My review of April31

L

LonelyAngel8

Fabulous
Sep 28, 2015
7
0
#1
I wanted to share with you about a rhinoplasty procedure I just did in Korea at the April31 clinic. Just for your reference, I saw Dr. Kim in Gangnam for my procedure, and he guided me through the process. He was ably introduced to me by his translator Brian.

Some background information. I had a filler done on my nose many years ago (over 10 years). Unfortunately, it wasn't expertly done, and too much filler had been injected. Over the years, my nose got more and more crooked and disfigured. My friends were very kind and never made any comments about it, but it did make me feel very self conscious.

By chance, I met up with an agent, Brian, who represented Dr. Kim and the April31 clinic to international customers. He assured me that something could be done about my nose. Of course, the expert opinion could only be given by the doctor and so, I flew over to Korea to see him.

I must say, Dr, Kim was most reassuring.

The clinic itself provided a level of assurance as it was very clean and bright.

Of course, I had given him as much information as I could before I flew to Korea, so the doctor could make as quick an assessment as possible for my options for surgery. This included a CT scan to allow the doctor to determine if a procedure would be able to assist me. He was very thorough in informing me of my choices. I was most pleased that the options I was given looked very natural and beautiful. I discussed with the doctor about my preferences and agreed on a procedure. It was so efficient, that I was in surgery within a day. Brian had helped throughout the process, both in translating, and actually setting up the appointments and accommodation. Dr. Kim can speak English, but having Brian as a friend nearby was very reassuring.

I mention this because I was very nervous. It's a big decision for me to go through with a procedure like this. But after weighing everything in my mind, I thought it was worth it. Brian and Dr. Kim helped put my mind at ease about it all. I can't stress that enough. It seemed quite daunting at first, but it really does help to have a friend to hold your hand through it all.

Anyway, the procedure went without a hitch. Everything was very smooth.

I spent the next two weeks resting in Korea. The first week, I just concentrated on following the doctor's instructions and getting better. But the second week, I actually went out and explored a little of Gangnam, see the sights, do some shopping and eat some Korean food (no spicy - doctor's orders!!). Of course, my face was still bandaged up, but I wasn't going to waste a trip to Korea by being cooped up in a room.

It's been four weeks now, and I'm happy to report that my nose looks much more normal - almost exactly like it did before that horrible filler. Best of all, my nose doesn't have that prominent Roman nose bridge I had. And no strangers ask me about my "very unique nose" anymore. I can't tell you how much it has added to my self confidence.

So that's my little rhinoplasty story. I really wanted to share it with you, to encourage others who might be having doubts, or are a little scared. Get as much info as you can, consider your options, and get as much support as possible. It really does help.

My thanks to Brian, Dr. Kim and the staff at April31 for a successful operation. I am very grateful for my new nose! And I'm even more grateful for this renewed sense of confidence I have with my looks.
 
Last edited:
#2
I cannot open new topic cos it my first time to use this forum. I would like to take this opportunity to share my ps experiences with April31. I did my eye revision and fat grafting this month. My droopy eyelid and my cheek, forehead sunken. I did my research through this forum. Brian who represented the clinic can speak good English and we communicate through Kakao make appointment before flying to Seoul.

While I was waiting for my appointment, I saw international patient like Middle East who did their rhinoplasty. When it my turn to see the doctors, I show Brian photo of what I want and don't want. He will communicated with doctors. Dr Won use tool to show me how my eye look like in hand mirror and Dr Sung for my fat grafting explain which part my face did to be done. Since I had done my homework and I agree of what doctors proposed to me. Next day is my surgery. Brian follow all way make sure I been taken care from my arrival clinic to end of surgery.

I had taken vitamins for pre surgery and prepare myself with post surgery my recovery is quite smooth.

Many thanks to Doctors, clinic staff and Brian. I really happy with my new eye and face.
 
#3
Hi, I also had rhino at april31. It was a finesse type of surgery. It's an improved version of my old nose. Looks not only natural but I can breathe better. So my nose looks and functions better.

Dr kim has some knowledge of English and Brian is the international patient coordinator who makes sure what you want is communicated clearly to doc. Brian is very easy going, and was with me going into surgery and post op recovery. Was really nice to have this kind of support when you are travelling alone for surgery.

Overall a smooth operation and no complications whatsoever.
 
#4
I've been trying to get a quote from April31 for a very long time. I contacted Brian thru Kakao but for some reasons he suddenly disappeared. I called Korea and Brian claims that the phone is wonky(I wonder how he picked up the call then). Kept saying that he'll reply me but never did. Damn irritated.
 
#6
I too had my rhinoplasty surgery at April31, so I am posting on this thread (as it is one of the first ones that come up after searching ‘April31’) in hopes of enlightening people who are researching April31 for their clinic and hoping to reach a decision.

