Considering getting jaw surgery in South Korea

[screwsandplates]

Hi there! I have a normal occlusion, a very small airway, a long face, a receding chin (currently with a silastic implant in it), a gummy smile, mildly hollow under eye area/flat cheeks, and a slightly protruding upper mouth area. I currently have braces on to straighten my teeth/prep for surgery with Dr. Arnett, although I am hesitant after reading more than a few bad reviews. I don't have condylar resorption or a massive underbite, so I want to be very delicate with the aesthetics of this surgery since I would majorly regret ruining my appearance when an improved appearance is my main motivation.

After looking at before and afters for a very long time, I discovered Korean jaw surgery. At first I thought "oh well all jaw surgery is the same, isn't it?" But after seeing some of the websites, I've found that not only are the results amazing but they are also less expensive. The before an afters seem to have a different look from any American surgeries I have seen. Yes, I know that they're all Asian (and Korea is more homogenous than the USA), so perhaps different skull morphology might have something to do with it, but some of the 'before' pictures have very similar problems to a lot of Caucasian (that's what I am) 'before' pictures. I really love the look that these 'afters' have. They look more delicate and feminine than some of the American post ops I've seen online (even though most people looked awesome too).

Since I have a long face, small chin, and a protruding mouth, I'm wondering how a surgeon at a South Korean clinic might perform it.

These are some examples:
http://eng.idhospital.com/jaw/jaw0702.php
http://eng.idhospital.com/jaw/jaw06.php#jaw06_photo

[Kristen]

Those are some impressive results on their website.   I also like the way they explain everything and what procedures would be best for each case. 

[CK]

not sure how much cheaper it is.

i only looked at the site for a few minutes but double jaw surgery is ~18 million KRW which is about 17k USD. BUT you have to factor in air travel and 5 weeks stay in SK. probably cost around 30k?

and then if you have to fly to SK several times a year for check ups unless they have affiliates in the US. and then if something goes wrong another flight to SK.

[jawless]

Before you go there you might want to consider how popular americans are in South Korea.

http://youtu.be/-qlAJCnAlmE

Also, the Koreans are notorious for photoshopping the after pictures too.

[geijutsu]

Bone cutting procedures in South Korea are more prevalent than in the west in general. Only a small fraction of the jaw surgeries performed in Europe and the US are for purely aesthetic reason, where as having your jaws reset or sawed are routine in South Korea.

They've got many variation in osteotomies as apposed to only a limited few that they generally done in the west. They're also more on the adventurous side, Procedures like V-line osteotomy is pretty much the standard for many Korea women, but I have yet to see a European doctor who performs them. They are of course more affordable than western surgeons as well, and their jaw surgery approach is "surgery first", as in having the surgery first then the braces later, which cuts the overall orthodontic time frame by a margin.

This goes without saying that there does seem to be a whole lot of disaster cases over there, mainly for the very competitive nature of the plastic surgery market. I read on the purseforum that in many cases, they allow residents to perform your surgery after they knock you out.

The assembly line style they adopt is also unsettling, getting jaw surgery is a major operation and should not be taken lightly.