South Korean Clinic Treatment (Dr. Minbo Shim)

So Dr. Shim's method didn't work either. Such a shame. How bad is your hearing loss? I have a mild notch on my left ear, and my right ear is fine, luckily.

 

I used to have normal hearing before I got slapped on my right ear on 04/2019. Then I had a surgery on 07/2020 @ Mass Eye & Ear. In September of 2020 my surgery failed, and I lost 60% of my hearing (partial ossicular chain discontinuity).

I just did another surgery on 08/2022. That has now failed, and I have huge air bone gaps (over 40 dB at multiple frequencies) so it's repairable, but it left me with profound hearing loss at 8000 Hz.

Doing another surgery on 03/2023 (stapedotomy). Say a prayer for me. Fingers crossed because my tinnitus has gotten so much worse and so has my hearing.

I also have mild - moderate hearing losses in my left ear that developed on Q1/2020. That's why I did Dr. Shim's treatment on my left ear only, and I also have tinnitus in my left ear. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I've been struggling so badly lately. I can't be anywhere loud, even crowded restaurants; my tinnitus is so reactive now it's ridiculous and it lasts for hours. Super high-pitched ringing.

Where did you do your Dr. Shim injections? FL, WA or South Korea? I did mine in FL, I was his first patient to be treated in the USA. I set him up with and made the introduction to the doctor in FL who is regularly doing his injections now on multiple sufferers looking for a solution just like us.

 

I was planning on doing the Dr. Shim treatment in the future, but now I probably won't due to the failure of the treatment. I'm truly sorry you're in such a bad situation, I will have you in my thoughts.

Do you think after you get the surgery, you'll get some of your hearing back?

 

The doctor thinks there's a 90% chance on my right ear.

 

Hey @scotty03874, the clinic in Sarasota you went to for LLLT that you told gave you significant results is now doing a protocol for hearing loss, tinnitus, and hyperacusis called SunaVae with the LLLT LumoMed, and also stem cell injection into the ear, and they say the stem cell part is led by Dr. Shim. I’m not really sure what to think of this, they have 3 “testimonial” videos on their webpage but nothing further.

Did you have reactive tinnitus when you did the LLLT there, or just regular tinnitus?

 

I've done LLLT twice there before. The 1st time (09/2020) when I had the treatment, I just had mild hearing loss as well as mild to moderate tinnitus. Then I had a surgery, the surgery failed, and I ended up with moderate-severe hearing loss and got much worse tinnitus. I did bone marrow injections as well as PRP injections and the laser treatments in 08/2022.

I can tell you the first time I went there for only LLLT, it helped calm down my tinnitus a lot. My tinnitus has always been reactive, like if I listened to very loud music etc for a long time, it would raise the tinnitus up for like 20 minutes, same thing if I rode my motorcycle too.

Scott

 

Thank you for the response, @scotty03874. I am educating myself in LLLT because I have high frequency hearing loss in right ear, around 11,000 Hz and up from an ear infection in September, which is what triggered my tinnitus to come on. It started as a high hiss in right ear, but is now bilateral multi-tone and very reactive to everyday sounds, it even spikes when my blood pressure and heart rate increase. They say the treatment is used for hyperacusis too so I’d like to think it could have a positive effect on reactivity, but that may be wishful thinking.

 

I think it's worth a try. If money isn't an issue for you. With Airbnb it costs like $5000 - $6000ish.

 

I think your money would be better spent on some hearing aids like Audicus.

Silverstein in Florida nearby didn’t have a good impression of LLLT for whatever that’s worth.

 

I already have a pair of top notch Starkey hearing aids, bread new. But thank you for the financial advisement lol.

 

I was shown some Starkey hearing aids at Paparella in Minneapolis quite awhile back. They wanted about $10,000 for a pair which seemed awfully high. I got 2 pairs of Audicus online and 1 pair of Widex Moment which an audiologist sold me for about $3000. They only seem to work for masking as far as I can tell. I’m still looking at left Eustachian tube issues as I had my bad left TMJ fixed in September.

 

I paid for their top of the line/best hearing aids on the market for just over $5000.00.

 

How did you fix the TMJ?

 

Just ran across this video last night:

TMJ Pain Relief with Simple Exercises & Stretches - Ask Doctor Jo

 

I didn’t read the doctor’s report to know all the specifics but he took fat from around my belly button area and transferred it to my left TMJ which was bone on bone. He may have trimmed any bony growths on my condyle but I’m not positive on that.

Anyway, my left jaw isn’t crunchy anymore, but my tinnitus remains in my left ear.

