Reasons why a former interpreter at a Korean plastic surgery hospital don't do plastic surgery

villacola10

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Nov 3, 2017
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This video was made in April 2019, but I'm just now seeing it. I translated what she said in English, which is located below the video. I felt like this would be good for the newbies on PF and who have little knowledge of plastic surgery, the risks, etc. I'm not trying to scare anyone, I just thought that this was informative and that she made some good points.

Disclaimer: I am not Korean nor do I speak Korean. I translated what she said with the subtitles on YouTube. If there are mistakes then I am sorry.





Hi darling,

From time to time, I bump into people who say, “Why don’t you get your eyes done? You would look so better!”. Since I started my YouTube channel, I’ve got not only compliments about me appearance but also lots of hate comments saying that I’m ugly which, of course, I deleted. If you’ve subscribed me since the beginning, you would probably know that I’ve worked as a medical interpreter at a big plastic surgery hospital in Gangnam, Seoul for like 4 months. Frankly, that was the best time I could get my face done with staff discount, but I didn’t. I just couldn’t do it after seeing all the things happening in that industry. And today I want to talk about it. I’ll take a few cases that I’ve seen at the hospital.

The first is about “shadow doctors”. A Vietnamese lady came to the hospital. She had done more than 3 times of rhinoplasty, which means implants had been repeatedly inserted and removed. As a result, her nose bridge was just collapsed, just disappeared. She rather needed a reconstruction than cosmetics surgery. The consultation and I, who interpreted the consultation, was really wishing the best for her and this would be her last surgery. She was desperate too. So, she chose the head doctor who is most expensive among all the specialists in that hospital. He is a fully-experience and well-known doctor, which is why it costs so much to get his touch. Still, she paid him and went into the operation room. I waited for her to explain about post-op care. After getting my job done, I was going down to the office. I bumped into the head doctor at the elevator and told him that she’s in good condition and she seems happy. But his face was like … :: she made a confused facial expression:: . He was staring at me like he had no idea who I’m talking about, who he just operated on. It was a little weird. A few seconds later, he replied, “Oh yeah? That’s great”. It turns out after she went under general anesthesia, a shadow doctor came in and performed the surgery, who was less well-known and had more free schedule. It’s disgusting. You might wonder why there are such things as shadow doctors. Patients usually want a famous doctor who has full experience, even of she/he cost them a bit much. Because it’s their face that they’ll carry for the rest of their lives. The thing is, the head doctor is old and gets tired very easily and doesn’t feel like performing a surgery every day. But he can’t dismiss patients because that means no money. So, he takes the money first and puts them into the operation room. When they fall asleep after general anesthesia, a less well-known, less-experienced doctor comes in, who needs more practice. What if the surgery goes wrong? Then the head doctor will perform a revision. But I never trust him. Of course, I’m not saying that every plastic surgery clinic has this disgusting custom. Some of them would be honest. I’m simply telling you what I’ve seen in that hospital.

The second is about eye surgery. An Aussie girl came to the hospital. She was at the same age with me and was like a friend. She got her eyes and nose done. After 1-week post op, she visited again to see everything is fine. She said that some wrinkles took place at the inner corner of her eyes and asked why. The eye doctor answered that it’s just because of swelling and they will disappear later on. So, I interpreted just like that. After the patient left the room, I saw him look into the post-op pictures like this … ::she made a worried facial expression:: . And I knew it’s a bad sign. I was waiting for him to say a word. Finally, he said, “She will lose her double lids”. I hated him for making me a liar too. Usually, you go under sedation and partial anesthesia to get your eyes done so that you won’t move or feel any pain during the surgery. Once, I heard him saying, “Oh god I drank too much last night” while cutting a patient’s eyes lids. Of course, doctors are human being too and they have every right to enjoy some drinks after work. But I don’t think I can trust a doctor who cut and sew my lids with a hangover. But they never tell you that they went wild last night.

The last is about a face-contouring specialist. I think many people are unaware of the fact that they can’t avoid skin sagging after face contouring surgery. The jaw and cheekbones support all face muscles and fat. You can guess what’s going to happen after cutting them off – sagging skin. Even if it’s not happening to you right now, it would eventually happen someday, faster than others. One of the consultants had her jaw done. She suffers skin sagging so much, she heavily relies on thread lifting. The vicious cycle just keeps going on.

