Meeting Dr Chuang for the first time; my impression of Wish Clinic & Dr Chuang.
In the previous blog post I have briefly mentioned my thoughts and impression towards Wish Clinic. Just to recap, I liked Wish Clinic for its cleanliness, privacy, and modern yet simple outlook. The space gives a very professional vibe and the clinic staffs were all warm & friendly. As I waited in the consultation room I was slightly nervous but mostly excited to meet Dr Chuang for the first time. Dr Chuang gave me the impression of professionalism with a friendly and out-going personality. He was simply the same in person as he was answering all my emails; detailed and patient to answer all my questions and most of all understood my needs. That made me feel comfortable and confident quickly since through emails I have already built up those feelings, meeting Dr Chuang in person just confirmed them.
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| Dr. Chuang : ) |
Consultation and Q&A.
Before meeting Dr Chuang in person, we already did quite a detailed online consultation and I've already bombarded Dr Chuang with all the questions I had in mind. Since I am not new to this topic, I probably didn't have as much questions compared to those who are new to PS.
I will just share some common FAQs people tend to ask during first consultations:
1. How long is the downtime for eyelid surgery & rhinoplasty?
Downtime is usually different for different procedures and different people. Typically for rhinoplasty & eyelid surgeries, as it is a simple surgery, a few days to a week to get back to normal activities is common. People often return to work 1 week post-op because stitches would be removed after a week or so.
2. Are results permanent?
Results are usually permanent though there may be a few factors that affect permanence. E.g. for rhinoplasty, it depends on the implants used for your nose. And for eyelid surgery, usually it will be permanent until aging causes sagging then perhaps you'd need another surgery to remove excess skin if you seek perfection.
3. Will it be painful?
Based on my own experiences, there were little or no pain during surgery. For eyelid surgery, local anesthetic was used. That means you'd be awake during surgery and the anesthetic is only effective on the surgery site, i.e. in this case, my eyelids. Doctors need patients to be awake so that patients could assist in opening & closing of their eyes for them to check the incisions made and the height of the crease. At times when the anesthetic starts to wear out, you could possibly feel the pulling/tugging/stitching sensation though there will not be much pain but only slight discomfort. When I did my rhinoplasty, I was under general anesthetic the first time in Vietnam, and local anesthetic was given in Wish Clinic but I was put asleep through the surgery. Basically both times I was asleep and when I woke up there was no pain at all. The only difference was that the GA gave me a side effect of nauseousness and that made me throw up the whole night at the hospital, which was really uncomfortable to deal with. With LA used, there was no such problem at all. To me I didn't feel pain at all for both eyelid & nose surgeries, though there might have been times of discomfort e.g. blurry vision, dizziness right after surgery, and swelling, which all are commonly felt post-op.
4. Will the surgery leave scars?
This really depends on your doctor's skills and methods used for the surgery. My first rhinoplasty surgery left zero scars at my conumella where incision was made (between both nostrils), and minimal scar for my non-incisional double eyelid procedure since it was only stitching method used and no cutting was done. But my first epicanthoplasty left scars even after 3 years, still pretty visible when no make up is applied. That was quite a failed op since there was no difference after surgery plus it left scars. *fail* My latest surgery with Dr Chuang is still under observation but Dr Chuang did assure me that the method used for my epi ("w" stitch) will leave almost no scarring, or minimal. He already cut the skin with old scars away and my new incision marks should go away in 6 months, I am having high hopes for it! : D
5. What about post treatment care?
I was briefed my post-op instructions by Wish Clinic's friendly staff and also given a post-treatment care pack which consist of medications like painkillers & antibiotics, sterile cotton swabs and saline lotion to keep wounds clean, application creams and lotion for the wounds to keep infections at bay, eye drops for post eyelid surgeries, a cool/hot water bag to do cold/warm compresses, and a pack of face mask for wearing out if you prefer to keep low-profile (picture of the pack can be found in blog post part 1). I also returned to the clinic daily (since I lived 5 minutes away) for light treatment which was supposed to help rid swelling faster.
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| While getting light therapy done at Wish Clinic. |
6. Diet post-op?
No seafood, spicy food, heaty food like nuts, alcohol, and smoking - until wounds are completely healed, just to prevent any infections and for speedy recovery. Typically for 2 weeks at least I suppose? Try to stay indoors more often when the haze is bad since dusty air isn't good for wound recovery too.
