Category: Health

If you have nasal congestion, which could also cause coughing, then one of the best medicines to take is Sudafed. However, be careful which one you get.

Sudafed (behind the counter)

This kind of Sudafed has the active ingredient Pseudeophedrine which can be used to illegally make methamphetamine (meth / “speed”). As such, it can only be gotten behind the counter, i.e. by talking to a pharmacist at Walgreens. You can get 4 hour Sudafed and 12 hour Sudafed. If you are impatient and can’t wait 12 hours to take the 12-hour version, then just buy the 4-hour version. Psychologically, taking medicine more often may make you feel better. One doctor told me that this version of Sudafed (Pseudeophedrine) is better than the kind below (Sudafed PE). Also, you can get a cheaper generic brand like Wal-Phed since all that really matters is the active ingredient, not the brand.

Sudafed PE (over the counter / off the shelf)

This kind of Sudafed can be gotten over the counter / off a shelf because its active ingredient is phenylephrine which can’t be used to make illegal drugs. That’s why it has the PE acronym in the name.

Of all the types of facial plastic surgery that can be done to one’s face, rhinoplasty is probably the most popular. In general, though people’s faces vary in many ways, the nose is the most noticeable and varies the most compared to other facial features. It’s also the one feature that makes the biggest difference in one’s facial aesthetics.

Two countries where rhinoplasty is extremely popular are Iran and South Korea. Iranian women tend to have very large, protruded noses, so they undergo rhinoplasty to make their noses smaller. South Korean women tend to have small, flat, and sometimes wide noses, so they want to enlarge their noses. This post will examine different types of noses and what surgical techniques are commonly done to improve each nose type.

Diagram of Nose Parts

Shallow / Low Nose

A shallow nose can make one’s face appear flat. For people with a shallow nose, as is the case for many Asians and Africans, the desire is to increase the height of the dorsum. This can be done to improve comfort when wearing glasses. The solution is to add an implant or, preferably, rib cartilage to the existing nose dorsum to project it outwards.

Hump on Nose Dorsum

People who have a hump on their nose can have the hump removed. This is often done by shaving or grinding down the nose bone where the hump is.

Wide Nose

A wide nose can be a nose where the nose sidewalls are wide and/or the nose nostrils are wide.

Wide nose sidewalls

If the nose sidewalls are too wide, then an osteotomy can be performed. In an osteotomy, the base of the left and right nasal sidewall bones are cut or cracked so that the sidewalls can be pushed closer together. After some time, the nose bones will heal.

Watch video of an osteotomy

Wide nostrils

If the nostrils are wide, then alarplasty can be performed. There are a few different techniques, but in general, the nostrils are cut where they are connected to the face and then stitched closer together. If necessary, a wedge of the nostril tissue is removed to also reduce the diameter of the nostrils.

Short / Upturned Nose

When the nose tip is upturned, tipplasty can be performed. With tipplasty, septum or ear cartilage is added to the nose tip to reshape the tip and bring it down a bit.

Long Nose

Understandably, it is not possible to reduce the length of the nose from the eyebrows to the tip by cutting the tip of the nose. However, it is possible to raise the nose tip because, in most cases, the nose tip is faced downward. By raising the tip, even though the length of the nose is the same, it may still look better than when the tip is faced downward.

Bulbous Nose

Usually, people with bulbous noses have nose tips that are big and round. This is due to having thick skin and/or large tip cartilage. To improve the appearance of the tip, doctors can remove excess cartilage and, if the skin is thick, remove excess fatty tissue under the skin.

Deviated Nose

Some people’s noses are not straight. This could be caused naturally or due to trauma (an accident). In many cases, the nose is bent. An osteotomy (breaking / cutting the nose bone) can be done to reposition and straighten the bones.

Deviated Septum

A deviated septum is when the inside wall separating both nasal passages is not straight and centered. This can affect breathing by reducing the amount of airflow or causing an imbalance in the amount of airflow through each nostril. This can be fixed by straightening the septum.

