Day 0: Arrival — Rest, Nothing Else
Your only task on arrival day is to reach your accommodation and rest. Do not schedule a clinic visit, sightseeing, or meals that require significant walking. Long-haul flights — particularly from Australia, the United States, or Europe — cause fluid retention, disrupted circulation, and fatigue, all of which compound surgical risk if you operate on the same or next day.
Korea’s medical tourism sector handled 1,170,467 foreign patients in 2024,¹ and clinics with international patient experience structure their schedules to build a recovery buffer before surgery. If your clinic has not already built Day 0 as a rest day into your itinerary, request it explicitly.
Practical tasks for Day 0: confirm your surgery time with the clinic, locate the nearest convenience store for post-op supplies (soft foods, gauze, ice packs), and identify the route from your accommodation to the clinic. Set an alarm that gives you 90 minutes before your Day 1 appointment. Eat a normal meal tonight — depending on your anaesthesia type, you may be fasting from midnight before surgery.
Do not consume alcohol on Day 0. Do not take anti-inflammatory medications (aspirin, ibuprofen) unless already cleared by your surgeon, as both increase intraoperative bleeding.
Day 1: Pre-Op Consultation and Bloodwork
The pre-operative consultation confirms that surgery will proceed as planned. Your surgeon reviews your medical history, examines the area to be operated on, and finalises the surgical plan. This is your last opportunity to ask procedural questions before the operating room — bring a written list.
Bloodwork — a standard pre-anaesthesia panel covering complete blood count, clotting factors, liver enzymes, and basic metabolic markers — must be completed 1–3 days before surgery, not on the same day. Results require laboratory processing time, and the anaesthesiologist reviews them before clearing you for general anaesthesia. If your clinic schedules bloodwork and surgery on the same day, that is a scheduling red flag worth questioning directly.
The Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (KSPRS; 대한성형외과학회, Daehan Seonghyeong Oegwa Haghoe — South Korea’s official professional and certification board for plastic and reconstructive surgeons) requires board-certified surgeons to complete six years of medical school followed by a four-year plastic surgery residency.³ Approximately 2,100 board-certified plastic surgeons are registered with KSPRS as of 2024.⁴ Verify your surgeon’s certification on the KSPRS public registry before this consultation — the registry is searchable by name on the KSPRS website.⁵
At this appointment, confirm four things in writing:
- Your surgery start time and check-in time for Day 2
- Fasting instructions (typically nil by mouth from midnight)
- Which medications to stop and when
- Whether your sutures will be dissolvable or non-dissolvable — this directly determines your earliest possible departure date
Also confirm the post-surgery discharge plan. You will not be able to navigate public transport alone after general anaesthesia. Arrange a companion or confirm the clinic’s patient transport service before you leave this appointment.
Day 2: Surgery Day — What to Expect Hour by Hour
Check-in is typically 7:00–8:00am. Arrive fasted, wearing loose, front-opening clothing — nothing pulled over the head. Leave jewellery, contact lenses, and valuables at your accommodation.
Arrive at the clinic. Complete final consent documentation. Hand over any personal items. Change into a surgical gown.
The anaesthesiologist reviews your bloodwork results, confirms your fasting status, checks vital signs, and places an intravenous line. Ask any remaining questions about anaesthesia here.
You are transferred to the operating room. The surgical team performs a final site check and timeout protocol. General anaesthesia is administered for procedures lasting over 1 hour.
Double eyelid surgery: approximately 1–1.5 hours. Rhinoplasty (nose reshaping): approximately 2–3 hours. Jaw reduction (V-line or square jaw reduction): approximately 3–4 hours. Combined procedures extend total time accordingly.
You wake from anaesthesia under nursing supervision. Nausea, disorientation, and chills are common in the first 30–60 minutes. Vital signs are monitored until stable. Pain management is administered here.
A nurse provides written post-op care instructions and your first prescription (typically antibiotics and analgesics). Your companion or arranged transport takes you directly to your accommodation. No stops.
Expect to be at the clinic for a full day. Do not plan anything for the evening. The operated area will be dressed, swollen, and potentially bandaged — this is expected at this stage, not a sign of a problem.
Days 3–5: First 48–72 Hours Post-Op
Swelling and bruising peak at 48–72 hours after surgery. The operated area will look significantly worse at Day 2–3 than it did at discharge — this is the normal inflammatory response to surgery, not evidence of a complication. Do not attempt to evaluate your result during this window. Photographs taken on Day 1 are for medical reference documentation only and are not predictive of your final outcome.
Three physical priorities govern this period:
Horizontal positioning. Keeping the head elevated above heart level reduces fluid pooling in the surgical site. Sleep with an extra pillow or a wedge. Avoid lying flat.
Minimal exertion. Increased heart rate and blood pressure drive more fluid into the surgical area and can stress suture lines. Walks to the bathroom and short movements around your accommodation are appropriate. Nothing beyond that for the first 5 days.
Medication compliance. Take your antibiotics for the full prescribed course — stopping early when you feel better is a common and avoidable error. Take analgesics on schedule rather than waiting until pain is severe. If you have been prescribed anti-swelling medication (often a short corticosteroid course), take it as directed.
Cold compresses (not ice directly on skin) applied for 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off reduce swelling in the first 48 hours. After 48 hours, switch to warm compresses if the clinic instructs it — some procedures differ on this point, so follow your specific post-op sheet over general advice.
Contact the clinic immediately if you experience: fever above 38.5°C, rapidly increasing rather than decreasing pain after Day 2, discharge from the wound site that is not clear or straw-coloured, or significant asymmetry that develops after Day 2.
Days 5–7: Suture Check and Progress Assessment
The first formal post-operative appointment occurs at approximately Day 5–7. The clinic nurse or surgeon assesses the wound site, checks for signs of infection or abnormal healing, and removes non-dissolvable sutures if they are present and the site is ready.
Non-dissolvable sutures require physical removal at this appointment. You cannot depart Korea before this visit is completed and the site cleared — flying with sutures in place and without a wound assessment creates both infection risk and leaves you without medical follow-up if a problem emerges in transit. Confirm this appointment date before booking any departure flight.
Dissolvable sutures (also called absorbable sutures) do not require removal and will break down over 1–6 weeks depending on the suture material used. If your procedure used only dissolvable sutures, your departure timeline is governed by medical clearance rather than suture removal. Confirm which suture type applies to your procedure at the Day 1 consultation.
At this appointment, the surgeon or nurse will also provide a preliminary progress assessment. This is not a final result assessment — healing at Day 5–7 is still heavily influenced by residual swelling. Expect to be told what is healing normally rather than receiving an aesthetic evaluation. Your final result is not assessable for weeks to months, depending on the procedure.
Ask at this appointment: what signs should prompt you to seek emergency care once you return home, and what is the follow-up protocol with your home-country doctor.
Days 7–10: Clearance Consultation for Flying
Surgeon clearance to fly is a formal clinical consultation, not a verbal sign-off at the end of another appointment. It requires the surgeon to assess your wound healing, confirm that cabin pressure changes and reduced humidity pose acceptable risk for your specific procedure and healing stage, and document that clearance was given. This documentation matters if you need medical care in transit or on arrival.
Do not book a departure flight before confirming the clearance appointment date with your clinic. Book the clearance consultation first, then book your flight for the day after — not the same day. If the surgeon identifies a healing concern at the clearance appointment, you need a buffer to extend your stay without penalty.
KSPRS board-certified surgeons are legally required to perform procedures in licensed medical facilities in Korea.⁶ The same legal framework governs post-operative documentation — clearance issued by your operating surgeon carries the clinical weight needed for travel insurance and home-country follow-up providers.
After clearance, request a copy of your operative report and post-operative records in English. Many Korean clinics provide this as standard for international patients — if yours does not, request it explicitly. Your home-country GP or specialist will need this documentation for any follow-up care.
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Sources
¹ KHIDI Medical Tourism Statistics 2024 — total foreign patients figure. [khidi-2024-stats-total-patients] ² KHIDI Medical Tourism Statistics 2024 — Gangnam-gu regional concentration; specialty breakdown. [khidi-2024-stats-gangnam-concentration], [khidi-2024-stats-top-specialties] ³ KSPRS Board Certification Registry — training requirements. [ksprs-registry-training-requirements] ⁴ KSPRS Board Certification Registry — total certified surgeons. [ksprs-registry-total-certified] ⁵ KSPRS Board Certification Registry — public verification. [ksprs-registry-public-verification] ⁶ KSPRS Board Certification Registry — legal requirement. [ksprs-registry-legal-requirement]