I really have too many wonderful things to say about this clinic, from their caring and attentive attitude in the beginning to their detailed postoperative care.

I believe Dr. Kim should be the rhinoplasty surgeon everyone should go to in the first place, then they would never need a revision. Personally, after reading so many horror stories about bad results, attitudes, and postoperative care done by factory clinics I was appalled at the naivety of some individuals. People need to sit down and seriously think about their surgical decision, you are living with this nose for the rest of your life, your nose is not something to bargain for.

I’ve read on other threads about some people who complained that the pricing of April31 was too high, yet those were the very same innocent but naive people that discover that ‘bargaining’ for their nose entitles a one way ticket into a corporate giant clinic (Grand, BK etc. )and a more certain ticket into a bad result and experience. It’s better to pay more for primary rhinoplasty and get a good result than to pay less (get inadequate and sometimes really bad results) and have to ultimately pay more economically for revision surgery and emotionally for all the depression and trauma caused by a botched surgery.

With that said I’ll sum up a few key points.

-Dr. Kim is the most experienced and skilled rhinoplasty surgeon I’ve ever encountered.

I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive to go to him because their website displays a lot of conservative changes while my nose had too many issues for a conservative change to be enough. However I did my research and I trusted my gut and I am honestly so grateful I went with April31 and Dr. Kim.

April31 and Dr. Kim is tangible proof that there is hope for gaining an amazing result after revision, and in my case a primary rhinoplasty if you have an extremely bulbous nose with thick skin. I’ve contemplated rhinoplasty for a good portion of my life and I had a very specific image of what the ideal result would be like. I never expected to attain the ideal result because my nose had such a weak starting point. But to be completely honest Dr. Kim 100% achieved that ideal result. He really achieves the unachievable and I could not be more glad I trusted his judgement. I never doubted him but I doubted my nose’s ability to be manipulated in a good way since I had many challenges like thick skin, lots of fat in the nose tip, etc.

[I really regret not thanking him enough after I saw him in my followup this kind of change would’ve brought me to tears (but i was really careful about not doing anything that would make my nose swell and I’m really good at concealing emotions for later)]

-They actually really care

Although Dr. Kim deals with quite a good volume of famous and important patients everyday he still put his best effort forth with my individual case. To me, that is one of the most rare and special things about him and this clinic. He pays special attention to the fine details of my nose (even though I was just another scrawny patient not to mention with an extremely unappealing nose + face lol). I have a massive amount of respect for him and his work.

April31’s nurse and surgical team is very well trained. After reading about 300 pages of purse forum on asian rhinoplasty in Korea, I’ve heard too many things about anesthesia related problems, IV problems, harsh stitch removals etc. Their team gives you the highest level of care possible. The nurse was really careful in finding my vein and didn’t poke me unnecessarily and I felt 0% pain during the whole process. Their anesthesiologist was great because I didn’t wake up during the surgery like what happened at other clinics. To me it really felt like just going to sleep and waking up. Their checkup nurse was very gentle in the stitch removal process (don’t worry it’s the kind of manageable eyebrow plucking pain for a split second).


Bouncing back to Dr. Kim’s level of skill, I have to comment at the amount of swelling I had postop. I had normal swelling for an april31 patient but a lot less swelling in comparison with a lot of those individuals who came out of other clinics like JW, BK, etc. That made breathing and the recovery experience so much more comfortable and I was really glad. After doing a bit of research on this forum I was under the impression that the experienced surgeons don’t touch or manipulate the tissues that don’t need to be touched, thus resulting in less overall swelling. Dr. Kim really has that level of expertise that is also very rare.

-Refreshingly humane place
They are not there to sell you anything like corporate giant clinics. Everyone at April31 didn’t care about the money but the customer’s greatest and safest satisfaction, I never felt pressured into performing more surgeries and they have been known to turn away patients whom really have nothing to correct and have become slightly addicted to plastic surgery.

-Brian and ease of process
To me, Brian really played a key role in also ensuring I had a good result. After the consultation, I was slightly worried that Dr. Kim would be too conservative and that my tip was droopy, but it was hard for me to articulate it to Dr. Kim on the surgery day because I didn’t want to seem disrespectful or doubtful of his abilities, I held a lot of respect for him and didn’t want to come off offensive. But Brian articulated it to Dr. Kim right before surgery he said ‘she is concerned about her droopy tip’ and ‘doesn’t want the change to be subtle’ and I am still really thankful because after the surgery, Brian showed me Dr. Kim’s notes on how he performed the surgery (specifically what he did with the ear cartilage and silicon implant) and he placed the ear cartilage at an angle that (in my opinion was the perfect angle that really made the result come together) and he wrote he placed it at an angle pointing a little higher because he knew I was concerned with my droopy tip. His expertise of placing it at that specific angle combined with Brian’s reminder really contributed to creating my ideal result. I could not be happier.