Asian / African Nose

One common feature of Asians and Africans is their noses tend to be wide and low (both bridge and nostrils) and the tips are bulbous. Below is an example before and after picture of an Indian man who had revision rhinoplasty using rib cartilage.

Thick vs Thin Skin

Some people have thin skin and some people have thick skin (literally). There are pros and cons to each.

Thin Skin

• Allows for detailed refinements to be made
• Subtle irregularities and mistakes are more noticeable

Thick Skin

• More difficult to see the result of subtle refinements
• Subtle irregularities and mistakes are less noticeable
• For the bulbous nose tip, must remove excess fatty tissue

Rhinoplasty Clinics

Following are what I’ve found to be the best rhinoplasty clinics. Note that the cost of rhinoplasty in the U.S. is very expensive. Korea is considered the plastic surgery capitol of the world and the costs are a fraction of what they are in the U.S.

U.S.

• Donald B. Yoo, MD: Beverly Hills Facial Plastic Surgery

Korea

• GNG Hospital
• JK Plastic Surgery (accredited by the Korean government)
• JW Plastic Surgery
• VIP Plastic Surgery (Jeju Island)
• Grand Plastic Hospital
• ID Hospital
• VG Plastic Surgery
• Jewelry Plastic Surgery
• Search plastic surgery clinics in Korea

Not only can you fix issues with your nose, but it’s now possible to improve other parts of one’s face, especially in Korea.

Consultation

Before going under the knife, you should consult with multiple surgeons. Following is a case study showing different responses by different rhinoplasty doctors. The patient wanted a narrower, more defined nose with the following changes:

• Alarplasty (to reduce with of the nostrils)
• Tipplasty (to improve shape of bulbous nose)
• Osteotomy (to narrow the nose)
• Bridge augmentation (to slightly increase the height of the bridge) using rib cartilage
• Removal of fibro-fatty tissue at nose tip due to thick skin

Explaining Your Desired Results

It can be difficult trying to explain to a doctor how you want your nose or other parts of your face to look. For that reason, it would be helpful to use a face-editing simulation tool like FaceGen. Learn how to use FaceGen to upload your photo and edit it. Here’s an example.

In FaceGen, you can edit many parts of your face, including your nose, cheekbones, cheeks, jaw, chin, etc.

WARNING

Getting a nose job is not only expensive, but it can possibly alter your appearance and ability to breathe in both a good and BAD way.

Limited Breathing

If you have a wide nose and want to make it narrow, a cosmetic surgeon who isn’t an ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) doctor may not be aware that having too narrow of a nose may limit breathing through your nose. That’s why some (maybe many) doctors in Korea perform an X-ray and 3D CT scan of your head to determine the shape and thickness of facial bones and where nerves pass.

RECOMMENDATION:

Only choose a doctor who is also an ENT doctor and who will perform an X-ray and CT scan.

Unnatural Appearance

Another risk of doing rhinoplasty is you may end up with an unnatural-looking nose, and everyone would know you got a nose job (think Michael Jackson’s nose). Fortunately, most doctors will not be overly aggressive in reshaping your nose, and they may refuse to work on your nose if you insist on a significantly different nose, e.g. a very slim Caucasian nose shape on a very flat and wide African or Asian nose, and vice versa. Nevertheless, there may still be some doctors (maybe cheap doctors) who will do whatever you ask them, regardless of whether the results will appear unnatural. In your mind, you may imagine that you may look good with a significantly different nose shape, but in reality, you may regret it so much that you will hate going out in public and seeing yourself in the mirror. You may end up becoming depressed, completely stressed out, and unable to focus and enjoy life. Your mind will become preoccupied with regret and disappointment. Needless to say, you want to avoid that as much as possible.

