Day 6, 7, 8 (Stitch removal), 9

Day 6, I finally felt brave enough to go to Changdeokgung on my own. (Also because I finished the drama series! ah! nothing to do?! haha). Changdeokgung palace is very very near the hotel! It’s so near that subsequently whenever I’m taking cab I will tell the taxi driver to go to Changdeokgung!

Well… people do look at me… but yeah I’ll just ignore them. They don’t know me anyway. Most people will try not to stare~ so it’s all right.

The palace was all right~~ But I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I felt good going out for a walk & taking pictures (after staying in the room for so many days). After this day~~ I felt much braver. I decided to go all out and explore Seoul the next few days ^_^

The next batch of food I bought from the convenience store. Btw the red colour packaging Tuna Porridge is nice ^_^
I was able to eat some soft cakes & bread but have to tear them into small pieces & bite slowly.

Day 7 morning I went to Bukchon Hanok Village. Then I went to Insadong. (Both these places are within walkable distance from the hotel). Did my first shopping in Seoul at Insadong. I felt great! haha! Then I walked to Cheonggyecheon stream to relax & took some pictures.

Day 8 I had to go back to ITEM clinic to remove stitches. Initially I was really worried about the pain. But it was all right! Not very painful at all. They only removed the stitches at my eyelids. Those in my mouth are dissolvable stitches. They will dissolve over time. Then I went to Namdaemun, Myeongdung to do more shopping! Then I went to Seoul Tower.

Just a note, I did not wear my compression garment when I went out these few days.

Day 9, since the stitches on my eyelids have been removed and I can start washing my face, I begin to put a little make up to cover the bruises on my face. I looked pretty normal with make up and hair covering my swollen face. I was happy! I went to Dongdaemum Doota & Migliore to do shopping. I haven’t been this happy for a long time! ^_^

Day 9 I managed to eat kimchi pancake for breakfast~ and ate some korean noodles for dinner! Had to bite very slowly though… my mood became much better now that I’m recovering well and life is going back to normal.

Day 3, 4, 5

I pretty much stayed in the hotel room throughout~ except going to the convenience store nearby to stock up. My swelling was very very bad. I can’t tell if the medicines (bromelain & sinecch) were effective or not… coz I know myself… my body is just very bad at this… it will swell and bruise badly.

The swelling and bruises took longer to go down than expected. It was worse than what I expected. I must say I was very mentally prepared… but still, can’t help but to feel a little upset. And I started wondering why did I put myself through all these? Is it worth it to spend so much and go through this suffering? (Of coz now that I’m much better I will definitely say that it is worth it! But yeah… that’s the kind of thoughts that went through my mind when I was in a very bad condition.)

As for food… to my delight, their convenience store sells pumpkin porridge!

Things I bought from my first trip to the convenience store:

Oh well… nothing interesting except that Day 4 I had to go back to the clinic to remove bandages from my thighs & some tapes from my forehead. I still can’t wash my face but I can start bathing. I tried to wash my hair on Day 4 but in the end I only rinsed with water coz it felt a bit too messy (the water will drip all over the bandage around my jaw area). Then Day 5 I tried again, this time I managed to wash it ^_^ though yeah, my bandage got a little wet, but it’s all right.

I wasn’t brave enough to go out on my own to crowded places. I did walk around the neighbourhood though. The neighbourhood around the hotel is quite nice ^_^. Had to do about an hour of walking (walking will help with the swelling). Other than that, I stayed in the hotel room to watch videos~ Oh I’m so glad I watched this series You’re Beautiful! It’s an old korean drama series. I missed it when it was super popular… but ya now after watching it, I’m so in love with it too! Thank god there’s this series to keep me entertained & happy during this ‘down time’ 🙂

Day 1 & 2 of the surgery

I went to the clinic straight from the airport.

I had to go to Peyto building level 3 for CT scan, then head to level 9 where all the operating theatres & patient’s rooms were located.

I could put my luggage in the patient’s room first, lock up all my valuables in a locker then change to their surgery robe.

The doctors looked at my CT scan and gave me detailed recommendations as to what I should do to my face.

Here are the things I did:
1) Double incisional eyelid (I wanted it to be higher even though I already have double eyelids)
2) Ptosis (droopy eyelid correction) (Or levator muscle correction)
3) Mandible reduction. Doctor did tell me from my CT scan how much bone he can shave off, which for my case, not much because of my bone structure 😦
4) Buccal fat removal (Or cheek fat removal)
5) Ultra Z Liposuction (Also meant to make my face smaller)
6) Fat grafting
7) Botox to further shrink some muscles at my face

Initially I wanted to add in rhinoplasty (nose job) but luckily I didn’t! Well… I don’t hate my nose. But of coz the mentality is, since u’re doing so many things and suffering already, might as well suffer all at once & make it more perfect right? But yeah! Luckily I didn’t! After reading many forum posts, the recovery process of a nose job is really tough! Your nose will be blocked and will have to breathe through your mouth. And imagine I had all that done to my jaw area… it would have been so tough if I decided to go ahead with nose job. So after my surgery, I really thought to myself thank god I didn’t!!!

