Pre-Departure PCR Test Results and must be verified through Notarise. (Ours is not required to be verified through Notarise as the clinic we went to already verify for us. We did our test through MinMed: Advisable to get this done as close to 48 hours before flight as the results for PCR test results may delay) We had to do this twice because we did after 70 hours before the flight and the requirements to enter Korea changed last minute so we had to quickly book another one again >.<

4. K-ETA: Visa; have this done at least a week before your flight.

5. Safe2GO Pass: Book your PCR Test here before you depart. This is where you need to take another PCR Test upon arrival, and return to your accommodation and wait for your result before you can go out. We are lucky here too cos our results came in 3 hours after our test, and we didn’t have to wait till the next morning (The results are supposed to come in the next day 8 AM)

All the 5 points above must be printed out. Please prepare extra copies in case the airport staffs take away, and you may need to produce another set again for other purposes. Also, do note that if you stay more than 8 days in Korea, you need to do another PCR test on the 6th/7th day, in Government Approved Community Health Centre. The good news is that there are some Community Health Center that does free PCR testing, so you need to google the clinic nearest to your accommodation. However, free testing is not available for pre-departure PCR Test*

Plastic Surgery Clinics

My concerns: EYES, NOSE, and FC

My husband’s concerns: EYES, NOSE, and FC

Now for this segment, I’m really excited to share. I’ve been in contact with Olivia for about 2 years now? The last we spoke was 5 months before the pandemic, which was in 2019? Then pandemic happens and all our plans came to a halt.

However, we are thankful to be the very few who get to travel to Korea without having to go through quarantine. And with Olivia’s patience and assistance throughout. And through our discussion, we have shortlisted the following clinics below

1. 1mm

2. DA

3. WONJIN

4. MINE

Before I go on sharing about my experiences of the different clinics, I want to share that we are lucky to even get to meet them to get surgeries done. Because I have no experience in PS Surgeries, I didn’t know I actually have to book my surgery date at least a month in advance especially during Winter Season (Which is their peak season), and Olivia and Mr. Kang (Olivia’s Manager) helped us in this a lot and we are very grateful for their help, and we managed to secure our surgery date 1 week later xD 

** Please confirm your surgeries a month before so you don’t panic like us

1MM

9:30 AM: On our 2nd day after arriving in KR, Mr. Kang picked us up and brought us around to visit the clinics. We first went to 1MM. The staffs and translators are really sweet and I like the environment. I think the doctor is not too bad too just that we felt that the consultation was really brief so we decided not to go ahead with this clinic. (Sorry I can’t remember the doctor’s name)

DA

12PM: DA, as far as I know, it’s a popular clinic here in KR. Is really classy and lush, we had 3 doctors to do consultation for us. FC, Eyes, and Nose. Me and my husband like the FC doctor (and I watch him a lot on YOUTUBE too xD), but for eye - I personally feel that he does not understand my concern, and EYE is one of the most important surgery to me.

The waiting time to meet each doctor is super long, and the consultation with each doctor is very brief, and because the waiting time is too long, we had to miss our appointment with WONJIN. Another thing that upsets us is that they are not very transparent and do not want to give us a breakdown. (How are we gonna decide then?)

MINE

5 PM: By the time we arrived at this clinic, we are pretty much burned out…

Katie was our translator and she is really sweet and caring, as soon as we arrive, she immediately noticed our tiredness and constantly check on us, and had small talks with us to understand us, very different from the other 2 clinics. Being in a service line myself, I understand how important it is to understand your client and constantly put yourself in your client’s shoes. What they will be feeling and what’s possibly going through their mind. So this point alone I think its a + point.

