Disclaimer: I blabbered on quite a bit so there’s a TLDR at the end.
Hello friends!
Back after a month in Seoul. I had epi/des/ptosis correction and the dreaded double jaw surgery done during my time there. And because I have a reason to do so, I’m going to share my whirlwind experience and some sage words of plastic surgery wisdom. I’ll be leaving out the eye stuff as i’m sure there’s enough eyelid surgery literature in this forum. But if you must know, it went well but I had little expectations going in.
Before I left, my mind was already made up on The Face Dental but I set up a couple of other consultations so as to have a contingency plan. I went to Mega and YK because they quoted lower prices for 2jaw and are near to apgujeong-yeok. But there are reasons why they’re cheaper. Some notes from the consultations: not done by omf surgeon, lacking B&As thus experience, less equipped for 2j, a doctor sharpied his monitor for crying out loud. That being said, the proposed surgery plan was essentially the same as The Face Dental. I wouldn’t go there if you have jaw/bite problems like malocclusion and tmj, but if you’re considering 2j for purely aesthetic reasons and are on a shoe-string budget, I wouldn’t rule them out.
Now on to the meat ’n taters, The Face Dental. The place is set up like an open concept dentist office with a few rooms. The staff were really sweet and nice but they don’t speak English. So some google translating later, they took my pictures and ct scan. Then off to meet the omf surgeon, Dr Lee, who thankfully speaks my tongue. He ran my ct scan through a modeling program and created a rough surgery plan on what he thinks should be done. My upper jaw had to be rotated and lower jaw pushed back to fix my malocclusion. I then requested for a mild mandible shave and genioplasty. After the image rendered, I was absolutely floored. But of course, how your soft tissue settles plays a huge part in the final result. Age is the primary factor here and Dr Lee meekly claimed I’m slightly over the ideal age. I’m 27. He then went through a large catalog of impressive B&As. I was sold. He went over some post-surgery information like aftercare and side effects. Nothing too out of the ordinary but at this point I was just lost in the thought of my future face. Next stepped in a lady I think the staff called “boss” or “owner”. We talked price. Not in English, but she had a “translator” on the line. What she quoted was more than bargain bins but what I would say is reasonable all things considered. After ironing out the fine details, I booked the earliest surgery date which was the next week. I went on a Tuesday. This kind of messed the 4 weeks 2j patients are recommended to stay in the country. But they needed time to make the dental wafer and in my case, check with my previous clinic on a medical condition. I think it takes about 3 days to make the wafer so plan accordingly. I came in the next day, to get molds and measurements taken, featuring the medieval-torture-device-looking facebow. Don’t worry, nothing hurt…yet.
So with nothing planned for the rest of the week, I had eye surgery.
Finally, surgery day. I changed to a robe and waited in the recovery ward. Flipped channels on the tele. Cool as a cucumber. Then the elevator bell rang. Came flooding out were a whole host of people hollering as they wheel a poor soul to his ward. I took a glance at his face. Now I HAD to tell myself I’m cool as a cucumber. I blanked out the rest of the time till they called for me. I met with Dr Lee to go over the surgery plan again. Everything seemed in order except he planned to do a more aggressive mandible shave. Just because that’s how he does it. I was too wrapped up in the moment and wasn’t too fussed, so I let it slide. This something I’ve noticed about how things are apparently done in Korea. They have a process and you don’t mess with it. I was asked not to question but trust the process by one surgeon and told explicitly not to speak during a consultation with another surgeon. Massive ego trip. At least Dr. Lee did it in a polite manner. Went up to the ward to drop off my phone, remove my piercings and say my last prayers. I ran into Dr Lee again in the elevator and he gave me some comforting words before going for a smoke. I rode the elevator all the way down to the operating theater. As I laid on the table, I was totally at ease. Not my first time under GA. It was cake the first time, so will this. They stuck an IV in me and the anesthesiologist had me breathe through a mask. 2 deep breaths and I was out.
Wake up, szechuandippingsauce! wake up! so effing annoying. just let me sleep. With my eyes shut, I felt ragdolled around and onto the bed in my ward. I didn’t feel pain but face felt entirely stretched out like a balloon about to pop. I dared only glance at my reflection in the mirror. I looked a mess.