RECOMMENDATION:

* be CONSERVATIVE in the nose shape changes you want
* ensure that your doctor knows how to reshape your nose so that it still looks NATURAL

Small Nostrils

While some people naturally have small nostrils, most people have big enough nostrils that they can fit their finger in them, usually to pick their nose. If you have a large nose and large alars, and you want to make your entire nose smaller, even conservatively smaller, there’s a possibility that your nostrils may become too small for you to comfortably fit your fingers in. You may only be able to barely fit your pinky finger in them. Though it’s unhealthy to pick your nose anyway, it’s a very common habit and sometimes more convenient than trying other methods (nasal rinse, etc) to remove stubborn boogers. Since most people can fit their fingers in their noses, you probably don’t want to make your nose so small and narrow that you can’t do so as well.

RECOMMENDATION:

If you make your nose smaller, including your nostrils, do so such that you can still comfortably fit at least your pinky finger in your nose.

Disproportionate Facial Features

If you have a wide face and nose, regardless of race, and you want to make your nose narrow, you may end up with a face with disproportionately sized features, e.g. a very narrow nose on a very wide face. While you may like your nose by itself, you’ll end up not liking to see your cheeks because they’ll look too wide, resulting in an unnatural-looking face. Again, you should only be conservative in reshaping your nos. Choose a doctor who will maintain harmonious proportions of your facial features.

RECOMMENDATION:

Be conservative in reshaping your nose and consider the WHOLE FACE, not just your nose, when deciding how to reshape your nose so that you maintain balanced, proportional and harmonious facial features so that, as a whole, your entire face will look natural. If your nose job looks natural and your nose size is proportional to other facial features, no one would even notice you got a nose job, even though you did.

Alars

Many people, especially Africans, have very large and wide nostrils due to excessive alar skin. Therefore, it is a very common practice to cut and remove a bit of alar skin and reattach it to the cheek. This can be done so effectively that you can’t even tell that the alars were trimmed and reattached. However, not all doctors are skilled at doing this, and some patients end up with a piggy nose such that their nostrils become very visible despite being smaller. The problem with alarplasty and the trimming of the alars is that once the doctor trims the skin off, it’s gone forever. You can’t undo it. Of all the possible changes you can do to your nose (osteotomy, tipplasty, shaving down a hump on the nasal bridge, etc), the only one that can’t be undone is the trimming off a piece of each alar.

RECOMMENDATION:

If your alars are only slightly large, the risk of trimming them slightly may outweigh the disappointment of having slightly large alars. However, if your alars are too large, then you may have no choice but to trim them to create a normal-sized nose. However, if you trim the alars, you MUST choose a doctor who has a lot of experience doing so and has many before and after pictures showing consistently positive and natural-looking results. REMEMBER: trimming your alars CANNOT be undone, so if the doctor isn’t experienced and proven, you may regret trimming your alars for the rest of your life!

Before and After Pictures

In addition to consulting with the doctor, verifying their skills, years of experience, etc, you MUST review their before and after pictures to see whether the results are acceptable to you and whether the doctor has experience in the specific types of procedures you need (alarplasty, osteotomy, etc). Also, make sure the “after” pictures show symmetry. Many reputable doctors, surprisingly, can’t even make a nose look symmetric. Look at the nostrils in their post-op pictures. If they don’t look consistently symmetric, then in my opinion, the doctor isn’t good enough, and you might as well pay more for a perfectionist doctor.

RECOMMENDATION:

In addition to verifying credentials, years of experience, etc, make sure the doctors’ before and after pictures CONSISTENTLY show acceptable and symmetric results and that the doctor has plenty of experience in the specific types of procedures you need done, especially alarplasty!

Pain

If you get a nose job that doesn’t include harvesting cartilage from your rib, then at most you’ll just feel a lot of pressure on your nose right after the surgery. Depending on the doctor, you may have a lot of bleeding or a little. However, if the doctor removes some rib cartilage to use on your nose, then you’ll feel INTENSE pain at the incision area on your rib when you make even the slightest of movements. For the first night, you’ll want to remain as still as possible and not breathe heavily to minimize the pain. If the pain is too unbearable, you can ask the nurse for a strong painkiller. On day 2, the rib pain will decrease significantly (maybe by 50%), but it will still be very painful. By day 3, it will have decreased even more (maybe by 25%), and so on. By day 4, you’ll still feel some pain, but it will be tolerable.

