Hi everyone,

I’m scheduled for facial contouring surgery this week and I’m feeling really torn after getting conflicting recommendations from two clinics. I’d really appreciate honest opinions, especially from people who’ve had cheekbone and/or jaw reduction.

My goals:

\- More feminine face

\- Slightly slimmer / less wide

\- Softer overall look (similar to my filtered photos)

What I’ve done so far:

I’ve consulted with ID Hospital and Braun Clinic (my two main options). I’ve attached:

\- Raw photos (all angles)

\- Filtered photos showing my goal

Here’s where it gets confusing:

ID Hospital’s recommendation:

\- Cheekbone reduction

\- Fat melting (lipolysis)

\- Facelift

They said my jaw isn’t wide, so I don’t need jaw reduction.

Braun Clinic’s recommendation:

\- Cheekbone reduction

\- + some jaw shaving (even though they agree it’s not wide)

\- Facelift

They said the cheekbones are the main issue, but slight jaw work is needed for balance/harmony.

My dilemma:

I’d honestly prefer to avoid jaw surgery if possible (cost + invasiveness), and just do cheek reduction + facelift.

But I’m worried:

👉 Is it actually okay to do cheekbone reduction without touching the jaw?

👉 Has anyone done this and still achieved a balanced, natural result?

👉 Or does it risk making the lower face look bigger or “off” in proportion?

I don’t want to:

\- End up with a weird or unbalanced face

\- OR spend a lot more on jaw surgery if it won’t make a meaningful difference

If anyone has:

\- Before/after experiences

\- Similar consultations

\- Surgeon opinions or regrets

I’d really appreciate you sharing 🙏

Thanks so much!

Disclaimer: I wrote this review in exchange for a discount price (March 2026)

I chose Cocoline because of the ENT specialist, Dr. Kim Sun Goo. I have a deviated septum and mainly wanted to improve the definition of my nose.

I landed in Seoul in the evening and had my rhinoplasty the next day. I travelled with my friend which made everything so much better, I don’t think I could’ve gotten through it alone honestly.

The consultation was very detailed, and the staff were warm and friendly. Selena interpreted and was really helpful. Dr. Kim had such a warm presence too. He introduced himself and made me feel so comfortable. Now onto the surgical plan - he explained that I already had adequate bridge height, so the plan was to use septal cartilage to fill the nose and disguise my hump, while also slightly raising the tip. I originally brought reference photos, but during the consultation I decided to trust his judgment because he seemed to understand my facial harmony better than I did.

I went under general anaesthesia and woke up almost instantly, with no pain at all. The clinic gave me pumpkin juice and an ice pack that could also be microwaved to be a heat pack.

Days 1–3

The first few days were difficult because of the nasal packing. I’m not used to sleeping on my back or breathing through my mouth. I prepared by bringing a humidifier, dry mouth spray, arnica, bromelain, and melatonin to help me sleep, these were essential for the whole trip. I’m not sure if this is recommended, but starting from day one post-op, I was walking 10k steps a day and felt completely fine. For breakfast each day I had pumpkin juice and rice porridge and I iced my face religiously.

I got some stuff from Olive Young for my face (cleansing wipes) which is a must because you won’t be able to wash your face properly at all. I really just pampered myself as much as possible.

Days 3–7

The packing was removed, which was a huge relief. Soon after, my nose became congested and runny. I continued walking 15–20k steps daily, which I think helped because I had very minimal bruising. I don’t remember the exact schedule, but I went back to the clinic about three times for red light de-swelling treatments. I was instructed to clean my nose with hydrogen peroxide during this period. Be warned there will be crazy boogers coming out during this time lmao!!!

Day 7

Cast removal finally!! I got my hair done afterwards (much needed, highly recommend booking somewhere that does scalp massage) and then had two more days in Korea without the cast, which was nice.