Actually I was pretty calm throughout. Seeing ITEM clinic’s Singapore rep there really put me at ease as well. But wow! On the way to the operating theatre I was shivering!!! Really shivering. Actually, the only needle I felt was the one which was preparing me for anesthesia. I don’t even remember when I knocked out. The next moment I remember the doctor asking me something about my eyes. But I was half concious. I could feel he was stitching something but there was no pain. Next thing I know, they woke me up and helped me to my bed at the patient’s room. I was put on a drip throughout the night and there was something that helped drain blood from my mouth. Sorry… I do not intend to put any pictures of myself here. But yeah… really the moment I woke up there’s no pain at all. Just very numb. And my head felt flooded, like those feeling you get when you have a very bad flu. The patient’s room was pretty awesome! The bed was very comfortable & there’s even a tv.

Despite the comfort of the room~~ I didn’t sleep well through the night. I can’t drink water and during this period of time, the swelling went really bad!

To help with my swelling, I kept taking Arnica Montana tablets (the one by VitaMedical, that one don’t need water, just pop into your mouth and let it dissolve)

I kept feeling dizzy and I wonder if it’s because I haven’t eaten anything the entire day.

The next morning, the nurse gave me a can of milk to drink. Then she helped me change my dressing & prepared me to leave the clinic. I was given some medicine, some ointment for my double eyelid and 2 cold packs! (So yeah, don’t need to prepare, they will give you).

Oh yes, just a piece of advice, which I read online and luckily I heeded the advice! Wear comfortable clothing with huge neckline! It’s easier to change back to your own clothing with your head like an inflated balloon. I packed a number of clothes with huge neckline. Thank God!

ITEM staff helped me bring my luggage down and hailed a cab for me. I printed Seoul 53 Hotel’s map (which again, becoz people online said it’s very important!!! Many cab drivers only speak korean and that hotel is kinda hard to find, so make sure you print out the map in korean!). Speaking of this, I got cheated~ a little bit~ by this taxi driver. I was drowsy and I saw the meter was 8900… I almost gave him 90 000! But he just happily accepted the notes. Then I looked again and took back the money~ Then… I point to the meter again~ He then said ok ok 2 pieces (of 10 000)~ which is still more than the meter! Ah! Take advantage of a drowsy patient?! 😦 bad bad~~ Luckily it was not much~ Next time I’ll be more careful.

Next~ Seoul 53 hotel. This was recommended by ITEM’s Singapore rep. I saw online that their rates were 85 000 KRW per night. But I was charged only 44 000 KRW per night coz of connections! ^_^ Great! And the hotel receptionist was a very friendly guy. The moment he saw me he said “Ah~ you must be XXX!” He knows how to converse fluently in english and japanese! While waiting at the lobby, I overheard that there is another girl staying at this hotel~ who also just had her surgery.

The room:

Well it’s just a simple small room that is worth the price you pay 🙂

It has free wifi (but I didn’t try the wifi coz I signed up for S roaming pocket wifi device at the airport, I really need wifi since I was travelling alone so I couldn’t take any chances for lousy wifi at the hotel. I will also need wifi when I go out to explore on my own.

The room has no kettle, you’ll have to go downstairs to get hot water if you want. (I already found out about this before I came), and also they gave small hair towels instead full size body towels (again, this was mentioned in tripadvisor reviews).

I spent my 2nd day in Korea just resting in the hotel room. Kept having bad headache and my face is very swollen. I just stayed in the room, prepared my own food, ate medicines & using ice packs on my face. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel better and will go out and explore the area around the hotel. Heard that it’s very near insadong, the palaces etc. Got to see how near is it!

Pre Surgery

Before I talk about the things I prepared for the surgery, I wanna share one super stupid mistake!!!! I was supposed to take June 8’s flight to Korea but I booked the wrong date! I booked the day before and I didn’t realise it until the very last minute~ In the end I had to put on stand-by~ which was crazy!!! What if I couldn’t get a flight?! My surgery was scheduled to be immediately after I reach Korea! And can’t postpone coz the doctor will be going on a vacation the next day. Ah~ Such a stupid, horrible mistake. Fortunately I managed to get a seat for that flight~~ Thank God!

Well, this post I wanna share the things I prepared for the surgery.

I’m that kind of person who swell & bruise easily. Yes, even after simple things like facial, eyebrow, eyeliner embroidery, people always tell me I bruise easily. Even when I was doing ECG for the surgery~ the nurse exclaimed that “wow”~ the suction thingy was only there for a while and my skin turned red. So yeah… if you were me, would you not be kiasu?

So that’s exactly what I did. I was suppppeer kiasu.

I bought everything that’s recommended by people online for post surgery swelling & bruising.

I prepared Sinecch (which is actually Arnica Montana), Bromelain (which is actually Pineapple extract. If you read online, some of them said eating pineapples help, but crap where am I supposed to find fresh pineapple? So I bought this), more Arnica montana in case my swelling take very long to go down. Arnica montana gel to reduce bruising under the skin. And kelo-cote scar gel for my double eyelid to heal better.