Swelling

After rhinoplasty, not only will your nose be very swollen, but your whole face will be swollen including your cheeks and possibly your upper throat. It won’t be painful, but it will look painful and you’ll look like a train wreck. The swelling is due to your body reacting and trying to heal itself. It’s very normal and to be expected. In Korea, many doctors will offer daily deswelling treatment including

• oxygen chambers, where you lay in a closed chamber full of oxygen for 10 minutes
• red infrared light, where the light is pointed at your face for 8 minutes

These deswelling treatments are proven and do indeed reduce swelling faster than if you did not do them.

One week post-op, the nurse will remove the cast. Your nose will look bigger than it should because it’s swollen, but it may actually get even bigger now that the cast is off. At this point, your nose will look so different from before the surgery and from what you expect it to look like that you may feel embarrassed and regret having done the surgery. The important thing to keep in mind is that it will take a MINIMUM of one month, possibly longer, for most of the swelling to go away, and in general, it will take one year before you see the final results. The biggest and most drastic changes will occur during the first month, so if you freak out because you look like Michael Jackson, just relax because your nose will change shape as the swelling goes away (unless the doctor did a bad job). During the first month, you may notice that your nose doesn’t look natural at all, or that it looks too big or too protruded or too narrow, or that the nostrils are too small, etc. Again, this is all temporary. The cartilage in the nose tip, for example, will be hard and stiff and may make your nose look very pointy. As the nose heals, the cartilage will soften and the pointy tip will become a softer, rounder more natural-looking tip. The bridge may also look too narrow. Again, cartilage added to the bridge will soften and the overall shape and size of the nose will become softer as the cartilage softens and spreads out. The key thing to remember is that your nose shape will change drastically during the first month, so there’s no need to lose sleep or freak out if what you see doesn’t look good. You just need to be patient and wait for the nose to heal.

Congestion

After rhinoplasty, you can’t blow your nose, sneeze through your nose, or clean your nose. Basically, you must leave your nose alone as much as possible and let it heal. During this time, you will feel congested, and find it difficult to breathe. The nurse may use a special tool to suck blockage from inside your nose daily because the congestion will keep coming back until the nose has completely healed. This is normal, but it is very uncomfortable. After one month, most of the congestion should have gone away.

Stiffness

After rhinoplasty, the area around your nostrils will feel numb or stiff. This can last for a couple of months. The stiffness will dissipate gradually, but in the beginning, it will make it uncomfortable to open your mouth wide or smile. You may even feel like your smile looks unusual for a while. Over time, the stiffness will go away as the area heals and you won’t feel any resistance or discomfort when opening your mouth wide or smiling.

Dry Crusty Feeling Inside Nose

Depending on what the rhinoplasty doctor does, e.g. if he reduces the size of an enlarged turbinate, fixes a deviated septum, or trims large alars, you may experience severe dryness in each nostril, resulting in crusty boogers and severe congestion. You may squirt saline spray into your nose to help moisturize it, but you’ll have to just be patient and wait for the nose to heal and the dryness to go away on its own.

Donald B. Yoo

A virtual consultation was done with Dr. Yoo. Dr. Yoo specializes in rhinoplasty and agreed that he could perform each change.

• No CT scan was done to examine the bone structure.
• He did not feel it was necessary to augment the bridge because the patient’s nose bridge was already high.
• For the bridge augmentation using rib cartilage, he would dice the cartilage and wrap it in fascia.
• For the alar reduction, he would remove just a little bit of skin on both nostrils.
• For the osteotomy, he would only do it on the lower half of the nose.
• Total surgery time would be about 6-7 hours.
• The video consultation costs $150 and that cost would go towards the surgery cost.
• The total cost would be about $33K.

David Kim

Dr. Kim specializes in rhinoplasty.

• No CT scan was done to examine the bone structure.
• He did not feel the need to remove fibro-fatty tissue under the nose tip skin.
• He was uncomfortable performing an osteotomy.
• The in-person consultation cost $150.