We first met the Consultant, (Sorry I didn’t get her name) a pretty sweet lady, who’s very confident and listening to your needs, writing down every bit of our concern (which the other 2 clinics didn’t do so too), and discussing different surgeries method before we meet our EYE/NOSE Doc: Dr. Lee, Sung Wook & FC Doc: Dr. Shin-Young Song

Both Doctors are very detailed, they quickly point out things we didn’t notice before, and explain every detail of the procedures clearly and how it works. This is also another part that sold us - they are very attentive to details. Unlike the other 2 clinics which were quite brief in the consultation. 

Conclusion: We decided on MINE, and really super thankful for MR Kang. We felt really bad cos our schedules were so tight and he didn’t even have time to eat or drink any water the entire day >.< It must’ve been a super tiring day and we hope he had a good rest. Thank you so so much for guiding us the entire day >.<

The reason why Mr. Kang came with us was because we had a lot of clinics to visit and our schedules were really packed. Thank you Olivia for arranging this and making sure we get our surgery scheduled to our preferred date!! Really appreciate the both of you <3

Surgery Day

TLDR:

I DID: Outline Double Eyelid, Epicanthoplasty, double canthoplasty, Ptosis Correction, Sub-Brow Lift & Rhinoplasty

Husband: Facial Contouring, Ptosis Correction & Forehead Lift

30th Dec: We had one more meeting with the Doctors to confirm our design, together with another Translator Lina (she’s as sweet and caring as Katie). For me, I decided to only do eyes and nose this trip, as I do not want to be in too much pain with so much surgery. My husband also advised me to do FC on another occasion, and at least one of us can take care of another. As FC is a major surgery and requires much care and attention. And since my priorities are eyes and nose, I decided to do these 2 first.

My husband’s surgeries are FC and Eyes, his surgery comes after mine which was about 5 pm. We were a little late behind our actual surgery time, but thankfully everything went smoothly.

It’s my first time doing surgery so I’m excited and a little nervous. I’ve been waiting for this day for like almost 10 years and did so much research during this time, and I’m finally doing it. (It’s really a mixed feeling xD)

We got our photos taken again with our markings on, and go to our room and have our gown changed. And very soon after, I got led to the operating room. The nurse inserted the needles for the Local Anesthesia and other medications (This is the part where I felt a little pain, but it’s really bearable) and not long after, I fell asleep peacefully. I’m not sure if I woke up in between the surgery, I had no memory of it, but I was told it is required so the doctor can see if my eyelids were symmetrical. It’s a good thing I guess cos I have no memory of it xD

The next thing I recall is when the nurses and Lina waking me up and escorted me back to my room to rest, and my husband’s time to go into the operating room. I felt no pain at all even until now, other than just some discomfort right after the surgery, which is normal I guess. And sleeping is a little troublesome because I have to breathe through my mouth and I need to keep getting up to drink water. Other than these, I have no issue

As for my husband: Like many other people who did FC before, would probably say the same thing. That they regret cos it’s a lot of discomforts, and if you were to ask them a month later, they will say they won’t regret it and it’s the best decision ever. XD this is exactly what my husband tells me. 

Generally, he can talk a little, walk around, but most of the time he’s resting in bed. Unlike me, he is hurting quite badly, so we needed to get pain killers & ice packs to de-swell on our own** 

** I’m unsure why the clinic didn’t provide this tho, from my research, I understand many other clinics provide painkillers for FC or jaw surgery, as well as ice packs for surgeries in general to help to de-swell faster.

Moving on>>> 

We stayed over a night in the hospital, and I must say that it is really nice that the nurse comes in almost every hour to check on my husband, making sure he is doing okay. It must be difficult to stay up all night to make sure the patient is doing fine. And the next day he gets the final check and we checked out. It was really really super sweet and pleasant that Katie helped us and sent us back to our accommodation, and even extended help to help us get food if we are having problems. Thank you so much! The service in MINE is really good, the only thing that MINE might want to look into is ** point above.  Other than that, we are happy with MINE! Reasonable pricing and great service! <3

We will be removing some of our stitches on Monday, so I will update again :)

HOPES THIS HELPS