Where did I get all these from? I ordered these from makemeheal.com
I spent about $200 on these? Which I think is very very essential for my recovery.
They are very efficient. The stuff were delivered … I think… less than a week.

Oh, as you can see, there’s one more Pien Tze Huang. This is a chinese medicine recommended on ITEM’s blog page. Ya I was so kiasu I added this into my list of recovery items too. Was it necessary for me to be this kiasu? Answer is… YES! Well, I’m typing this blog post the day after my surgery. I can tell you, my swelling is BAD BAD BAD! My head is like an inflated balloon. Fortunately I am mentally well prepared for this so I’m not so scared / worried 🙂 Just can’t wait for the swelling to go down so I can see the results.

 

Next thing that I wanna share is payment for the surgery. The good thing about choosing ITEM is that I can make payment at the Singapore office! Why I say this is because… 

When the money changer passed me the cash I was like huh?! so scary! I’ve never carried this much cash with me. What if I lose them? I immediately made arrangements to pay at ITEM’s Singapore office. You can trust them, coz well I did! No, my deposit didn’t disappear and my surgery proceeded. 🙂 

From what I know, most plastic surgery clinics in Korea accept cash only. Credit card there will be 10% (or 20%) surchage which is A LOT!!! I think some also accept bank transfers? hmm… whatever it is, when you choose a clinic, make sure you are clear how to make payment. To me, carrying so much cash is really stressful!!!

Next, cold compresses to reduce swelling. I bought the pink cold pack from Daiso (only $2!) and the round ball I bought it from my facial beautician long time ago. Put it in the fridge and take it out to massage your face~ it’s super shiok! 

Next, prepare lots of wet wipes coz the first few days you can’t wash your face / bathe. Haha!

Next… Food! 

This is really important, coz I’m alone. I can’t predict whether I’ll be fit to go outside to get food or not so I prepared some first… just in case. I think again, from here you can totally tell how kiasu I am. I read that pumpkin soup is very good for post surgery swelling but I can’t find any in NTUC Fairprice. i also checked beforehand that ITEM clinic doesn’t provide pumpkin soup. So in the end I got those baby food! haha! I haven’t try it~ will update here if it is nice~ Basically just some soft food here to make sure I won’t starve. I also prepared some meal replacement from LFI.

 

But it’s just that sometimes drinking too much meal replacement can be very boring~~ so yeah… got to prepare more. You can imagine how heavy my luggage was? haha! Ok! I’m done with this post! Next one, will be about my surgery and experience at ITEM. 🙂

The Big Decision to go for Plastic Surgery

Hi! ^_^ Well… this blog is created solely for my plastic surgery experience in Korea.
I am not a blogger, and this is not some famous blog with lots of hits & visitors, so I’m not sponsored by ITEM Clinic. I’ve not gone for my surgery (so I don’t know if I’ll be writing good things or bad things about them?). Rest assured everything I share here is truthful. I just find this experience so amazing that I wish to record all the little details in this blog.

Some time around April / May 2013, I made one of the biggest decision in my life.

That is, to do mandible reduction and to fix the ptosis (sagging eyelid) problem on my right eye.

I am 27 years old this year. All my life, I’ve wanted to get these two things fixed, but I was too afraid. In the past, plastic surgery wasn’t so common and the technology wasn’t so good. Especially for mandible reduction! It was scary to read about people who die from their jaw reduction surgery.

I did some research online. Like many others, I ended up at purseforum, cozycot etc where there are SOOOOO many posts by so many people. Sometimes, the more information we see, the more confusing it gets!

After reading Peggy Heng’s blog

http://www.thydowager.com/2012/09/plastic-surgery-before-and-after.html

and Jacqueline Koh’s blog
http://www.jacquelinekoh.com/2011/09/plastic-baby-part-2-face-surgeries.html

I gained more confidence to just go ahead with it! It was nice to read blog posts which are so detailed about the whole process. Made me feel much more informed about what I was getting myself into.

The next big question was, so which clinic?

Yup, of coz, also because of Peggy Heng’s blog, I decided to just go ahead with ITEM Clinic. There really isn’t many reviews about ITEM Clinic, except that the doctors used to work at BK. That’s all. But it was nice to know that they have a representative in Singapore, so it was really easy getting consultations.

You can check out http://www.itemcliniceng.com/

The Singapore h.p. number there belongs to their Singapore rep.
Book an appointment with her for consultation and they will do the rest for you!

I chose ITEM also because the blog page http://itemclinic.blogspot.sg/
was very informative.

http://www.divaasia.com/article/17795
This family also went to ITEM

And recently, there’s one more blogger who went to ITEM too!
http://www.myfatpocket.com/huirong/seoul-part-2-transformational-day-my-big-day/

I’ve never been to Korea and there isn’t anyone who can accompany me for this plastic surgery trip, so needless to say I am very nervous…. and very lost indeed. I’ve never traveled on my own! Fortunately, the Singapore reps for ITEM Clinic were very nice! They recommended me a hotel, helped me with airport transfers and all that. Really put me at ease.

I’ll end here for now. The next post will be about preparation for the surgery! ^_^