It’s now been just over a month, and I love the result. It’s exactly what I wanted!! super subtle but noticeable to me. I obviously did lots of research about this and the amount of reviews saying to ‘prepare for the shock’ when your cast gets removed really scared me. But even with swelling, my nose was so much better than what I had before and I didn’t feel any shock or regret, just wish I had done it sooner lol. I think it’s important to have realistic expectations & self confidence going into it :)

I need help looking for the #1 clinic or doctor in South Korea that will be able to reduce my nostril width from the front and enhance my nasal bridge and tip projection! That’s all I want.

Example pictures of what I want in the third and fourth. If anyone sees this please don’t skip! I’m really needing all the help I can get.

anyone's facelift and contouring look like this after? I'm a year out and look like this. I've got hills and valleys on my face. I'm looking for a revision. please send me recommendations

***SORRY—-I looked up my paperwork to make sure I was sharing correct info—it was a SMAS facelift, not a deep plane—but I can’t edit the title

The below information is my experience ONLY - NOT a personal recommendation for YOU. YOU don't need plastic surgery! You are beautiful just the way you are!

I’m an open book—- if you have questions, feel free to ask. I AM biased though because my experience and results exceeded my expectations.

I'm going to add a lot more pics/info under u/Viviennewanderwell -- but this is just the start of it. I'm only posting under this account so you all realize I'm not new to reddit -- but I don't want my "main account" to be mainly associated with all the plastic surgery stuff.

Traveling for the next month or so -- and it will be about 4-6 weeks before I can get it all organized -- but I WILL be posting day by day reels etc on tiktok/insta, etc under Viviennewanderwell name but in the meantime see info below -- 

Some things to note:

• The best doctor for my face and my desired outcome might not be the best doctor for you.
• Clinics that target foreign clientele might not be the doctors with the most skill or best outcomes. but they ARE the best at marketing to foreigners.
• This is my ONE and ONLY face. I was not looking for the cheapest price, I was looking for the best doctor to deliver the results I wanted. I felt like S Korea was the place to go for my desired outcome. My personal opinion is if someone cannot afford to hire whom they feel is most capable of doing the BEST job - they should wait. In my research, I have seen horror stories.
• If you want a consultant involved, I found it best not to contact clinics myself first. Many clinics won’t allow outside representation to negotiate if you’ve already initiated contact.
• Almost ALL clinics will offer a discount for a review to get the word out - I'm not a paid shill for the clinic, but I'm so happy with the consultant I used and this doctor that I'm POSTING IT EVERYWHERE -- discount or not. My offer is outlined below -- I was not asked to write about specific things or that it be positive -- just an honest review.

If you’re considering surgery in Korea, one thing I learned the hard way is that going directly to clinics can mean a lot of runaround, inflated pricing, and limited transparency. What helped me avoid that was using an independent consultant to handle communication and negotiations from the start.

An experienced consultant likely already knows which clinics have strong reputations—and which ones to avoid (ghost doctors, inconsistent results, or “factory” outcomes where everyone ends up looking the same --plastic surgery industry in Korea is crazy, if they get known for botching cases, they will literally shut down, move, rename and reopen -- the only chance in hell you have of knowing this is if you have a local doing the research). They also understand pricing structures and can step in if anything feels unclear.

For my independent consultant, I used a company called OnJeong. They can either manage the full process or simply act as translators/representatives if you’ve already booked. In my case, they negotiated $4,000 off my surgery. They offer hourly or package pricing; in hindsight, the package would have made more sense for me because I asked for extensive research and back-and-forth. Also, frankly speaking -- they are Korean. There are a lot of "foreigners" that are transplants that provide this service. I'm sure they are fantastic -- but I wanted a local that speaks Korean as a first language (and is well versed in all cultural nuances) rather than a "foreigner" that is fluent in Korean.

