Girin: facial contouring, acculift, rhino, forehead lift, des, epi, fat graft

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Consultation with Doctor :
Friendliness :
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Clinic Name : GIRIN Plastic Surgery
Doctor :
Surgery Date : 2018.11.17

The clinic is small but clean and comfortable. It seems to be popular with local Koreans and Chinese tourists. I didn't see any other English speaking foreigners however my translator told me she has helped many foreigners at this clinic. They don't have a full-time English translator but they will hire one for your consultation to make sure both parties understand your vision. The staff at Girin are all professional and so BEAUTIFUL! Seriously, they are so pretty. The consultant who did my consultation was so sweet and pretty. She didn't push any unnecessary procedures on me and explained everything so thoroughly. She explained the basics of each procedure, the pros, and the cons. She made sure I understood the risks of each procedure which really made me feel like I was in good hands. Please read my diary to follow along with my progress!

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After 10 days

Forehead lift (with endotine), non-incisional DES, Ptosis, Fat Graft to eyelid, & Epi I've always been self-conscious about my eyes. Most people don't see a problem but I hated my small creases, hooded eyelids, and heavy Mongolian folds. I've always wanted to fix this but I was always scared to commit to surgery. I decided this was the year that I was going to do it, and I am pleased with my decision so far. I met with the consultant and my medical translator (at this time Girin doesn’t have one on staff so they’ll hire a government medical translator for you). This consultation took quite a while – around 2 hours. The consultant asked questions like how confident I felt with my natural appearance and what I hoped to change. Since Dr. Lee was at a conference I knew I would be scheduled to have surgery with Dr. Song for eyes that day. I only needed to fast for a few hours since it would be under local anesthesia. He understood what I wanted as soon as I explained it to him. I wanted a dramatic but natural change and big pretty eyes. He also noticed I had asymmetry and hooding with my eyes. I just thought it was due to extra skin and fat but he noticed my forehead was literally weighing down on my eyes so we added in a forehead lift as well. What I really appreciated about the consultation was he also pointed out my upper eyelids were really hollow and I needed fat. But also naturally hollow eyelids may not hold the crease well but if I needed to do a revision it would be free in the first year, and after that I’d need to pay for anesthesia. It’s important for your doctor to talk about cons as well as pros! After the consultation I went across the street to a dental clinic to do my pre-surgery tests. I did bloodwork, EKG, and some x-ray that measures your lungs. At the clinic I did a CT scan, pre-op photos, and some other x-rays. After that I walked to the operating room and laid down on the table. With local anesthesia you are awake the entire time but they basically numb the area they operate on. With eyes this is especially important since you’ll need to open and close them in order to get a nice-looking eyelid. It’s also very dangerous to get general anesthesia in a short time period. Once the surgery started they knock you out via IV sedation for 5 minutes and got to work. Everything was kinda blurry and I was ready for it to be over. Once it was done they had me ice for about an hour then they helped me get home. I won’t lie the first night I was in a decent amount of pain. I was so tired, jetlagged, and couldn’t see well. I contacted Misooda to help me get some food to eat then I went to bed,

After 6 days

My pain levels were probably a 6 the first night, and when I woke up today it went down to a 3. It's really wild how the body can heal quickly. My vision was a bit blurry I'm not sure if that was caused from the ointment or the surgery, but I was afraid to be outside for too long so I just got some takeout and ate it at my hotel with friends.

After 5 days

It's been 5 days since my initial surgeries and today I had my consultation with Dr. Lee regarding my facial contouring and rhinoplasty. I also had my epi stitches removed for the first time (more on that later). Dr. Lee can speak pretty decent English and he first asked about my rhinoplasty and what I wanted to change about my nose. I told him that I wanted to raise my bridge and tip height so it was thinner and looked nice from the side. I wanted a mix of dramatic and natural change. He pointed out that my nasal bone was quite thick between my eyes and lateral osteotomy would be advised to each a thinner bridge. We also spoke about my hump and how he could shave that down, lastly he pointed out that I had a slight dent between my bridge and tip that would be amplified after rhino. He advised filling it with a bit of donated rib. The last thing he noticed that kinda blew me away was that everything seemed to be leaning slightly to the left of my face and that he would try to correct that with the osteotomy as well since it would be amplified after surgery if he didn't. The next thing we spoke about was the facial contouring. I told him I didn't want a witch/dorito chin but I was hoping for rather dramatic results. He told me that due to my skull width he wouldn't be able to make my jaw too small otherwise I'd look weird but he would do his best to ensure I had a smooth egg shaped face. He also recommended zygoma reduction. After the consultation I had my epi stitches removed. It definitely hurt hahah and I couldn't help but to tear up but Daphne from misooda and the consultant from Girin were there for me. After that I got ready and prepped for surgery. The anesthesiologist could speak english and she told me not to worry about going through GA. They started pumping the anesthesia and it was cold and stung slightly, the last thing I remember saying was, "Oh I'm starting to feel sleepy...." The next thing I remember was being bandaged and sitting up in the hospital bed taking deep breaths. The next 7 or 8 hours were SO rough my throat hurt and I was so thirsty but I wasn't allowed any water until 1 am. So I had to wait patiently....

After 2 days

2 Days After.

After -17852 days

Sorry in advance, these photos are scary!!!! I got really swollen and they actually had to restitch my epi while I was under GA because the rhino swelling could cause the epi to become undone. I think because I got so many surgeries I got extra bad swelling. When I got home I drank some oat milk and chatted with roommates, then iced my face for the rest of the night. Girin bought me some porridge from a restaurant but it was too thick for me to eat (so sad).

After -17852 days

1 month post op. I was still very swollen at this point, you can see how my cheeks have a lot of fullness all around and my double chin was prominent. From this point, my recovery started speeding up. My mouth was opening little by little every day. My double chin also started to get smaller. I was finally able to start chewing since my zygoma was mostly healed. I started appreciating my profile as well. I've attached the first photo I've felt comfortable sharing of the side of my nose.

After -17852 days

I wanted to show that at this point I couldn't open my mouth very wide and it was difficult to chew. I should have done more mouth exercises but it was a bit weird to do at work haha.

After -17852 days

Got my remaining stitches taken out and I was able to see my xray. I was swollen for so long it was nice to know what my face would eventually look like.

After -17852 days

7 days post op and I got my nose cast off. Everything was still so swollen. Even though my lips look huge here, the swelling had actually gone down a lot and I stopped drooling. It felt so nice not to have any bandages on my face.