The face-contouring specialist recently joined the hospital. He said that he specialized not only in face contouring but also breast augmentation. And he wanted to perform breast augmentation in this hospital too. But he had no examples to show potential clients. Guess how he attracted them? He asked female staff members to volunteer as a model. He promised out anonymity, but it was a bit pushy and uncomfortable. Despite all the efforts, he couldn’t find a volunteer. So, he opened a new promotion that offers 30 to 50 percent discount for boob job. Many foreign patients showed interest in the promotion and asked why he gives the generous discount. The hospital wanted staff members to say that he just joined us, and for the sake of celebration, he has generous discount. One day, a patient came in, who had got her boobs done by the doctor when he was working at the previous job. She came for a revision surgery because she got inflammation in the breasts. When the surgery was done, I went up to see if she’s ok and tell her post-op care. I still can’t forget how deeply she was in great pain and the heavy bleeding. Even staff members were shocked and talked that he was the last person they would trust.

The thing is you don’t know whether a doctor is trustworthy unless you work in the hospital. Many people go for a cosmetic surgery, blinded by unreasonable generous discount. The media tend to portray cosmetic surgeries in a good light. They only show people who look dramatically better after the surgery. It makes you feel like cosmetic surgeries are simple and easy to get and you too could look better so easily. But in reality, it’s not. If my family or friends tried to get the surgery. I would do everything to stop them. Even botox or fillers, which seem like a simple procedure, are practically an injection. So, there’s no assurance that rejection would not happen to you. I’m not saying that every cosmetic surgery clinic or surgeon is evil. But it’s your face and body that you’ll care for the rest of your lives. I hope you to be more conscious and careful when choosing the right place, seriously.

I know you want to ask, “So where the hell did you work?”. Trust me, I really want to drop the hospital name right now. But I can’t. If I do, I’ll be taken to court. So please, don’t send me a DM asking about it. But if we ever bump into each other on the street, you can ask me. I’ll gladly let you know. Thanks for watching, I’ll see you next time. Bye!
 
Thanks for posting the video. She has some good points, especially about media ( or the patients themselves) portrayal about it being so easy. The shadow doctor thing is pretty scary, but I think some clinics address this by having recorded video surveillance -- I seem to remember seeing that on some websites and wondering what it was used for. The doctor having a hangover...that is scary to think someone might not have had a good nights sleep before a long surgery. Definitely seems possible. I guess one could specifically ask such questions before surgery. Yeah it would stick out as odd, but better to ask about the surgeon. I know of patients in the US that wonder about the doctors mental/physical state before surgery with regards to all kinds of elective/non-elective surgery. It is an issue concern everywhere. However, if you are in a facility where the doctors perform a few surgeries each day - you can only hope you are not the patient when the doctor is on his 3 or 4th job and he/she is tired...I guess that is another question we could ask. Hope no one here encounters these issues!
 
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Thanks for posting the video. She has some good points, especially about media ( or the patients themselves) portrayal about it being so easy. The shadow doctor thing is pretty scary, but I think some clinics address this by having recorded video surveillance -- I seem to remember seeing that on some websites and wondering what it was used for. The doctor having a hangover...that is scary to think someone might not have had a good nights sleep before a long surgery. Definitely seems possible. I guess one could specifically ask such questions before surgery. Yeah it would stick out as odd, but better to ask about the surgeon. I know of patients in the US that wonder about the doctors mental/physical state before surgery with regards to all kinds of elective/non-elective surgery. It is an issue concern everywhere. However, if you are in a facility where the doctors perform a few surgeries each day - you can only hope you are not the patient when the doctor is on his 3 or 4th job and he/she is tired...I guess that is another question we could ask. Hope no one here encounters these issues!

I have to agree, it always seems that the media portrays plastic surgery as easy peasy (especially in South Korea), definitely far from the truth.
I actually didn't know about some of the clinics using video surveillance whilst performing surgery. Thank you for bringing that up. I feel that it should be a requirement for ALL clinics to do this.
I wonder if there is research on when it's the best time of the day to have plastic surgery. It sounds stupid, but I think about that sometimes. I thought about if I should go early to be the first person of the day, but what if the surgeon is still sleepy from last night? I don't know ...