As I drifted in and out of dreamland, I found what kept waking me was my inability to breathe. Also, not the best time discover my huge fear of asphyxiating. My air passages were blocked from swelling and/or bleeding so I was gasping and wheezing for air. Then I thought about the damage that a lack of oxygen to the brain could cause. Panic attack incoming. So I buzzed the nurse to suction the blood and it provided a temporary but much needed relief. This pattern continued and I was doing relatively alright. I think I had excessive bleeding due to doing 2j along with mandible and genioplasty.
Evening rolled around, and the night shift nurse came to introduce herself. She spoke English. Great! Well…not great when it turns out she’s a condescending cranky B****. Every time I would buzz her to suction the blood, she would do so with great annoyance and reprimanded me for drooling and not sleeping. Most of my face was numb so I didn’t know when I was drooling and how can I sleep when I’m choking on blood. I eventually stop buzzing her when I couldn’t take anymore verbal insults. I tried coughing out the blood through this tiny gap between my teeth if not just swallowing it. I didn’t sleep at all that night.
2nd day. Shift change. Thank god! And all the other nurses were really nice. They called me down for a ct scan and Dr Lee removed something in my mouth so I could open it wider. Breathing became easier and I finally got some sleep. They gave me some canned milk drink for meals but I passed on those. Swallowing was so difficult and painful, I couldn’t even drink water. My throat wasn’t dry though. Maybe from swallowing all that blood. Nothing much else happened the 2nd day. I was discharged by noon the next day with some crushed up medicine. It was nasty and wouldn’t stay down. I would have asked for them in pill form had I known better.
At my accommodation, I had to feed myself liquids with a syringe but most came out as drool. I’d lost most of my appetite after surgery so it wasn’t so bad. But that night, I dreamt about pizza and reality hit me hard. It’ll be months till I get to have some, or anything else I love. I have a very passionate relationship with food, but we’re breaking up. 2j simply isn’t facial contouring+. It’s major surgery that takes months out of your life. There are tons of jaw surgery blogs out there. I implore you read up on the recovery process before having surgery. I was entirely uninformed and wouldn’t have it done had I known. I had a functional bite and my malocclusion wasn’t so severe. I would just have had vline done, maybe rhino. There are ways to “camouflage” certain flaws in your profile. But this is the road I’ve taken and there’s no turning back.
During my 3 week recovery period, I had checkups with Dr Lee every other day which includes a very minimal anti-swelling treatment. You sit in a dental chair for 20 mins and they shine a light on your face. Swelling peaked on Day 3 and gradually subsided after the first week. After a week or two, he’ll let you remove the elastics, which are hooked to screws in your gums, and the dental wafer. That means you get soft foods. But it all depends on how your bite is adapting. I think he may have expedited the process due to my truncated stay there. Remember the poor soul I saw on my surgery day, I saw him on my final day there. Looks entirely normal, not a hint of surgery while there I am hidden behind my face mask I dare not leave home without. The good news is that you’ll get used to your new restrictions and things get easier from there. You really have to stay positive to get through it. Admittedly, I wasn’t the most positive.
I am currently 1 month post-op, I lost a bunch of weight. 54kg to 49kg. 119lbs to 108lbs. I’m 169cm/ 5’6.5”. But my face makes me look overweight as I still have quite a bit of residual swelling. So it would be unfair to say how happy I am with the results just yet. Maybe in the coming days or weeks, it will sort itself out. I’m still holding out hope. I will update again next month.
P.S. Shoutout to those who wished me well during my recovery. Your kind words brightened up my day and helped me get through my time there.
PM or Kakao me if you have questions
ID: szechuansauce
TLDR;
Had 2j at TFD
Korean surgeons don’t really do custom requests.
Day 1: Hell
Week 1: Lots of drooling
Weeks 2-3: Soft foods
Week 4: Swelling persists
Wished I read up on the recovery process from jaw surgery blogs
Wouldn’t recommend 2j unless you have a serious jaw problem
My recovery is slower than normal so
too early to judge results but
overall positive experience at TFD and
would recommend it
Hello friends!
