I’m currently about 1 month post op from my rhinoplasty in South Korea. I wanted to share my experience in as much detail as I can to help you make the best decisions for yourselves and your future.
Personally, I have wanted to change my nose ever since I was a kid, because in Asian culture, the aesthetics and the definition of someone’s nose is highly looked upon. I have gotten that sentiment directly from my parents and my peers for a really long time, so I always felt self-conscious about my nose. Whenever I laughed, I would cover my nose because of how wide my nostrils would expand and how big and bulbous my nose was. The first thing I notice about a person would always be their nose and I would observe how it looks on people. I knew this was not a healthy obsession, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it. It was not until I met someone who had their nose done that I became more interested in rhinoplasty. I did so much research on what makes a nose look nice and natural on someone’s face, and finally decided on going to Korea for rhinoplasty.
I stayed in Korea for about 2 weeks, which was exactly enough for consultation, surgery, and recovery. I reached out to 9 clinics in total and went to 7 clinics for face to face consultations. I will outline each of my consultations below in as much detail as I can remember.
VIP
Contacted them via KKtalk, but did not have open surgery dates within the week I asked for.
GNG
Contacted them via KKtalk, did not respond at all. They still have not responded to me.
Opera - Dr. (Kwon) Jeon
Contacted them via KKtalk. The English translator was super nice and got back to me very quickly with quotes. They are a pretty small local clinic. They have one floor in a building by Gangnam station. Their clinic is pretty well known amongst locals and foreigners. I saw two Chinese girls there when I went for my consultation. They have two Dr. Kwon’s, the one I saw was Dr. Kwon Jeon something. I spent quite a bit of time with him and he explained everything in detail. He said I didn’t need osteotomy as it won’t be evident if my bridge was raised high enough. Their translator had to keep going back and forth between me and their main consultant as I was trying to bargain the price. They said there was only one surgery date open for that week and I had to make a deposit on the same day if I wanted to secure it. I was honestly tempted, since their pricing was very reasonable, even for locals. But I knew I should finish all my consultations first before making a decision, which was definitely the right move.
Bridge + tip + alar (doc did not recommend osteo): $4.5mil
If I gave them my photos and did reviews for them, they would lower it to $3.5mil.
Namu - Dr. Kook
Contacted them via KKtalk. Linda replied to me quickly with information and quotes. Namu has been doing great since the many good reviews from Purseforum. They had 4 floors in a building. The general vibe of the clinic was great on first impression. Linda was very friendly and approachable. I saw Dr. Kook and he recommended basically the same thing Dr. Kwon did. When I showed him what I photoshopped for what I wanted, he said he could make it even higher than what I showed him, and he said that will look better. He recommended ear cartilage or donated rib cartilage for my tip, as they said my septal cartilage may not be enough. They seem to have recommended donated rib cartilage to everyone for their nose tiplasty. Linda said it would cost an extra 2mil, but they won’t know what to use until during surgery.
Bridge + tip + alar + donated rib cartilage: $6.5mil
If I gave them photos for b&a, it would be lowered to about $5mil. They said they did not do discounts for reviews because they don’t want to force patients to write reviews, good or bad. Linda said if I liked everything and the only issues was the price, then I could contact her after my all my other consultations and she will bargain with the main consultant for me.
Banobagi - Dr. Lee
Contacted them via email, responded very quickly. Banobagi had a whole building with about 7floors. When I went, they were very very busy. The consultant could speak very fluent English, and was very friendly. I had to wait about 10mins for the doctor to be free and I had in total about 2mins with the doctor. I was asked if I had any questions, and I was immediately escorted out of his office so he could have the next consultation. The consultant said the doctor said it’s “a very easy case”, as it was “just another nose job.” I did not like when she said that, and it felt like they were a factory. However, I have to say Dr. Lee was the most passionate doctor I saw amongst all the doctors I saw. He was really excited about operating on my face to make me look prettier, and even recommended me to do facial contouring to make my face a little less wide. The consultant did not even know they were running an online promotion for rhinoplasty, which put me off. I saw a 25% discount on their site for rhinoplasty and she didn’t know about it until I told her and she checked the website.
