If something goes wrong: the order to work through

Complications are uncommon, but they happen. What decides the outcome then is not how wronged you feel — it is whether there is a record. Living in Korea gives you one large advantage, which is that you can go back. Work through it in order.

1. Return to the clinic that treated you

Emotionally the last place you want to go; medically the first place you should. They know what was placed where and in what quantity, and some complications turn on how early they are addressed. If a vessel is occluded or infection is suspected, time is the prognosis.

While there, ask that the course of events be entered in the clinical record. A phone call is not a record.

2. Gather the record

• A copy of the clinical record, the consent form, and documents naming the product and dose used
• The receipt and the itemised statement
• Photographs from before, right after, and now — same light, same angle. This is the one most often missing
• Notes of what you were told at consultation, with dates

A patient has the right to request a copy of their own record. There is no reason for it to be refused.

3. Get a second clinical opinion

Have another clinic that performs the same procedure give you an opinion on the current state. It gives you something to weigh the first explanation against, and it becomes evidence later.

4. If it still is not resolved

• Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency — for harm arising from the medical act itself. Faster and cheaper than litigation.
• Korea Consumer Agency — for disputes that are really about the transaction: contracts, refunds, misleading advertising.

They handle different problems. As a rule of thumb: the complication goes to the first, the refund fight to the second.

What not to do

• Do not delete the photographs. They are evidence even when they are unflattering.
• Do not agree on the spot to a settlement conditioned on removing a review. Read it before signing.
• Do not self-medicate or cover it with another procedure — it makes the cause harder to establish.