Back after a month in Seoul. I had epi/des/ptosis correction and the dreaded double jaw surgery done during my time there. And because I have a reason to do so, I’m going to share my whirlwind experience and some sage words of plastic surgery wisdom. I’ll be leaving out the eye stuff as i’m sure there’s enough eyelid surgery literature in this forum. But if you must know, it went well but I had little expectations going in.
Before I left, my mind was already made up on The Face Dental but I set up a couple of other consultations so as to have a contingency plan. I went to Mega and YK because they quoted lower prices for 2jaw and are near to apgujeong-yeok. But there are reasons why they’re cheaper. Some notes from the consultations: not done by omf surgeon, lacking B&As thus experience, less equipped for 2j, a doctor sharpied his monitor for crying out loud. That being said, the proposed surgery plan was essentially the same as The Face Dental. I wouldn’t go there if you have jaw/bite problems like malocclusion and tmj, but if you’re considering 2j for purely aesthetic reasons and are on a shoe-string budget, I wouldn’t rule them out.
Now on to the meat ’n taters, The Face Dental. The place is set up like an open concept dentist office with a few rooms. The staff were really sweet and nice but they don’t speak English. So some google translating later, they took my pictures and ct scan. Then off to meet the omf surgeon, Dr Lee, who thankfully speaks my tongue. He ran my ct scan through a modeling program and created a rough surgery plan on what he thinks should be done. My upper jaw had to be rotated and lower jaw pushed back to fix my malocclusion. I then requested for a mild mandible shave and genioplasty. After the image rendered, I was absolutely floored. But of course, how your soft tissue settles plays a huge part in the final result. Age is the primary factor here and Dr Lee meekly claimed I’m slightly over the ideal age. I’m 27. He then went through a large catalog of impressive B&As. I was sold. He went over some post-surgery information like aftercare and side effects. Nothing too out of the ordinary but at this point I was just lost in the thought of my future face. Next stepped in a lady I think the staff called “boss” or “owner”. We talked price. Not in English, but she had a “translator” on the line. What she quoted was more than bargain bins but what I would say is reasonable all things considered. After ironing out the fine details, I booked the earliest surgery date which was the next week. I went on a Tuesday. This kind of messed the 4 weeks 2j patients are recommended to stay in the country. But they needed time to make the dental wafer and in my case, check with my previous clinic on a medical condition. I think it takes about 3 days to make the wafer so plan accordingly. I came in the next day, to get molds and measurements taken, featuring the medieval-torture-device-looking facebow. Don’t worry, nothing hurt…yet.
So with nothing planned for the rest of the week, I had eye surgery.
Finally, surgery day. I changed to a robe and waited in the recovery ward. Flipped channels on the tele. Cool as a cucumber. Then the elevator bell rang. Came flooding out were a whole host of people hollering as they wheel a poor soul to his ward. I took a glance at his face. Now I HAD to tell myself I’m cool as a cucumber. I blanked out the rest of the time till they called for me. I met with Dr Lee to go over the surgery plan again. Everything seemed in order except he planned to do a more aggressive mandible shave. Just because that’s how he does it. I was too wrapped up in the moment and wasn’t too fussed, so I let it slide. This something I’ve noticed about how things are apparently done in Korea. They have a process and you don’t mess with it. I was asked not to question but trust the process by one surgeon and told explicitly not to speak during a consultation with another surgeon. Massive ego trip. At least Dr. Lee did it in a polite manner. Went up to the ward to drop off my phone, remove my piercings and say my last prayers. I ran into Dr Lee again in the elevator and he gave me some comforting words before going for a smoke. I rode the elevator all the way down to the operating theater. As I laid on the table, I was totally at ease. Not my first time under GA. It was cake the first time, so will this. They stuck an IV in me and the anesthesiologist had me breathe through a mask. 2 deep breaths and I was out.
Wake up, szechuandippingsauce! wake up! so effing annoying. just let me sleep. With my eyes shut, I felt ragdolled around and onto the bed in my ward. I didn’t feel pain but face felt entirely stretched out like a balloon about to pop. I dared only glance at my reflection in the mirror. I looked a mess.