Right now it’s a really loud high pitched solid noise. I used an EarPopper last night many times and it hurts some on my left side when I use it. There might be inflammation there, I’m not sure.

 

@scotty03874, I have a consult with them tomorrow to further discuss success numbers, types of tinnitus patients, and pricing. I know you said the laser treatment really help your tinnitus first time around, do you feel like those results stuck for an extended period of time?

 

Yes only the 15 laser treatments did anything for my tinnitus. I also did the FCR (functional cranial release), only one time each nostril. This was the first time I went there in September 2020.

After I introduced him to Dr. Shim and I did his protocol of injections in July of 2022, that did absolutely nothing for me. They are going to push all three on you FYI. Because it's more money for them.

From my personal experience, I can only speak highly of my visit in September of 2020 which did not include any ear injections, only LLLT and FCR. I would start with that only first.

 

Thank you for your input, @scotty03874. I had my consult this morning just to learn information. They no longer do the PRP or bone marrow, it is VSEL stem cells from your blood and it is an injection into the ear. For tinnitus they also recommend the “brain protocol” which includes IV VSEL stem sells and laser to the different areas of the brain/cranium.

One ear given two VSEL stem cell injections along with 10 bilateral laser treatments is $13,000. Then the brain protocol of IV VSEL stem cells with laser treatment on the head/brain is another $2,500.

Putting this information here in case anyone was curious.

 

When I showed Dr. Shim my audiogram years ago, he said that my hearing was really good, and I should be able to get a good result from just one treatment, and did not recommend too many treatments. He also said I would likely get a discount.

I'm still interested in getting this treatment, but I am suspicious of the consequences of having too many at once, like with Frequency Therapeutics. If I do get it, I'm just going to get one or two injections at max, and then monitor my hearing on a hearing test app that I've found reliable with my DJ quality headphones. My goal is to reduce the hidden hearing loss, at least, and hopefully that could happen, although likely it may not.

Still, with the amount of money I will be making at my next job after I graduate, and the low cost of living in my area, I might as well give it a shot.

 

Interesting that they are not doing Dr. Shim's protocol anymore. Maybe they found something that works better. But the proof is in the pudding.

 

Hey @Artemis2K, I can tell you the clinic in Sarasota only does two shots max of the VSEL stem cells in each ear (if needed in both ears) per SunaVae treatment. I also am interested in their brain protocol. On the cost sheet breakdown, they provide a description of the brain protocol as:

“For patients with Tinnitus, we will home the VSELs into the Tinnitus area of the mid-brain to the tonotopic map in the inferior colliculus. This protocol would also include the sympathetic ganglion which can sometimes be activated in a Tinnitus case, as well as places like the thyroid, thymus, and adrenals.”​

On their website they explain how they use laser to guide VSEL stem cells to the desired locations. For the ear, they use the ShimSpot to go directly toward and into the inner ear. For the brain protocol, it’s IV and they use lasers and other means to direct the stem cells to the desired locations.

They are still using his ShimSpot “placement” to inject the VSEL stem cells, but no longer using PRP or bone marrow stem cells, at least not with tinnitus/hearing loss patients. And I agree about proof being in the pudding, they just started using the VSELs in late summer, sometime between August and September of this year, so literally 1-2 months after you were there. And I think the brain protocol came along with the change too. She told me they had Eric Clapton’s guitarist in for this newest treatment for tinnitus and hearing loss and he is having “great results”. She said they are also seeing promising results with hyperacusis.

I may consider it in the next month or so, given my ultra high frequency loss in right ear. It’s very hard with these situations because I’m still more acute, and if you’re going to try these treatments, it’s best to do them sooner rather than later. But, it’s also a lot of money with no guarantee.

 

I don't know if I'd go for the stem cells focused variant. I'd probably want the PRP since it has BDNF, which was shown to have some potential effect by Otonomy, although only at limited dosage. Unfortunately, their clinical trial was unfinished, but the possibility that BDNF can help is still promising, and I'd rather try something than not.

I'll have the money. Automation/Mechatronics technicians and PLC programmers get paid really well. Hopefully it will not be too much longer. Would rather have this done by age 30. PRP has shown to repair nerves even years after damage in other cases, so I'm using that as hope.

 

@Erika, could you tell us their website? Is it Dr. Lieurance? A medical advocate that I called was leary of some Florida medical practices. I thought Eric Clapton himself had the hearing loss and tinnitus.

 

I thought she said the guitarist. Anyway, it is Advanced Rejuvenation in Sarasota FL. AdvancedRejuvenation.us.

 

I had an earlier post on my conversation with Dr. Lieurance (Advanced Rejuvenation). I think he might be more interested in making a lot of money rather than helping desperate people. I have never gone to his clinic and probably never will. I’m sure it’s all cash because many of his procedures are considered experimental by insurance companies.

