Choosing A Doctor

I met with two doctors in Seoul. The first was a private hospital in the plastic surgery mecca of the capital. The hospital was famous for jaw surgeries, like the Dr. 90210 of Korea, with multiple press junkets, TV programs, etc. He had an extensive resume and was one of the first people to begin to use a surgery first method. This is an option given to people like me, who have already had braces, to have the opportunity to have the surgery and then return to 6-8 months of braces. This meant that I would be able to skip over the 1-1.5 years of wearing braces before having the operation. I liked this option for a number of reasons, the greatest being that I would be a braceface for a maximum of a year.

The second doctor was someone recommended to me by a family member. He was much older than the first doctor, around 60+, and was a part of a university hospital in the plastic surgeon department. Retrospectively, I realize that this should've been a red flag, as this is maxillofacial surgery, NOT plastic surgery. However, I was too naive to make this connection, and after pressure from family members, I ended up choosing this man as my surgeon.

For anyone who is trying to decide on a surgeon, TRUST YOUR GUT. If you think the doctor is too old, too dumb, too inexperienced, too whatever, GO WITH SOMEONE ELSE. And DO NOT let anyone pressure you into choosing a doctor. This is YOUR surgery, and YOU are the one who will have to live with the consequences. Go with someone who instills a sense of confidence and calm about your future face.

After I returned to the States in early June, I began making plans to fly back to Seoul to prep for my Aug. 8 surgery date. I flew back in mid-July to begin work with the dentist who was NOT a part of the university hospital (even though the hospital has its own dental school). Again, this should've raised another red flag, but my naiveté won.

The day after I arrived, I plunged into dental works, aka getting braces. Got my spacers inserted, a few days later, had my back brackets put into place. That was when things started going downhill. One of my back brackets weren't put in correctly, so my back teeth wouldn't meet properly. The next day, I went to meet with the surgeon. With the operation looming less than 3 weeks away, I was expecting a more detailed explanation of the game plan for my jaw. That was when he started asking me how I wanted to have the surgery - did I want both upper and lower, was I interested in genioplasty, etc. Aside from me asking post-op questions, he had nothing to tell me save for the fact that he planned on going on vacation from Aug. 2-8.

After this meeting, I immediately called my best friend whose entire family is in the medical profession. She expressed her skepticism, which corroborated my own, and told me to discuss this again with my parents.

A few days later, I went to the dentist, assuming that they were going to put on my brackets. When I arrived, they first inserted an expander in my mouth without having told me previously that I was getting an expander. That was when I started to come to the realization that I was completely clueless about the dentist's plan for my mouth, in addition to the plans for the surgery. I was getting pretty upset while sitting in my chair, but the last straw came with the brackets.

The first day I arrived, I had discussed with my dentist that I specifically wanted to have enamel colored brackets for the top teeth and metal on the bottom. When I looked in the mirror after they placed the brackets, I saw that they put all metal. I was LIVID. When I complained that the metal brackets were not the ones I had requested, my dentist showed me the paper that showed the words "metal" written under brackets. I told him that I don't know who wrote that, but it was something I hadn't requested. The fact that his attitude was like, "They're on now, just keep them on" made me absolutely furious. If I'm paying thousands of dollars for a service, I expect for the job to be done well. That means that if I want enamel brackets and you put on metal, you go back and put enamel brackets in my mouth even if it's a pain because at the end of the day, you fucked up and this customer is NOT happy.

After more discussion, I come to realize that the dentist (the one who actually comes up with the plan for the surgery) hadn't made the measurements and graphed a chart for me yet, citing that he hadn't had enough time. He gives me more excuses by saying that this entire procedure is rushed. I heard that as him saying that he's inadequate to prep me for an operation that's now 16 days away. When I told him that I wanted to further discuss the plans for my surgery, he brushed me off by saying that he had a lot of patients to see today. I heard that as him saying that he didn't consider my status as a patient as important and that my concern for my surgery was unwarrented and an overreaction. I left the office with an internal struggle with how I should proceed.

LOTS of tears and LOTS of stress later, my uncle (with whom I was staying) showed me the website of another hospital that only performed jaw surgeries. At that point, I was torn between staying in Seoul and meeting with other doctors or just giving up and going home. But then I figured since I was already there, it wouldn't hurt to meet at least one more. I'm really glad I did, because that was how I found my surgeon.

From the first moment I walked into the new hospital, I knew this was the place. Lots of meetings later, I was finally matched with a surgeon who had an opening for Aug. 10 (two days after my original date) due to a previous patient canceling due to problems with their blood test. I was told by the head nurse that I was lucky to get Dr. Park because his surgeries tend to be shorter than the other doctors due to his experience and skill. I felt like this was just another sign, so I prepped myself for Aug. 10.