Like the rest of the April31 staff, Brian was very good at his job and he made the language barrier nonexistent and the atmosphere comfortable, humorous, and pleasing. I appreciated the genuinely of his personality.

-Consultation process

The consultant lady kept it real with me and gave no BS. She correctly informed me of my limitations and was very calm. I appreciated that she understood the problems I was dealing with, with my nose. She wasn’t a marketer at all like at those corporate clinics which pressure you into performing multiple surgeries that are unnecessary by making you seem like you have more perceived flaws. Instead she was a very helpful aid in helping me achieve my desired result.

Additionally, I was really impressed at the amount of english Dr. Kim knew and his fluency. He informed me that ear cartilage would be used for the tip, and a silicon implant would be used to augment my bridge in order to maintain a good aesthetic balance between my tip and bridge. Through his articulation I was able to gain a very good representation of how things were going to go and the reasons why certain things were necessary. Very humble and intelligent man with a deep understanding of facial balance. He’s also very nice, and he smiled here and there, which was most assuring and just part of his genuinely kind nature.

-My result
Dr. Kim did tip work that in my opinion narrowed the width of my tip considerably while maintaining a very natural looking result. Huge improvement, extremely natural. Being in Korea it was quite easy for me to point out noses which had work because they looked overly done, his noses look so natural that it was like those individuals could’ve just been born that way. He managed to create tip contour and tip defining points that weren’t present and exceeded my expectations. When he told me I didn’t need alar reduction I trusted him and was really glad I didn’t because he increased my tip projection to the extent that alar narrowing wasn’t necessary as the alars were pulled inward by the increased projection. I’ve read accounts about other individuals at other clinics whom have done alar reduction when it wasn’t necessary resulting in a notched look and a loss in the natural ‘C’ of the nostril. If any of you want to undergo surgery there, take his advice, he definitely knows what he’s talking about.

Good luck to all of you! Do your research and avoid the corporate clinics which accumulate masses of bad reviews. Don’t fall prey to their advertising techniques.
 
#8
hi peachsoymilk, thank you for the kind words:P i love my nose more each day unfortunately i cannot right now because my family is concerned about sending things online and privacy issues but i'd be happy to pm a picture of a nose that is looks very similar to my before nose and one highly similar to my after so you can gauge how much improvement there is.

i understand you completely though for me it was hard to find anyone's before and after's other than the ones on the website (and i don't think i eventually did but) i trusted April31 and it has made all the difference. My words of advice is to make sure to clearly articulate exactly what you want to the doctor so you can get a result as close to your ideal result as possible. :amuse:
 
#10
Hi Sodium. Don't worry I completely understand your concern like I said I've read enough pf pages to know that you guys are really cautious of spam accounts which are hired by clinics. Trust me I'm not one, usually with those you can tell by the broken English or lack of detail and authenticity in diction that they are spam. But I respect your opinion and you can take my review with a grain of salt if it makes you feel better. But also if your intentions were spam I would think that you would post on a new thread or one with more pages or forummers to spread it instead I just wanted to share my experience so I just chose a thread that almost exclusively just has other patients like me.
 
#11
z125 said:
Hi Sodium. Don't worry I completely understand your concern like I said I've read enough pf pages to know that you guys are really cautious of spam accounts which are hired by clinics. Trust me I'm not one, usually with those you can tell by the broken English or lack of detail and authenticity in diction that they are spam. But I respect your opinion and you can take my review with a grain of salt if it makes you feel better. But also if your intentions were spam I would think that you would post on a new thread or one with more pages or forummers to spread it instead I just wanted to share my experience so I just chose a thread that almost exclusively just has other patients like me.
Click to expand...

Alright, but April 31's English translator has perfect English, so I don't think broken English or not really matters. You're trying a bit hard to convince me, no offense.

Do you have any selfies you can share with me of your results? With parts of your face blurred out to protect your identity if you'd like.
 
  • Like
Reactions: emily333, smiles9988, guy8989 and 2 others
#12
Just do your own research its ultimately up to you what you choose to believe.

I just answered a question you asked and kind of felt accused at for just sharing my honest experience. : /
 
#15
Gunslinger81 I didn't opt to email them when I first contacted them I just called their international phone number listed on their website and a Korean lady answered but as soon as she heard my English she redirected me to Brian, maybe trying that would help.

Tyalls I'm happy to share! Right now it's still changing a lot, the tip is dropping a lot as the swelling goes down and I really liked the tip height where it was a couple days ago but it's also narrowing nicely at the same time which really balances it out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Back