1. Shinseung
This place was a recommendation by a friend who got her non-incisional DES done here. She found this clinic through her sister who got revisional DES and was satisfied. My friend only got hers done like five months ago, but it already looks really nice and natural. There is only one doctor.
When I entered this clinic, I was a little shocked since the receptionist had like a facial injury or something so one of her eyes was like an inch lower than her other eye. Usually I don't judge, but since this is a plastic surgery clinic where I was going for my eyes, I couldn't help but judge. This already put me off a little. There was one other girl in the waiting area and she had a Hermes bag (so I was thinking she probably wouldn't go to any random clinic). Her face also looked like she got a lot of plastic surgery, if you know what I mean (in Korea, we call it 성괴).
I was seen by the doctor within 10 minutes of arriving, which was great. The only time I saw the 실장 was after the doctor consultation to discuss prices. The doctor recommended I only get non-incisional DES. He said epi was my choice, but that there were benefits and disadvantages to it. He is famous for revisional epi on Korean celebs as well, so I thought he knew what he was talking about. The only thing I was put off my was that he seemed tired? IDK.. he was just not that detailed about my face during the consultation. He just looked at it from across the table and just showed me the line he wanted to draw, but he seemed a little distracted. Here, you get general anesthesia for 5 min to get local anesthesia. Then you are woken up to continue the surgery. The surgery is supposed to take 30 min.
I got a good price due to my friend's recommendation.
2. MVP
I went to this place only because of PurseForum. I was curious about how different the clinic would be if it was recommended by non-Koreans. First thing is that they use the entire building; it is a huge clinic with multiple doctors. The 실장 kept saying "we are not a factory like those OTHER clinics. Dr. Seo only does 4 surgeries a day." which all seemed kind of fishy, but who knows. I saw the 실장 first who discussed the surgery, then the doctor, then saw the 실장 again for prices.
I was recommended only non-incisional DES. I was told it would be general (for 5 min) + local anesthesia, and the non-incisional DES would only take 10(!) minutes. How can it be so quick? Apparently, it's because he is just that great of a doctor. Incisional DES would take 30 min. I know the secretary told me this to assure me that he was skilled, but it actually put me off of the clinic. Even the best surgeon, in my opinion, should be taking some time to check and re-check the lines before making changes to someone's face instead of doing it quickly. Also, the 10 min made me real skeptical that he was only doing 4 surgeries a day. I didn't care if he did more, but it just seemed suspicious to me and put me on guard.
Another annoying fact was that they kept us waiting for almost an hour to see the doc. We asked them what was taking so long and the secretary said "well patients normally wait 30-60 min to see the doctor." She said it like it was a given, so we just said we were going to leave. She then said the doctor was ready to see us in 5 min, so we just stayed. The doctor was nice enough tho. He seemed to really care about the best kind of eye shape for me.
We had to pay 10,000 won consultation fee, and we got an okay price for the non-incisional DES. This was the cheapest out of all the places we saw.
3. Ive
This place was recommended by a family member who is also a plastic surgeon. There is only one doctor here who is well known on Korean cafes for being very detailed. I saw the doctor first then saw the 실장 to discuss prices.
When I met the doctor, he spent about 3 minutes not speaking, just examining my face. He even brought out a ruler to measure! Finally, he asked what kind of eyes I wanted and he eventually recommended non-incisional DES. He also said epi would add an additional spark, but it was my choice if I wanted it or not.
Non-incisional DES (30 min) is only local anesthesia.
Non-incision DES with epi (60 min) is general for 5 min + local anesthesia then awake the rest of the time.
I really agreed with the Korean cafes that said he was 꼼꼼해. This doctor is also famous in Korea for eyes, and even Korean cafes said that he was double the price of other clinics, but worth it. They also said that he does not recommend unnecessary surgeries. However, for me, he was the only one that kind of recommended epi. He said it was my choice, but the fact that he recommended it in the first place made me all confused since the previous two places didn't mention it at all.
I eventually just canceled the rest of my appointments and just decided to go with this clinic. I had to pay 10,000 won consultation fee originally, but since I just made the appointment right then, I didn't have to pay it. This place ended up being only slightly more expensive than Shinseung, but that's because I got a fantastic deal through my uncle's referral.
I would have had difficulty choosing between Shinseung and MVP... I felt that both doctors were skilled, but missing that little spark/push I needed. When I consulted with Ive, I felt assured that he would spend his time with each cut and really give me the best shape.
I will say Shinseung and Ive seemed like they only had Korean patients. MVP seemed like they only had Chinese and foreigner patients since I didn't hear Korean from a single patient. Who knows, though.
The prices were MVP < Shinseung < Ive
I don't want to give the exact prices, but all prices I was quoted at all clinics were between $600 and $1500 (depending on with or without epi).
My biggest tip is to state a name for referral if you have one and if you know that person got a good deal. Don't name a referral if they paid more than you thought they should. The clinics will just try to match your price with the referral's price.
Another tip is to haggle them down and then at the end ask them how much further they would be willing to go down if you paid in cash. Only mention the cash price at the very end so that the price goes down further.
I ended up getting the surgery at Ive, so if anyone wants to know about the surgery itself and aftercare, I can do it.
Hope this helped a little! I just wanted to give some of my thoughts so that you guys have more choices. You can ask me questions about anything in the comments.
Thank you!