 

I will be def watching for his future testimonials. If Eric Clapton's guitarist had great results there, I'M VERY SURE HE WILL TELL LOTS OF HIS MUSICIAN BUDDIES WITH HEARING LOSS AND TINNITUS ABOUT DR. JOHN. They will eventually give it a try and then we will all have some more testimonials.

Something to note, I had about 10 hearing tests before I ever even met Dr. John. All of them were very similar in real audiologist booths. Not to crap on Dr. John, but he's not an audiologist and they don't use a real testing booth there. It's done with in a room with the door shut unless he has upgraded to a testing booth which I don't know. I had my hearing tested shortly after I left there in September of 2020 at a real audiologist again. There were mixed results between his after-exam results and my professional audiologist results. I honestly think he favorably fudges the AFTER audiogram results just a little bit for the clients/testimonials. But I can 100% def say my tinnitus was certainly brought down a great amount when I left his office in 2020 and felt much better, I'm not sure about the hearing level improvement though. I didn't even consider myself to have a hearing loss then even though I did have a mild/moderate hearing loss with tinnitus. I went there ONLY for tinnitus treatment, not hearing improvement.

But I can say if he keeps getting positive results like from Eric Claptons's guitarist, the referrals will 100% FLOCK to him and we will see them on his website in the upcoming months. I would certainly go back again if he can show this is effective with a high percentage rate of success. After all I was the VERY FIRST PATIENT he ever injected directly into someone's ear drum after I introduced him to Dr. Shim in July of 2022. I put them in contact through email after learning Dr. Shim was going to be in Florida at a hearing seminar. If his newly designed SunaVae stem cell injections process works better than the PRP and Bone Marrow injections (which unfortunately did nothing for me) it will be interesting to see what the future holds, we will see lots of talk and testimonials about this. I will be watching and if is process is successful, it would be newsworthy internationally, and I would def go see him again and get treated again. I would imagine a major broadcasting TV station/channel would go there and personally interview him at his practice if he continues to have great patient results and they should put it on the evening news. It would change the quality of life for millions of people if that continues to happen at his practice which I really hope it does!

Those are my two cents... I'll keep watching for his upcoming testimonials!

 

Just thought to follow up here with my further back and forth with Tara, the person I had my consult with and have been in contact with from Advanced Rejuvenation.

I provided them with my latest audiogram and profile of my specific case (how ear damage and tinnitus came on) and Dr. John put together a recommended “protocol” with pricing. With everything, it came out to between $19-20k. This included:

• Physical examination
• 2 VSEL stem cell exosome injections into each ear
• 10 laser treatments
• IV LumoBlue (methylene blue for immune and mitochondrial support)
• Brain protocol (VSELs “homed” into specific areas including mid-brain, sympathetic ganglion, thyroid, thymus, and adrenals based on patient presentation)

I then asked for more testimonials past the 3 videos they have uploaded on their website. I asked if she had a patient or patients who have completed SunaVae with hearing loss and tinnitus who would be willing to talk with me to share experiences.

She replied “unfortunately we cannot ask this of patients given patient confidentiality” (um... okay sure) but she did provide to me the below response from a patient regarding her tinnitus, and who is seeing “marked improvements” with all symptoms. This patient presented with intrusive tinnitus, cochlear hydrops, high frequency hearing loss, and hyperacusis.

I am micro-progressing every day. The crazy wind/screeching sound in my right ear is gone, and now both my ears just kind of hiss. Definitely more in the background now, the only time it really bugs me is going to sleep.​

Take this all as you will. I’m not pushing one way or the other. I just wanted to share the further information. She did explain to me at our consult that they just started really doing these in September-October with more patients, and that improvements continue to be seen as you need to give stem cell therapy time, and they “plan to get more testimonials together”. I wish it could really be something. As good as it looks on the paper, proof is in the results, and I told her I would need more feedback and results at this point.

 

They asked while I was in their office (in person) in December 2020 getting treated to speak to another patient that had a head trauma from a heavy board that fell on his head causing tinnitus and hearing loss. I was happy to talk to him about my experiences there. He was getting treated that same day. So it's one of the same.

 

In my opinion, if you truly have the makings of real improvement with treatment with a few patients, you’d have no problem asking them to share their “progress” so far on video or even through written testimony. Doesn’t have to be full success, just something to show incoming patients. So I didn’t like her answer to that. Like you said before, proof is in the pudding.

 

I can’t believe this thread is still going. I haven’t read through the latest pages, but for the love of god, do not hand any money over to Dr Minbo Shim!