As I drifted in and out of dreamland, I found what kept waking me was my inability to breathe. Also, not the best time discover my huge fear of asphyxiating. My air passages were blocked from swelling and/or bleeding so I was gasping and wheezing for air. Then I thought about the damage that a lack of oxygen to the brain could cause. Panic attack incoming. So I buzzed the nurse to suction the blood and it provided a temporary but much needed relief. This pattern continued and I was doing relatively alright. I think I had excessive bleeding due to doing 2j along with mandible and genioplasty.
Evening rolled around, and the night shift nurse came to introduce herself. She spoke English. Great! Well…not great when it turns out she’s a condescending cranky B****. Every time I would buzz her to suction the blood, she would do so with great annoyance and reprimanded me for drooling and not sleeping. Most of my face was numb so I didn’t know when I was drooling and how can I sleep when I’m choking on blood. I eventually stop buzzing her when I couldn’t take anymore verbal insults. I tried coughing out the blood through this tiny gap between my teeth if not just swallowing it. I didn’t sleep at all that night.
2nd day. Shift change. Thank god! And all the other nurses were really nice. They called me down for a ct scan and Dr Lee removed something in my mouth so I could open it wider. Breathing became easier and I finally got some sleep. They gave me some canned milk drink for meals but I passed on those. Swallowing was so difficult and painful, I couldn’t even drink water. My throat wasn’t dry though. Maybe from swallowing all that blood. Nothing much else happened the 2nd day. I was discharged by noon the next day with some crushed up medicine. It was nasty and wouldn’t stay down. I would have asked for them in pill form had I known better.
At my accommodation, I had to feed myself liquids with a syringe but most came out as drool. I’d lost most of my appetite after surgery so it wasn’t so bad. But that night, I dreamt about pizza and reality hit me hard. It’ll be months till I get to have some, or anything else I love. I have a very passionate relationship with food, but we’re breaking up. 2j simply isn’t facial contouring+. It’s major surgery that takes months out of your life. There are tons of jaw surgery blogs out there. I implore you read up on the recovery process before having surgery. I was entirely uninformed and wouldn’t have it done had I known. I had a functional bite and my malocclusion wasn’t so severe. I would just have had vline done, maybe rhino. There are ways to “camouflage” certain flaws in your profile. But this is the road I’ve taken and there’s no turning back.
During my 3 week recovery period, I had checkups with Dr Lee every other day which includes a very minimal anti-swelling treatment. You sit in a dental chair for 20 mins and they shine a light on your face. Swelling peaked on Day 3 and gradually subsided after the first week. After a week or two, he’ll let you remove the elastics, which are hooked to screws in your gums, and the dental wafer. That means you get soft foods. But it all depends on how your bite is adapting. I think he may have expedited the process due to my truncated stay there. Remember the poor soul I saw on my surgery day, I saw him on my final day there. Looks entirely normal, not a hint of surgery while there I am hidden behind my face mask I dare not leave home without. The good news is that you’ll get used to your new restrictions and things get easier from there. You really have to stay positive to get through it. Admittedly, I wasn’t the most positive.
I am currently 1 month post-op, I lost a bunch of weight. 54kg to 49kg. 119lbs to 108lbs. I’m 169cm/ 5’6.5”. But my face makes me look overweight as I still have quite a bit of residual swelling. So it would be unfair to say how happy I am with the results just yet. Maybe in the coming days or weeks, it will sort itself out. I’m still holding out hope. I will update again next month.
P.S. Shoutout to those who wished me well during my recovery. Your kind words brightened up my day and helped me get through my time there.
PM or Kakao me if you have questions
ID: szechuansauce
TLDR;
Had 2j at TFD
Korean surgeons don’t really do custom requests.
Day 1: Hell
Week 1: Lots of drooling
Weeks 2-3: Soft foods
Week 4: Swelling persists
Wished I read up on the recovery process from jaw surgery blogs
Wouldn’t recommend 2j unless you have a serious jaw problem
My recovery is slower than normal so
too early to judge results but
overall positive experience at TFD and
would recommend it
Can you please PM me where you went for your eyelid surgery and the price you paid?