I appreciated the woman's insight, but I felt like she was trying to tell people not to get plastic surgery in South Korea. And that was something that I had disagreed with. Like you said, these things could happen anywhere which sucks.
 
I’ve been trying to warm you guys about skin sagging and the danger of cheekbone and jaw reduction- yet, people don’t listen and continue to go for this procedure. This surgery bought my nothing but pain and depression and insults on a daily basis. It’s true, your muscle and skin will just fall rather then sculpted up. It’s a complete nightmare. I’m young but I’ll need a full facelift.
 
I’ve been trying to warm you guys about skin sagging and the danger of cheekbone and jaw reduction- yet, people don’t listen and continue to go for this procedure. This surgery bought my nothing but pain and depression and insults on a daily basis. It’s true, your muscle and skin will just fall rather then sculpted up. It’s a complete nightmare. I’m young but I’ll need a full facelift.

I am so sorry that this happened to you and what you're going through! I'm also sorry that there were people that didn't take you seriously when you had shared your experience.

Honestly, because I have never been interested in cheekbone and jaw reduction, I've never thought about this at all and about the skin sagging from these procedures. Me watching this video was the first time I heard of it.

It seems like a lot of people are still wanting to do these procedures. I honestly would advise people to think really hard about doing it. Personally, I don't think that it's worth it ... once you cut the bone, that's it ...
As far as I know, there are no proper revisions to stop the sagging.
 
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This video was made in April 2019, but I'm just now seeing it. I translated what she said in English, which is located below the video. I felt like this would be good for the newbies on PF and who have little knowledge of plastic surgery, the risks, etc. I'm not trying to scare anyone, I just thought that this was informative and that she made some good points.

Disclaimer: I am not Korean nor do I speak Korean. I translated what she said with the subtitles on YouTube. If there are mistakes then I am sorry.





Hi darling,

From time to time, I bump into people who say, “Why don’t you get your eyes done? You would look so better!”. Since I started my YouTube channel, I’ve got not only compliments about me appearance but also lots of hate comments saying that I’m ugly which, of course, I deleted. If you’ve subscribed me since the beginning, you would probably know that I’ve worked as a medical interpreter at a big plastic surgery hospital in Gangnam, Seoul for like 4 months. Frankly, that was the best time I could get my face done with staff discount, but I didn’t. I just couldn’t do it after seeing all the things happening in that industry. And today I want to talk about it. I’ll take a few cases that I’ve seen at the hospital.

The first is about “shadow doctors”. A Vietnamese lady came to the hospital. She had done more than 3 times of rhinoplasty, which means implants had been repeatedly inserted and removed. As a result, her nose bridge was just collapsed, just disappeared. She rather needed a reconstruction than cosmetics surgery. The consultation and I, who interpreted the consultation, was really wishing the best for her and this would be her last surgery. She was desperate too. So, she chose the head doctor who is most expensive among all the specialists in that hospital. He is a fully-experience and well-known doctor, which is why it costs so much to get his touch. Still, she paid him and went into the operation room. I waited for her to explain about post-op care. After getting my job done, I was going down to the office. I bumped into the head doctor at the elevator and told him that she’s in good condition and she seems happy. But his face was like … :: she made a confused facial expression:: . He was staring at me like he had no idea who I’m talking about, who he just operated on. It was a little weird. A few seconds later, he replied, “Oh yeah? That’s great”. It turns out after she went under general anesthesia, a shadow doctor came in and performed the surgery, who was less well-known and had more free schedule. It’s disgusting. You might wonder why there are such things as shadow doctors. Patients usually want a famous doctor who has full experience, even of she/he cost them a bit much. Because it’s their face that they’ll carry for the rest of their lives. The thing is, the head doctor is old and gets tired very easily and doesn’t feel like performing a surgery every day. But he can’t dismiss patients because that means no money. So, he takes the money first and puts them into the operation room. When they fall asleep after general anesthesia, a less well-known, less-experienced doctor comes in, who needs more practice. What if the surgery goes wrong? Then the head doctor will perform a revision. But I never trust him. Of course, I’m not saying that every plastic surgery clinic has this disgusting custom. Some of them would be honest. I’m simply telling you what I’ve seen in that hospital.