Kaiser Permanente Doctor

A doctor at Kaiser Permanente who specializes in rhinoplasty would perform all changes except bridge augmentation.

• No CT scan was done to examine the bone structure
• He didn’t feel the need to do an osteotomy. However, he was open to the idea of doing an osteotomy.
• He didn’t mention anything about removing any fibro-fatty tissue.
• He seemed rushed and not particularly interested.
• His quote was $10K.
• The in-person consultation cost $100.

Dr. Yong-Hae Seong (GNG Hospital)

Dr. Seong founded GNG Hospital. He specializes in rhinoplasty.

• A CT scan was done to examine the bone structure and airways.
• For the tip, he would shape it. However, doing so would result in the tip being higher than the bridge. However, the bridge augmentation in the amount of 2mm would result in the bridge being straight from top to tip.
• The sides of the bridge would be straight, not bumpy.
• For the bridge augmentation using rib cartilage, he would dice the cartilage, shape it, and glue it together using a liquid from the body. He would not wrap the cartilage in fascia.
• For the alar reduction, he would remove 1 mm of skin on both nostrils.
• For the osteotomy, he would only do it on the lower half of the nose and push the bone in by 1 mm on each side for a total narrowing of 2 mm. This is the maximum narrowing he recommended based on the CT scan image because he wanted to be safe and avoid breathing issues that could be caused by aggressive narrowing of the base.
• Even though 1mm and 2mm reductions seem like a little, the end result will be very noticeable.
• GNG hospital always uses general anesthesia on patients, not sedation.
• Total surgery time would be about 5 hours.
• The in-person consultation was free, however, the meeting time with Dr. Seong was only about 5 to 10 minutes.
• The total cost would be about $10K however, you’d get 8% VAT back at the airport when leaving Korea.

RECOMMENDATION:

Dr. Yong-Hae Seong of GNG Hospital is both a rhinoplasty surgeon and an ENT doctor who has 19+ years of experience, including doing osteotomies to narrow the nose, alarplasty to reduce the nose base with and nostrils, tipplasty to reshape the tip, and more. His before and after pictures look good and the results always look natural and symmetric. The cost of doing rhinoplasty in Korea is MUCH cheaper than in the US and you get a tax refund at the airport when you leave, which can amount to around $800 for a $10,000 operation. He is one of the best doctors in Korea and possibly the world! You can’t go wrong if you choose him as your doctor.

https://en.gnghospital.com/sub/doctor/

Kim, Sung-Sik (JK Plastic Surgery)

• No CT scan was done to examine the bone structure and airways.
• He did not want to do an osteotomy because he said that the area needing to be narrowed was cartilage, not bone, and that he could only try to remove some fibro-fatty tissue to help narrow the nose.
• He would do alar reduction.
• He did not want to do bridge augmentation because he felt that the bridge was already high enough. He would do the bridge augmentation but not with rib cartilage because he said rib cartilage was for the tip. He preferred to use a silicone implant for the nose bridge. However, he felt that augmenting the bridge wouldn’t result in a narrower-looking nose but just a larger nose.
• The in-person consultation was free.
• His quote was $7.5K
• The patient would undergo sedation as opposed to general anesthesia.

Suh, Man Kun (JW Plastic Surgery)

Dr. Suh founded JW Plastic Surgery. He specializes in rhinoplasty.