Bridge + tip + alar + ear cartilage: $5.3mil after discount
Uvom - Dr. Kang
Contacted them via Whatsapp. Choi was quick to respond and very thorough in her explanations. I was originally not planning on visiting Uvom, but after the many reviews in the chats mentioning Uvom, I thought I would give it a shot. They said they would offer a 30% discount if I would “cooperate with them,” which sounded really shady. After going in person to their consultation, I finally understood why everyone liked Uvom so much. Eunice, their main consultant, and Choi, their translator, spent 1.5 hours with me explaining everything in so much detail that no other clinic could match. Dr. Kang talked with me for about 10mins and addressed all my questions. He looked at the reference photo I showed him and said it seemed I wanted really natural results. He ensured me I would look a lot prettier after my nose becomes a little smaller and more defined. Eunice spent a lot of time addressing my concerns and waited for me to respond. I was really negotiating prices with them, because at that point, I knew I really wanted to do surgery with them. Ultimately, they were able to offer me really low prices compared to their original quotes because I would offer them photos and do multiple reviews for them. I also received a same-day discount for putting in a surgery deposit after consultation. I was booked for surgery with Dr. Kang in two days.
Bridge + tip + alar + osteo: $7mil without discount (their tactic was giving you “discounts” so their final price seemed low)
After Uvom, I was hesitant whether or not to finish the rest of my consultations the next day. But I thought I’m gona go regardless, because I wasn’t 100% set on Uvom even though I put in a deposit. The other clinics told me if I cancel within a certain time period before surgery, they would be obligated to refund a percentage of my deposit.
Finish all your consultations! You never know what you will find out. After my three final consultations, I learned a lot more about what I wanted to achieve in my nose because other doctors pointed out things I was not aware of.
April31 - Dr. Park
Contacted them via KKtalk. Consultant was very friendly and replied quickly with quotes. I had two choices for meeting their doctors, and I chose Dr. Park because I couldn’t afford Dr. Kim’s quotes. Their clinic size was about the same as Namu’s. The general vibe was also very nice. I definitely had the best consultation and experience at April31. Their english consultant, Christine, was extremely approachable and understanding. They were the only clinic that recommended me to take a CT scan fro 50,000krw. It was optional but they said it would be good since it might reveal how your bones are structured and any underlying issues. Dr. Park took the most time out of all the clinics I went to to explain the procedures. He said I didn’t need to raise the bridge that high since raising it too high would give it an obvious nose job contour. He said it would be good to have osteotomy to reduce the width of my nose for my whole proportions. I saw all their b&a photos and they were very natural and my style. Some of the FC results I saw on their walls were also very natural and very well done. The conversation between me, Christine, and Dr. Park was the most natural out of all of my consultations. It felt very light, and he was even saying jokes. I spent in total about 1.5 hrs at the clinic. I would have honestly picked April31 if it were not for their insanely expensive prices. After I told Christine how my budget was not even half of what they were quoting me, she laughed and said she understands. She said “sometimes you can find the same quality leather bag without the brand names ‘Gucci’ or ‘LV’ somewhere else.” She said their clinic is very well known for their work and she won’t be able to help me get the prices to my budget. Regardless, they were the best consultation I had.
Bridge + tip + alar + osteo + ear cartilage: $10mil
Cocoline - Dr. Kim
Contacted them via wechat for their Chinese translator. Cocoline is a really small and local clinic specializing in noses. You have to bring your own translator if you want to talk to them in English. Their doctors are ENT doctors, that’s why they price you slightly more expensive, but you would be paying for more quality and assurance. There are two Dr. Kim’s, I talked to Dr. Kim Sun Ghu. He was very friendly and funny. He said he does very natural noses and he will focus on the tip of the nose and raise the bridge to the height suitable to the tip, as the tip is the most important part. He also recommended osteotomy as he said it will make the bridge look higher since he doesn’t recommend raising it too high. I showed him a photo of a nose I like, but he said he didn’t find it that beautiful. I spent about 15mins with Dr. Kim and he was very thorough in explaining everything. Their translator was really nice but their consultant seemed kind of uninterested in speaking further after I began negotiating prices with them. I did really like Cocoline’s reputation and their work and would definitely recommend Cocoline (and Hanabi) for being specialized nose clinics. But I think their consultants were very cold and Dr. Kim didn’t align with the nose aesthetics that I liked.