The second is about eye surgery. An Aussie girl came to the hospital. She was at the same age with me and was like a friend. She got her eyes and nose done. After 1-week post op, she visited again to see everything is fine. She said that some wrinkles took place at the inner corner of her eyes and asked why. The eye doctor answered that it’s just because of swelling and they will disappear later on. So, I interpreted just like that. After the patient left the room, I saw him look into the post-op pictures like this … ::she made a worried facial expression:: . And I knew it’s a bad sign. I was waiting for him to say a word. Finally, he said, “She will lose her double lids”. I hated him for making me a liar too. Usually, you go under sedation and partial anesthesia to get your eyes done so that you won’t move or feel any pain during the surgery. Once, I heard him saying, “Oh god I drank too much last night” while cutting a patient’s eyes lids. Of course, doctors are human being too and they have every right to enjoy some drinks after work. But I don’t think I can trust a doctor who cut and sew my lids with a hangover. But they never tell you that they went wild last night.

The last is about a face-contouring specialist. I think many people are unaware of the fact that they can’t avoid skin sagging after face contouring surgery. The jaw and cheekbones support all face muscles and fat. You can guess what’s going to happen after cutting them off – sagging skin. Even if it’s not happening to you right now, it would eventually happen someday, faster than others. One of the consultants had her jaw done. She suffers skin sagging so much, she heavily relies on thread lifting. The vicious cycle just keeps going on.

The face-contouring specialist recently joined the hospital. He said that he specialized not only in face contouring but also breast augmentation. And he wanted to perform breast augmentation in this hospital too. But he had no examples to show potential clients. Guess how he attracted them? He asked female staff members to volunteer as a model. He promised out anonymity, but it was a bit pushy and uncomfortable. Despite all the efforts, he couldn’t find a volunteer. So, he opened a new promotion that offers 30 to 50 percent discount for boob job. Many foreign patients showed interest in the promotion and asked why he gives the generous discount. The hospital wanted staff members to say that he just joined us, and for the sake of celebration, he has generous discount. One day, a patient came in, who had got her boobs done by the doctor when he was working at the previous job. She came for a revision surgery because she got inflammation in the breasts. When the surgery was done, I went up to see if she’s ok and tell her post-op care. I still can’t forget how deeply she was in great pain and the heavy bleeding. Even staff members were shocked and talked that he was the last person they would trust.

The thing is you don’t know whether a doctor is trustworthy unless you work in the hospital. Many people go for a cosmetic surgery, blinded by unreasonable generous discount. The media tend to portray cosmetic surgeries in a good light. They only show people who look dramatically better after the surgery. It makes you feel like cosmetic surgeries are simple and easy to get and you too could look better so easily. But in reality, it’s not. If my family or friends tried to get the surgery. I would do everything to stop them. Even botox or fillers, which seem like a simple procedure, are practically an injection. So, there’s no assurance that rejection would not happen to you. I’m not saying that every cosmetic surgery clinic or surgeon is evil. But it’s your face and body that you’ll care for the rest of your lives. I hope you to be more conscious and careful when choosing the right place, seriously.

I know you want to ask, “So where the hell did you work?”. Trust me, I really want to drop the hospital name right now. But I can’t. If I do, I’ll be taken to court. So please, don’t send me a DM asking about it. But if we ever bump into each other on the street, you can ask me. I’ll gladly let you know. Thanks for watching, I’ll see you next time. Bye!

@villacola10 thank you for this video! Wow! Some tpfers got stung at april31 when they thought they were getting Dr Kim, the head rhino surgeon but ended up with a less than satisfactory result and another surgeon visited them postop which suggested a doctor swap in theatre. April31 is on my black list. A native Korean had posted in this forum how this hospital is mostly targeted at foreigners as local Koreans go elsewhere. And I was communicating with Mia, a Vietnamese Canadian who paid a fortune for revision rhino at GNG and was devastated by her results. I still have her postop photo as a reminder. GNG also used shills and I know the names of some of their fake profiles on Tpf. Again GNG is another one on my blacklist. Dr Hong is the only good surgeon at rhino at GNG but when you book him, they may try to swap you with another surgeon saying he does not do revisions which is not entirely true as a lady from California got a lovely revision with Dr Hong and showed me her postop photo. Sigh. It can be a minefield!
 