7. How long do I have to stay in Taipei for?
Stitches will be removed in 7/8 days, ideally 8 days but 7 minimum days. Oh yea, and it depends on the type of surgery you're getting done too. Heard that jaw surgeries require patients to stay for at least 2 weeks.
8. How fast can I start my workout again?
Light exercises like walking should be fine after you are able to return to you normal activities. For other activities that involve jumping movements like jogging, or workouts that involve applying pressure like weight lifting or even swimming (b'cuz of the wet workout environment) should be waited out for at least 1-2 months post-op. Best is if you could wait out a little longer just to be safe, you wouldn't want to mess up your costly procedures right away yea?
9. How long will it take to look normal again?
For eyelid surgeries, most swelling should subside by a month but look most natural from 3-6 months. For rhinoplasty most swelling should subside from 1-3 months, but for swelling to TOTALLY subside it may take 6-12 months depending on individuals. This needs to be understood since many feel depressed while waiting for the final outcome thinking they screwed up their face but in fact its only because swelling has not subside fully. Patience!
Before my recent op...
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| This was a test shot taken at home for my new iPhone flash gadget, just nice it shows my nude face to show you guys my "before" face. Eyes far apart and slightly sleepy, thick nose bridge and bulbous (fatty) nose tip. |
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| Same, pre-op.. Me with light make up. |
Day 3 in Taiwan, Taipei...
The next day after my op, I felt no pain at all but vision was quite blur so I rested in my apartment almost the entire day. You could always head out to walk or shop but I preferred to rest since I quite frequent Taipei and I needed some quiet time. Moreover since I was alone for this trip, the more I didn't want to walk around since I was half blind. Lol. My Mom brought my twin little strep brothers to my apartment to keep me company instead and brought some local yummy lunch.
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Taiwan Oyster Mee Sua, super yums!! My Mom bought this from Xin Dian, near her place but its same and just as good as the popular Ah Zhong Mian Xian in Ximending. Could not consume seafood so I had the bowl with large intestines. Yummeh~
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| Fried Stinky Tofu! Yumsss! |
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Meat Stew? Not sure what its called in English, but in Taiwan they call it "Rou Gen". All these food can be bought in small road side stalls and are commonly found in Taiwan.
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| Went out in the late noon to get my early dinner that day and took some snap shots of small boutique shops near where I stayed. There were a few streets with such shops and Cafes, I found them looking like mini Itaewon in Seoul. Hehe. |
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| Cool right? An entire wall of olden-day letter boxes. |
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| One of the streets... |
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| And its close-up.. |
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| Look at the dark skies... That was only 5pm plus... |
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| I practically ate salads/sandwiches most time from the convenience stores. I don't know how many times I need to repeat this, but I super love Taiwan's convenience stores can?! The variety of drinks & food is amazing! And each food item also shows the amount of calories, haha.. Most importantly its convenient, cheap, & good. |
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| Show you more of my buys from the convenience stores... This whole set prob cost me less than SGD$6?? Which lasted me a meal and two snacks. Super worth! In Singapore you prob could get only 2 items for that price. |
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| These were great for days where I didn't feel like having heavy meals since I was lying down most of the time. |
Okay, just to share a little on my post-op pics.. for the first 3 days. And in case you are wondering what I did for my procedures; basically eyelids & nose only. For eyelids, I did ptosis to correct my slight sleepy eye problem, incisional double eyelid surgery to remove some excess skin to make eyes look less droopy, and epicanthoplasty for the inner corner of my eyelids to look closer since my eyes were slightly far apart. For nose, my implant was changed to Silitex (Sillicon implant with Goretex coating), tiplasty to elongate nose tip using septum & ear cartilage, de-fattening procedure to remove some fat from my bulbous nose tip, and alarplasty to define nose shape further. All in all my surgery cost over SGD$8K (where a quarter of the cost was paid for my eyelids), Airbnb apartment over SGD$400, and air tickets cost approximately SGD$300ish. Hope that was enough info for you to set a budget aside. But do bear in mind, prices may differ as consultation outcome should differ for everyone.
Will update more post-op pictures soon... Do feel free to leave comments/questions related to this blog post in the comment box below and I will try my best to answer them.
Here's the link to blog post 1: http://vannytelly.blogspot.sg/2015/11/trip-to-taiwan-my-plastic-surgery.html and blog post 3: http://vannytelly.blogspot.sg/2015/12/my-plastic-surgery-review-with-wish.html
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