Bridge + tip + alar + osteo: $6mil after discount
View - Dr. Lee
Contacted them via KKtalk. I wasn’t sure if I were going to go to the consultation at all since it was the last one and from their online consultation, I knew their prices were out of range. But I went anyway because I thought it’s better to just hear things face to face. View has a huge building with 15 floors. You could tell they were a plastic surgery hospital with lots of visitors, local and overseas. It was packed with people when I went. Stacey was the english consultant I met and she was very easy to talk to. I waited in the room for about 30mins for Dr. Lee to come. Dr. Lee was pretty thorough with explaining everything. Stacey said Dr. Lee only came to View recently and they tried really hard to get him to work at View, because he’s a really good doctor. Unfortunately, I did not have a lot of time to talk with them, since they made me wait for 30mins and I was going to be late to my appointment with Uvom to dissolve the filler in my nose.
Bridge + tip + alar + osteo: $5mil lowest after discount
A few tips about consultation:
- make sure you always always see the doctor and get a face to face consultation before you book your surgery, I know it can be hard for some people's timelines, but you should meet the person who is going to be operating on your face before trusting them through an online consultation
- most clinics should be able to book a surgery date within a few days of your consultation, if it's not a very busy season
- you will always find a cheaper price at another clinic, use that to negotiate with the clinic you want to do surgery at, most clinics will overprice you if you are a foreigner, usually they will price you at 30-50% higher than local quotes
- if you have the time, find a translator with you and go to the even smaller local clinics, there are sooo many trusted small Korean clinics who can operate for a lot cheaper if you just find a way to talk to them
Why I picked Uvom
Ultimately, I decided on Uvom because I trusted their doctors and their prices fit within my budget. I had a pretty tight budget and timeline, so I didn’t have a lot of freedom to consult with more clinics and think about it more, but I knew Uvom was definitely my choice after speaking with their consultant and both doctors. They could comfortably say they are “without accident for 21 years,” and both doctors definitely knew how to do their job properly. I was placed with Dr. Kang for surgery because my case was not a revision and did not require septum deviation fixing or hump removal, which would’ve made my case more difficult. I saw his work and I knew he understood my ideals during the consultation. I talked to Dr. Lee briefly when I went to dissolve my nose filler. He was very sweet and a lot less stiff than Dr. Kang. I would’ve wanted Dr. Lee to do my nose surgery but since my surgery was already placed with Dr. Kang, Uvom said it would cost extra to move my surgery to Dr. Lee. They said Dr. Lee usually takes on revision cases and more difficult cases and they would not have placed me with Dr. Kang if they knew he could not deliver the results I wanted.
However, I have to say, I think their marketing techniques are eventually going to screw them over. Their prices after “promotions and discounts” are pretty reasonable, but the way they approach it makes their clinic look really shady. Eunice seemed especially money-hungry when I was speaking with her. She was very pushy for me to make a deposit even though I said I had no money that day. Eunice has been a PS consultant for many years and you can tell she knows how to get clients to pick Uvom over the other clinics. As much as I enjoyed my detailed consultation at Uvom, I was thrown off with how she kept changing the prices to fit within my budget from nothing. Regardless, both Eunice and Choi are very sweet people, and they will take time to make sure your questions are answered. I heard Dr. Lee and Dr. Kang have been pretty busy at some consultations, make sure you tell Eunice that you want to confirm things with the doctor themselves if you feel certain things are unclear. She will try to answer them on behalf of them, but it is best to talk to the doctors themselves to make sure your words get across to them.
I will be back with more on my experience pre-op and post-op.
Hope this helps!!
Personally, I have wanted to change my nose ever since I was a kid, because in Asian culture, the aesthetics and the definition of someone’s nose is highly looked upon. I have gotten that sentiment directly from my parents and my peers for a really long time, so I always felt self-conscious about my nose. Whenever I laughed, I would cover my nose because of how wide my nostrils would expand and how big and bulbous my nose was. The first thing I notice about a person would always be their nose and I would observe how it looks on people. I knew this was not a healthy obsession, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it. It was not until I met someone who had their nose done that I became more interested in rhinoplasty. I did so much research on what makes a nose look nice and natural on someone’s face, and finally decided on going to Korea for rhinoplasty.
I stayed in Korea for about 2 weeks, which was exactly enough for consultation, surgery, and recovery. I reached out to 9 clinics in total and went to 7 clinics for face to face consultations. I will outline each of my consultations below in as much detail as I can remember.
VIP
Contacted them via KKtalk, but did not have open surgery dates within the week I asked for.
GNG
Contacted them via KKtalk, did not respond at all. They still have not responded to me.
Opera - Dr. (Kwon) Jeon
Contacted them via KKtalk. The English translator was super nice and got back to me very quickly with quotes. They are a pretty small local clinic. They have one floor in a building by Gangnam station. Their clinic is pretty well known amongst locals and foreigners. I saw two Chinese girls there when I went for my consultation. They have two Dr. Kwon’s, the one I saw was Dr. Kwon Jeon something. I spent quite a bit of time with him and he explained everything in detail. He said I didn’t need osteotomy as it won’t be evident if my bridge was raised high enough. Their translator had to keep going back and forth between me and their main consultant as I was trying to bargain the price. They said there was only one surgery date open for that week and I had to make a deposit on the same day if I wanted to secure it. I was honestly tempted, since their pricing was very reasonable, even for locals. But I knew I should finish all my consultations first before making a decision, which was definitely the right move.
Bridge + tip + alar (doc did not recommend osteo): $4.5mil
If I gave them my photos and did reviews for them, they would lower it to $3.5mil.
Namu - Dr. Kook
Contacted them via KKtalk. Linda replied to me quickly with information and quotes. Namu has been doing great since the many good reviews from Purseforum. They had 4 floors in a building. The general vibe of the clinic was great on first impression. Linda was very friendly and approachable. I saw Dr. Kook and he recommended basically the same thing Dr. Kwon did. When I showed him what I photoshopped for what I wanted, he said he could make it even higher than what I showed him, and he said that will look better. He recommended ear cartilage or donated rib cartilage for my tip, as they said my septal cartilage may not be enough. They seem to have recommended donated rib cartilage to everyone for their nose tiplasty. Linda said it would cost an extra 2mil, but they won’t know what to use until during surgery.
Bridge + tip + alar + donated rib cartilage: $6.5mil
If I gave them photos for b&a, it would be lowered to about $5mil. They said they did not do discounts for reviews because they don’t want to force patients to write reviews, good or bad. Linda said if I liked everything and the only issues was the price, then I could contact her after my all my other consultations and she will bargain with the main consultant for me.
Banobagi - Dr. Lee
Contacted them via email, responded very quickly. Banobagi had a whole building with about 7floors. When I went, they were very very busy. The consultant could speak very fluent English, and was very friendly. I had to wait about 10mins for the doctor to be free and I had in total about 2mins with the doctor. I was asked if I had any questions, and I was immediately escorted out of his office so he could have the next consultation. The consultant said the doctor said it’s “a very easy case”, as it was “just another nose job.” I did not like when she said that, and it felt like they were a factory. However, I have to say Dr. Lee was the most passionate doctor I saw amongst all the doctors I saw. He was really excited about operating on my face to make me look prettier, and even recommended me to do facial contouring to make my face a little less wide. The consultant did not even know they were running an online promotion for rhinoplasty, which put me off. I saw a 25% discount on their site for rhinoplasty and she didn’t know about it until I told her and she checked the website.
Bridge + tip + alar + ear cartilage: $5.3mil after discount
Uvom - Dr. Kang
Contacted them via Whatsapp. Choi was quick to respond and very thorough in her explanations. I was originally not planning on visiting Uvom, but after the many reviews in the chats mentioning Uvom, I thought I would give it a shot. They said they would offer a 30% discount if I would “cooperate with them,” which sounded really shady. After going in person to their consultation, I finally understood why everyone liked Uvom so much. Eunice, their main consultant, and Choi, their translator, spent 1.5 hours with me explaining everything in so much detail that no other clinic could match. Dr. Kang talked with me for about 10mins and addressed all my questions. He looked at the reference photo I showed him and said it seemed I wanted really natural results. He ensured me I would look a lot prettier after my nose becomes a little smaller and more defined. Eunice spent a lot of time addressing my concerns and waited for me to respond. I was really negotiating prices with them, because at that point, I knew I really wanted to do surgery with them. Ultimately, they were able to offer me really low prices compared to their original quotes because I would offer them photos and do multiple reviews for them. I also received a same-day discount for putting in a surgery deposit after consultation. I was booked for surgery with Dr. Kang in two days.
Bridge + tip + alar + osteo: $7mil without discount (their tactic was giving you “discounts” so their final price seemed low)
After Uvom, I was hesitant whether or not to finish the rest of my consultations the next day. But I thought I’m gona go regardless, because I wasn’t 100% set on Uvom even though I put in a deposit. The other clinics told me if I cancel within a certain time period before surgery, they would be obligated to refund a percentage of my deposit.
Finish all your consultations! You never know what you will find out. After my three final consultations, I learned a lot more about what I wanted to achieve in my nose because other doctors pointed out things I was not aware of.
April31 - Dr. Park
Contacted them via KKtalk. Consultant was very friendly and replied quickly with quotes. I had two choices for meeting their doctors, and I chose Dr. Park because I couldn’t afford Dr. Kim’s quotes. Their clinic size was about the same as Namu’s. The general vibe was also very nice. I definitely had the best consultation and experience at April31. Their english consultant, Christine, was extremely approachable and understanding. They were the only clinic that recommended me to take a CT scan fro 50,000krw. It was optional but they said it would be good since it might reveal how your bones are structured and any underlying issues. Dr. Park took the most time out of all the clinics I went to to explain the procedures. He said I didn’t need to raise the bridge that high since raising it too high would give it an obvious nose job contour. He said it would be good to have osteotomy to reduce the width of my nose for my whole proportions. I saw all their b&a photos and they were very natural and my style. Some of the FC results I saw on their walls were also very natural and very well done. The conversation between me, Christine, and Dr. Park was the most natural out of all of my consultations. It felt very light, and he was even saying jokes. I spent in total about 1.5 hrs at the clinic. I would have honestly picked April31 if it were not for their insanely expensive prices. After I told Christine how my budget was not even half of what they were quoting me, she laughed and said she understands. She said “sometimes you can find the same quality leather bag without the brand names ‘Gucci’ or ‘LV’ somewhere else.” She said their clinic is very well known for their work and she won’t be able to help me get the prices to my budget. Regardless, they were the best consultation I had.
Bridge + tip + alar + osteo + ear cartilage: $10mil
Cocoline - Dr. Kim
Contacted them via wechat for their Chinese translator. Cocoline is a really small and local clinic specializing in noses. You have to bring your own translator if you want to talk to them in English. Their doctors are ENT doctors, that’s why they price you slightly more expensive, but you would be paying for more quality and assurance. There are two Dr. Kim’s, I talked to Dr. Kim Sun Ghu. He was very friendly and funny. He said he does very natural noses and he will focus on the tip of the nose and raise the bridge to the height suitable to the tip, as the tip is the most important part. He also recommended osteotomy as he said it will make the bridge look higher since he doesn’t recommend raising it too high. I showed him a photo of a nose I like, but he said he didn’t find it that beautiful. I spent about 15mins with Dr. Kim and he was very thorough in explaining everything. Their translator was really nice but their consultant seemed kind of uninterested in speaking further after I began negotiating prices with them. I did really like Cocoline’s reputation and their work and would definitely recommend Cocoline (and Hanabi) for being specialized nose clinics. But I think their consultants were very cold and Dr. Kim didn’t align with the nose aesthetics that I liked.
Bridge + tip + alar + osteo: $6mil after discount
View - Dr. Lee
Contacted them via KKtalk. I wasn’t sure if I were going to go to the consultation at all since it was the last one and from their online consultation, I knew their prices were out of range. But I went anyway because I thought it’s better to just hear things face to face. View has a huge building with 15 floors. You could tell they were a plastic surgery hospital with lots of visitors, local and overseas. It was packed with people when I went. Stacey was the english consultant I met and she was very easy to talk to. I waited in the room for about 30mins for Dr. Lee to come. Dr. Lee was pretty thorough with explaining everything. Stacey said Dr. Lee only came to View recently and they tried really hard to get him to work at View, because he’s a really good doctor. Unfortunately, I did not have a lot of time to talk with them, since they made me wait for 30mins and I was going to be late to my appointment with Uvom to dissolve the filler in my nose.
Bridge + tip + alar + osteo: $5mil lowest after discount
A few tips about consultation:
- make sure you always always see the doctor and get a face to face consultation before you book your surgery, I know it can be hard for some people's timelines, but you should meet the person who is going to be operating on your face before trusting them through an online consultation
- most clinics should be able to book a surgery date within a few days of your consultation, if it's not a very busy season
- you will always find a cheaper price at another clinic, use that to negotiate with the clinic you want to do surgery at, most clinics will overprice you if you are a foreigner, usually they will price you at 30-50% higher than local quotes
- if you have the time, find a translator with you and go to the even smaller local clinics, there are sooo many trusted small Korean clinics who can operate for a lot cheaper if you just find a way to talk to them
Why I picked Uvom
Ultimately, I decided on Uvom because I trusted their doctors and their prices fit within my budget. I had a pretty tight budget and timeline, so I didn’t have a lot of freedom to consult with more clinics and think about it more, but I knew Uvom was definitely my choice after speaking with their consultant and both doctors. They could comfortably say they are “without accident for 21 years,” and both doctors definitely knew how to do their job properly. I was placed with Dr. Kang for surgery because my case was not a revision and did not require septum deviation fixing or hump removal, which would’ve made my case more difficult. I saw his work and I knew he understood my ideals during the consultation. I talked to Dr. Lee briefly when I went to dissolve my nose filler. He was very sweet and a lot less stiff than Dr. Kang. I would’ve wanted Dr. Lee to do my nose surgery but since my surgery was already placed with Dr. Kang, Uvom said it would cost extra to move my surgery to Dr. Lee. They said Dr. Lee usually takes on revision cases and more difficult cases and they would not have placed me with Dr. Kang if they knew he could not deliver the results I wanted.
However, I have to say, I think their marketing techniques are eventually going to screw them over. Their prices after “promotions and discounts” are pretty reasonable, but the way they approach it makes their clinic look really shady. Eunice seemed especially money-hungry when I was speaking with her. She was very pushy for me to make a deposit even though I said I had no money that day. Eunice has been a PS consultant for many years and you can tell she knows how to get clients to pick Uvom over the other clinics. As much as I enjoyed my detailed consultation at Uvom, I was thrown off with how she kept changing the prices to fit within my budget from nothing. Regardless, both Eunice and Choi are very sweet people, and they will take time to make sure your questions are answered. I heard Dr. Lee and Dr. Kang have been pretty busy at some consultations, make sure you tell Eunice that you want to confirm things with the doctor themselves if you feel certain things are unclear. She will try to answer them on behalf of them, but it is best to talk to the doctors themselves to make sure your words get across to them.
I will be back with more on my experience pre-op and post-op.
Hope this helps!!
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