@villacola10 thank you for this video! Wow! Some tpfers got stung at april31 when they thought they were getting Dr Kim, the head rhino surgeon but ended up with a less than satisfactory result and another surgeon visited them postop which suggested a doctor swap in theatre. April31 is on my black list. A native Korean had posted in this forum how this hospital is mostly targeted at foreigners as local Koreans go elsewhere. And I was communicating with Mia, a Vietnamese Canadian who paid a fortune for revision rhino at GNG and was devastated by her results. I still have her postop photo as a reminder. GNG also used shills and I know the names of some of their fake profiles on Tpf. Again GNG is another one on my blacklist. Dr Hong is the only good surgeon at rhino at GNG but when you book him, they may try to swap you with another surgeon saying he does not do revisions which is not entirely true as a lady from California got a lovely revision with Dr Hong and showed me her postop photo. Sigh. It can be a minefield!

I've never had a consultation with April 31 because I kept hearing bad stories from them as well. However, this is the first I heard of them possibly using shadow doctors. I was under the impression that the true doctors themselves had botched the patients.

I keep hearing conflicting stories about GNG and I suspect that there are a lot of "promoters" on PF doing everything that they can to save GNG's reputation. A huge red flag for me was when GNG was trying to promote more to foreigners instead of local Koreans (actually, still do ... ). I had questioned GNG clinic when I had my consultation with them and when I kept hearing glowing reviews on PF because I felt that the reviews were overexaggerated/too grandiose.

I don't doubt Dr. Hong's abilities but the fact that he is willing to continue to work at a clinic that has no problems lying to clients is enough for me to blacklist him too.
 
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Korea practice makes makrs sick
I am so sorry that this happened to you and what you're going through! I'm also sorry that there were people that didn't take you seriously when you had shared your experience.

Honestly, because I have never been interested in cheekbone and jaw reduction, I've never thought about this at all and about the skin sagging from these procedures. Me watching this video was the first time I heard of it.

It seems like a lot of people are still wanting to do these procedures. I honestly would advise people to think really hard about doing it. Personally, I don't think that it's worth it ... once you cut the bone, that's it ...
As far as I know, there are no proper revisions to stop the sagging.



Thank you, I really appreciate that. I think those who didn’t believe are either in denial bc they desperately want to believe this surgery works or nude to the fact that they are promoters desperately trying to convince the public that zygoma and jaw reduction doesn’t cause sagging or other issues.

I’m currently trying to figure out a way to sculpt my skin back up. I’m wondering if a facelift would work for me bc right now I’m using facelift tape to hold my skin upwards.
 
I’ve been trying to warm you guys about skin sagging and the danger of cheekbone and jaw reduction- yet, people don’t listen and continue to go for this procedure. This surgery bought my nothing but pain and depression and insults on a daily basis. It’s true, your muscle and skin will just fall rather then sculpted up. It’s a complete nightmare. I’m young but I’ll need a full facelift.

Just so I am sure I understand, jaw reduction isn't the same as two-jaw surgery, is that correct?
 
Korea practice makes makrs sick

Thank you, I really appreciate that. I think those who didn’t believe are either in denial bc they desperately want to believe this surgery works or nude to the fact that they are promoters desperately trying to convince the public that zygoma and jaw reduction doesn’t cause sagging or other issues.

I’m currently trying to figure out a way to sculpt my skin back up. I’m wondering if a facelift would work for me bc right now I’m using facelift tape to hold my skin upwards.

Those promoters have no soul.

Well, I've heard that facelifts can last about 10 years. But would it be as effective though? Our facial skin is literally affixed to our skull, so I would be curious to know how the doctor could lift up the extra skin to make it look right. I'm trying to visualize it, and I imagine it would look sort of lumpy. Then again, I'm not a doctor and I could be wrong! Maybe there is a facelift procedure that can fix this problem.

You're using tape to keep your skin up? That sounds really painful :sad: