I wanted to correct my hooked nose, and I wanted to reduce…

• Concerns before treatment I wanted to correct my hooked nose, and I wanted to reduce my philitrum without excessive scarring. • How was it before getting treated? Hi, I’m a foreigner from the United States, medium/deep skinned WOC with hooked nose type! On February 10, 2026 I got lip lift and rhinoplasty surgery with Dr. Chung Seungil (currently 2 months post op)! I found Retmus clinic via Google because I was researching scarless lip lifts, because my skin tone is darker so the traditional bullhorn scar would have left me prone to alar-to-alar hyperpigmentation. Originally I had a aquiline/beak type nose with a pretty large dorsal hump, I wanted an inward curved, button-type nose, without extending the projection of my nasal tip from my face. I had three total consultations with Dr. Chung, a video one, an in-person consult, and a final consult right before the surgery. I was so anxious, especially about not wanting to extend my nasal tip projection, but Dr. Chung understood my vision perfectly! Although I had some bleeding the day or two right after surgery, one of the things that was so incredible about Dr. Chung’s technique was that it was really gentle. After about 2 weeks, I felt like I never even had surgery at all, 0/10 pain, and breathing completely back to normal. Unlike some surgeons in the U.S., Dr. Chung does not fracture the nose for reduction rhinoplasty which I asked him about, as a result, I barely had bruising for 3 or 4 days at most, I was really shocked because I was expecting more! Around 2 weeks, I no longer had lip incontinence either, because he removed 3mm from the philtrum. My favorite part of the surgery is the inwards slope of the nose bridge that Dr. Chung made, as well as the fact that Dr. Chung did not project my tip further than the original projection! I was worried at first because he was putting ear cartilage in the tip, but it didn’t project my nose further, in fact because of the overall balance of features I feel like my nose tip looks deprojected visually! Now I can actually enjoy taking photos of my side profile! :) Regarding the philtrum, since my nose tip was raised up, philtrum reduction was absolutely necessary to maintain the overall balance of features, so I’m really glad Dr. Chung offers it as a combination surgery. Currently, my only main concerns would be alar width from the front view, and loss of sensation (numbness) in the helix of the ear that fascia and cartilage were harvested from, but these areas may just be slower to heal/deswell so I’ll continue monitoring them and wearing my retainers diligently! Dr. Chung is very kind, but also realistically explains all the goals of surgery! The translator was super sweet, I really enjoyed chatting with her! And all the Retmus nurses and staff are really wonderful, the high level of care both pre and post op was really amazing! :) • Results The main side effects as I mentioned before were numbness at the harvest site (numbess of the ear helix), and concerns about alar width, but I will continue to monitor the healing progress in those areas. There is some hyperpigmentation at the incision site but I’m applying scar gel diligently!