My senior seminar at university was about the study of tourism from an anthropologists point of view. In the class, we talked about medical tourism. Medical tourism is basically a person going to another country to have some sort of medical procedure. The medical procedure can range from anything: give birth, cosmetic surgery, dental surgery, etc. When we talked about it in class, I never thought that I myself would ever participate in it.
Today, that all changed. I started the process of getting three different procedures. Korea is apparently listed as a hot destination for medical tourism, according to CNN.com. And its no wonder because it is so cheap to do a lot of procedures, especially compared to the prices in the states.
I first went to an English speaking dentist in Seoul. My wisdom tooth on the bottom right of my mouth was bothering me this last week and decided it was about time to get them all removed. I also wanted to look into getting a tooth implant. I lost a tooth in the front part of my mouth when I was younger, and ever since I had braces and now a retainer, I've had a fake tooth on the wire. I don't like having to wear a retainer all the time and an implant in the states costs a couple thousand dollars, so I never got one. At the dentist, they did an x-ray of my mouth. To get my wisdom teeth removed, I actually have to go to a University hospital to get the surgically removed. They are impacted and part of the bone needs to be trimmed to remove them. There is a hospital about a 5 min walk from where I live, so I will be going to them to get it done. I have health insurance here in Korea, so it won't cost me very much at all. It will probably be about
₩30,000 to
₩50,000 (~$30-$50) per tooth. In the states, it would cost $300-$500 for the procedure.
The second thing that I sought out the dentist for, was about an implant. He looked at my x-ray and the procedure would cost
₩1.8 million (~$1,500). This includes the bone graft, the implant, and the tooth. It covers everything. In the states, this procedure would cost me $2,000 - $4,000. What is also nice about getting this done is the dentist lets the you pay it off in payments. That way I won't have to blow my entire paycheck. I will start the procedure next Saturday, where I will only have to pay ₩50. The entire procedure will take about 6 months because of the all of the steps it takes to get it done and for the healing.
My next procedure is a cosmetic one. Some of my co-teacher talked about how they have gone to a dermatologist to get laser hair removal done, especially because it is so cheap to get it done here. I decided I wanted to get laser hair removal done on my armpits. It takes a couple sessions to get all the hair removed, so today I had my first one. The first put on a numbing solution kept it on for half an hour. After that, I got the procedure done. I'm not exactly sure how to explain it. He did it several times on each arm pit because he would start from the top and work hi way done, doing it by section. It kind of felt like a small electric shock. It didn't hurt, I think I over thought about the pain but it wasn't that bad at all, I feel like tweezing is worst. I will have my next session in the next 1-3 months.
So that has been my experiences so far with being a "medical tourist." I will hopefully be getting my wisdom teeth removed here soon, but I won't be able to talk for about 4 days so I need to schedule it at the right time. Also after I did all of this, I went to see my first 4D movie. Although the movie itself was in 2D, I was able to experience the 4D part of it. Basically with 4D, the chairs move around with the motion of the movie, there is wind blowing in your face, and the chair you are sitting it has features to it. I saw the new Mission Impossible movie, and so when someone fell or got shot, the chair would make it seem like you fell down or was shot. It was interesting, the next time I'll will see movie that is in 3D as well as get the 4D effect.
No comments:
Post a Comment