My Plastic Surgery Experience in South Korea: Day 1 Banobagi Facial Contouring and Rhinoplasty Post-Surgery: Discharge, Pumpkin Porridge and Guesthouse
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Day 1 Post-Surgery
Dr. Oh made his rounds around 10 a.m! I was pretty excited because I wanted to go back to the guesthouse already and have my tubes taken out. He greeted me brightly and said I looked good, and that he did his best to make my face more symmetrical and beautiful. I was pretty reassured by his because Dr.Oh is super experienced and his worst is probably better than a lot of people’s best. His English is also seriously flawless, there was no need for a translator. When I mentioned it to Devon, she said that a lot of the doctors studied at Seoul National University, and they're super bright and great with languages. I sound like his fan now haha 😂
Devon and Jessica both came in after. I was a lot more swollen today and couldn't speak properly so I just typed to them on my phone. They assured me that the nurse would come soon and help me take care of my wounds. I'm genuinely so thankful for the nurses, one came in during the night to lower my bed and take off my nose tube, then again to change my ice pack and take my blood pressure. They work tirelessly and I couldn’t thank them enough.
The nurse basically took off a lot of plasters on my face holding my haemovac tubes in and started expertly cleaning my wounds with the longest Q-tips I have ever seen. The way she cleaned my nose got rid of a lot of buildup, but I kind of thought she was reaching my brain already. Never in my life have I had a Q tip go that far up! Jessie told me it's necessary to help me breathe better. The removal of the blood tubes was probably the most gross part of the whole experience, it was literally pulled out of my cheeks. The IV drip by comparison was nothing.
Here's what I looked like after the tubes were taken out! I definitely feel a lot better. My mum helped me out of my hospital gown into my zipped sweater and pyjama pants. Luckily my huge parka had a very fluffy hood which covered my face and I also wore a face mask given by the clinic. I definitely felt very covered up for the short walk back to the guesthouse!
I highly recommend staying at the guesthouse after surgery. This is why:
The elevated bed! Foreign patients like me, who amongst us brought 10 pillows to prop our head up? Having my head at an angle helped with my deswelling and also my neck pain after anaesthesia. It's probably wise to book in advance, especially during peak times like December.
My mum showed me all the medications she bought for me from the pharmacy opposite the guesthouse. It only cost about 60USD for 4 different types of antibiotics, painkillers and ointment. It's seriously so helpful to have someone with you to take care of collecting the prescription, but I think it's also fine to come by yourself and collect the medication prior to surgery. The pharmacist kindly arranged the tablets that I had to take three times per day into small plastic sachets. It was super useful, definitely something that should be done in the pharmacies back home!
My swollen face next to my long packs of medication😂
I was in the guesthouse for about 10 minutes when a super kind co-ordinator brought in two large bags! What did they contain?
Woah, soy milk and pumpkin soup ^^ Soy milk is a good choice of drink following recovery, as it contains protein which will help to repair cells. Pumpkin soup is also super important, as Koreans have long believed in its healing properties. A lot of people take pumpkin juice after pregnancy and surgery. Unfortunately I don't think I can easily drink the soup until a while later, but I look forward to recovering well and tasting something other than soy milk.
The rest of my day was focused on following my routine. I think having a routine is very important because it's so easy to just stay in bed and not do anything I learnt from my previous hospital placements that it's very easy to lose mobility and muscle mass if you just do lie down all day, so here is my routine as an example:
9 p.m: Drink water, gargle and take a painkiller. Sleep for a few hours.
1 a.m: Water, gargle, change ice pack. Take another painkiller (one every 4 hours)
6 a.m: Wake up, drink water. Drink some soy milk and then gargle. Walk around the guesthouse 10 laps and then clean nose & wounds with hydrogen peroxide and ointment. I usually take a painkiller too. 15-20 minutes after I drank the soy milk, I take the morning medicine prescribed by the doctor. I was advised to not take the medicine on an empty stomach as it will cause nausea. I did that this morning because I forgot and I regretted it 😭 Felt so sick. Listen to the doctor guys!
Every two hours, I get up and drink water, gargle and change my ice pack. I don't even need to set an alarm, I just automatically wake up. #bestpatient 😂 I usually also clean my nose.
12.00pm: Get up properly, elevated bed and do the usual. I clean all my wounds again and apply the ointment diligently as I don’t want scars to form. I usually walk another 10 laps energetically around the guesthouse. There are lots of other patients doing the same! Encouraging each other :)
Okay on day 1 I actually felt quite nauseous and ill, I basically slept as much as I could to ease the discomfort. It was also difficult to keep my eyes open for long because of the swelling so I stayed in bed a lot. Devon warned me that swelling generally peaks around days 2-3, so I was trying to prepare myself well for the next day by applying ice packs and walking around.
My mum kindly helping me to apply the ice pack. My saviour 😭😭 She also reminded me to take my medicine and gargle.
Day 2: Link here
Day 2: Link here
5 comments
Hello, may I ask, how much did your surgeries cost altogether? How much was the total cost of your trip - including plane tickets, hotel, etc? I am saving up to get plastic surgery in Korea, I want facial contouring, rhinoplasty, and larger eyes and I would love to get an idea of how much longer it will take :)
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