Surgery consultant company ONJeong - WhatsApp +82.10.5861.5568 --

Let them know you got their info from Rachelle on Reddit

They prioritize jotform requests over what’s app messages b/c it’s easier to start the conversation right away – they are getting bombarded right now b/c my pics are getting a bit of attention b/c the doc’s skill and healing so fast, etc…so they are getting a lot of requests. To skip the line as much as possible, use the jotform –they will get back to you if you whatsapp – just faster if you do the jotform ahead of time b/c they know you’re serious and it’s just a more efficient way for them to get necessary info

https://form.jotform.com/260505297668063

As for my surgeon, I saw Dr. Yang, head doctor at Hugo Plastic Surgery - if you contact him directly, let him know Rachelle sent you...I don't work with him as far as getting a referral fee or anything -- BUT maybe if enough people contact him to get work done, he'll throw me a bone when I go back later this year to get some other less invasive things done! haha...

I am BEYOND happy with his skill and results. That said, regardless of which clinic you choose, the VERY best action I took was having independent representation throughout the process. (NOT a clinic employee)

My research led me to believe that the in-house translators are biased and are Clinic employees, so there can be a lot of gaslighting if something goes wrong

Now, for the numbers --

My total was $22,000 after negotiation. YES, I KNOW this is considered EXPENSIVE for S Korea. Some comparable USA quotes including all the work I had done were well over $150,000 and I honestly would have found a way to pay for it if I thought they would have done the kind of job I got in s. korea but I didn't have faith that they could do it. I chose my surgeon based on skill and fit for my goals—the lower cost was secondary but a huuuuuge fringe benefit. you absolutely can find a facelift in Korea for less than $20k, but it very likely won't be by the doc with the most skill or the one that most closely aligns with your preferred aesthetic. I'm apalled at the people willing to risk their faces to save $1k. it's WILD!

Finally, part of the negotiation is that whatever clinic you book with will likely ask you to write a review on an American website (or whatever country you are based in) -- I was offered $1k to write an honest review of my experience 3 months post op (after swelling has mostly dissipated).  Hell yeah, I'll save 1k by writing up a quick post---I haven't done that yet-- timeline has not approached -- I've just been telling everyone already b/c I'm so happy and want to share the info. This is not actually that post b/c I'm not yet 3 months out, but I want to share the info now.

Procedures I had:

Forehead/brow lift with hairline lowering

SMAS facelift

Lower blepharoplasty with fat repositioning and muscle reattachment

Stem cell injections/IV

Fraxel laser

I plan to return for maintenance treatments and will continue using a consultant each time. For me, it removed a lot of stress and uncertainty from the process.

It’s now been a little over a month since my husband’s surgery, so I wanted to share an update for you guys.

To be honest, the first few weeks were harder than we expected — especially the swelling around the lower eyelids. There were days when he felt like he looked more tired than before surgery, which was discouraging. Even though we knew this was part of the process, it’s still difficult when you’re going through it. Around the 3–4 week mark, things started to improve quite noticeably.

The swelling in the lower eyelids has gone down a lot, and the puffiness that you guys were worried about. 😅 The under-eye area looks much smoother, and the transition from the eyelid to the cheek looks more natural. His eyes also look more open now, but in a very natural way. The ptosis correction didn’t make his eyes look “surgical” or overly wide, it just looks like he’s more awake and less heavy.

The forehead still feels slightly tight at times, especially in the morning, but it’s getting better week by week. The brow position looks very natural.

Scars are healing well. The incision areas are still a bit pink, but they’re not very noticeable, especially with hair covering them.

Overall, this is the point where we both start to think that the surgery was worth it. The changes are not dramatic in an obvious way, but they make a big difference in how rested and refreshed he looks.

If you’re in the early stage and worried, I’d say give it at least a full month. That’s when things really start to turn around.

[Q&A]
Why the forehead lift?
- He had droopy eyelid, which couldn't be fixed with double eyelid surgery, and he had horizontal wrinkle which was bugging him for years. We wanted to deal with both of them and forehead lift was the answer.

Why the ptosis correction?

- I know you guys say he already had nice eyes 😂 but he used his forehead a lot when opening his eyes, and his eyelid muscles were weak, so I do think the ptosis correction was necessary.

He looks a little strange 😭

- Of course, it’s not like he didn’t want to improve wrinkles and look more attractive. But overall, I think having the surgery for functional reasons was much better—especially in terms of his vision.