Surgery in Korea

[goodbyegynow]

Just wanted to share my story... (wish I had found this website a long time ago)

well, I have had puffy nipples and what seemed to be some form of gyno since I was a teenager...and it appeared to me to be getting worse.....same as most ppl here I'm sure, I hated taking off my shirt, couldnt wear all the clothes that I wanted to as my "breasts" and stupid puffy nipples would stick out...so I wanted a change...
about 6 months ago, I was experiencing some pain in my chest, and noticed some hardened tissue behind my nipples, and it this really motivated me to seek a remedy...

so I contacted a couple places in Toronto (I'm canadian) while I was between jobs in Korea, and the prices were quite high, about 5500 Canadian dollars was what I was told...no thanks..

SO, I got thinking why not check out what it would cost in Korea....I met with a plastic surgeon, and he said he couldn't do it, but recommended me to a specialist who was a professor and surgeon at a large national university in my city....so I met with the guy...he spoke good English...and he was like, ya, you definitely have gyne...approx price will be about 2500 dollars canadian...
The surgeon was around 40, and said that he had performed this operation several times...and said that he had gotten great results.... for the price and his experience, I decided to go through with it...

so, it's now 4 days post op, and I'm writing this to all of  you...

I entered the hospital on monday night...had surgery tuesday morning at 11am, and was discharged on thursday morning...quite an experience being in a Korean hospital...nothing like rice and kimchi for breakfast! haha

umm...he installed drains(for two days and now removed)...and he has a compression dressing that he's having me wear for at least a week...it's not a vest, but some padding which gives me boobs...and then a medical bandage wrapped tightly around my chest a number of times...

he said he removed just over 600grams of tissue...

so ya...my digital camera is broken, BUT, i did have my friend take some pics of my chest pre op, and he has yet to email them to me...so I will soon be adding photos..

first impression: despite the swelling and the stitches, the initial results look good....first time in about 10 years (im 25 now) that I've looked down and not seen these big, weird puffy nipples sticking out at me!

question: It seems that a lot of the doctors recommend wearing a compression vest for a while...but,I think he is going to take it off after 6 days....is that bad, or is 6 days better than nothing?? or should I continue to wear my own wrap even if he recommends taking it off?

so ya, I searched for Korea on here, and there didn't seem to be a lot of information so I guess I am the guineau pig!


OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH big surprise as I left the hospital!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my boss had signed me up to the national health insurance on monday afternoon, and my surgery was tuesday morning....the surgery was labeled as plastic surgery, so it wouldnt be covered, but my boss figured that it might cover some of the hospital fees, and some of the medical bills!
so, I get the bill on the day of my discharge...and it was about 3500 canadian dollars...quite a bit more than my surgeon had estimated....so I was kinda pissed but just wanted to get outta that go##amn hospital...so I handed them my insurance card, and the dude was likke, sorry this was cosmetic...so of course, I was like I know, but what about the hospital stay and drugs....after about 30 minutes, and calling my surgeon...they gave me a new bill, and it was about 1100 canadian dollars!! I couldnt believe it, felt like I'd won the lottery! my bill dropped like 2400 dollars! so ya, most of it was covered under the national health insurance plan...but I dont know how exactly...I think I got lucky and the surgeon hooked me up....I don't want to dig further in fear of another bill! haha

[headheldhigh01]

some people compress for longer, others don't have to have it at all, depends on case and doctor. 

that partial coverage is interesting, wonder if any of it would fly down here too, though probably a tough fight. it would be interesting to know how that works anyway, if the canadian plan reimburses the korean one or what. 

congrats on the op. 

[goodbyegynow]

well I don't have any coverage on the Canadian end of things so it will all be covered by the Korean plan.  I mean I have OHIP in Ontario, but they were never contacted and won't be.  The initial assessment from the doctor was that the surgery wouldn't be covered as it was considered cosmetic....so I don't know if he pulled some strings or because I'm a foreigner he hooked me up or what happened?  Either way, I'm not going to ask too many questions!

As for getting insurance to cover it on other countries, I guess once you've lived with it, it's hard to believe that it isn't covered.  The affect that it can have one you mentally and obviously physically can be quite detrimental to many people.  After reading some of the stories on this website, I realized that mine probably didn't effect me as badly as some others but yet,  I still chose to get surgery so I can only imagine what some people go through.   It's a relatively cheap and life changing surgery that should be covered in my opinion, but my opinion doesnt count! haha

Anyway, 17 days on now, and the healing is coming along nicely...the nipples look a bit "funny" and when I flex my chest muscles, the nipples kind of come in a bit....looks a bit strange, but I'm hoping that will change with more healing.  Either way, they look 10000000% better than before the operation, sticking out like two inches and all....it's just amazing to wear a shirt and not worry about how my "boobs" look....when I'm not resting they look pretty damn normal to me...and that makes the surgery well worth it in my books!   Pictures to follow