• A CT scan was done to examine the bone structure and airways.
• He would do an osteotomy from bottom to top of nose. At the bottom, he would only push the nose in by about 1mm on each side since bring the nose in narrower may result in breathing problems. He would not just do an osteotomy on the top half of the nose because that would result in a stair-step nose where the top is narrow and the bottom is wide.
• He would cut some of the lower left and right bridge cartilage and align it to make it appear narrower.
• The CT scan showed clear airways and a normal nose structure and only a slight deviated septum which is normal.
• Since the CT scan showed somewhat large airways, the doctor would try to bring lower left and right bridge wall cartilage inwards to be narrower.
• For alar reduction, the doctor would remove about 2 to 3 mm on each nostril.
• The doctor did not feel the need for bridge augmentation but would do it with rib cartilage if desired
• If not bridge augmentation would be performed, the patient would undergo sedation, otherwise, general anesthesia.
• The doctor would remove some of the fibrofatty tissue at the tip of the nose to help shape it and make it less bulbous.
• The doctor was very nice and the time spent consulting with him was about 20 minutes.
• The cost without bridge augmentation would be about $7500. With bridge augmentation, it would be about $“11000. This includes a 10% discount so you would not be able to get 8% back at the airport upon leaving Korea.
• December is a busy time for plastic surgery in Korea because it’s cold so everyone stays home and students are off school. The best time to visit Korea and do the surgery is in either May or October.

Rhinoplasty is expensive and the healing process takes a long time and is uncomfortable. It is also not without risk. If you are not too bothered by your nose, then the risk, cost and discomfort of getting a nose job is not worth it. However, if you are constantly bothered by your nose that it is a great source of insecurity and unhappiness, then for mental health reasons, you are a good candidate for rhinoplasty. Just remember to be conservative in your nose changes and choose a proven, experienced doctor.

Plastic Surgery Tax Refund in Korea

If you do any cosmetic surgery in Korea, you can get a VAT tax refund in the amount of 10% if the medical institution is registered with the Korean government and is on the list of institutions that offer a refund. View the latest list. If your surgery costs $10,000, then you can get $1000 back at the airport when leaving Korea.

Eyes

East Asians often have small eyes with no eye fold. Some people also have eyes that make them look sleepy. As a matter of fact, everyone’s eyes will change shape as we age due to eyelid stretching and the weakening of eye muscles.

It’s now possible to address these issues using various techniques.

Baggy Eyes

As we age, our eyes tend to become baggy.

Square Jaw Reduction

Some people naturally have very square jaws. It’s possible to remove part of the jaw bone to create a more attractive jaw shape.

Receding Chin

Some people have very small chins. An osteotomy can be performed to bring the chin forward.

Protruding Chin

If your chin is protruding, an osteotomy can also be performed to remove excess bone that’s causing the protrusion. In the images below, you can see that the chin bone is cut and reattached.

Cheekbone (Zygoma)Reduction

Some people have wide cheekbones resulting in a non-smooth facial contour. Cheekbone reduction surgery can be performed to remove excess bone and move the cheekbones inwards.

Bumpy or Recessed Forehead

If you have a bumpy or recessed forehead, you can improve the shape by transferring fat to your forehead or by getting a silicon implant.

Some Before and After Rhinoplasty Photos

The following information is based on my experience talking to various subject matter experts who are gifted with the ability to see and/or communicate with spirits or who can communicate with spirits via a human medium. I am neither a witch nor an exorcist or someone who practices witchcraft or spiritual healings. Also, the information below is mostly based on the Quran and my experience talking to Muslim and Catholic experts only.

There are many people who claim they know how witchcraft and spiritual healings work. Oftentimes, they are religious people, and they make claims that only their religion can cure one from witchcraft. They also make statements that are not based on any evidence whatsoever, e.g. a victim of witchcraft only suffers because their faith in God is not strong enough, or their suffering is payback for a mistake they’ve made in the past, etc. These claims are all based on assumptions and, therefore, can be incorrect.

Whether you are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or a Satanic worshipper, many people believe in the unseen (God, the Devil, angels, spirits/jinn, positive/negative energy, etc.), but most people don’t know what invisible creatures can and can’t do.

Two Types of Creatures

First of all, let’s categorize creatures into 2 kinds:

• creatures that are visible to the human eye (humans and animals)
• creatures that are invisible to the human eye (God, the Devil, angels, spirits/jinn)

Angels

According to the Quran, angels are creatures that are like robots in that they can only obey God’s command. They don’t have free will to do whatever they want, unlike humans and animals.

Spirits

According to the Quran, spirits (jinn) are creatures that are similar to humans. They have free will to do as they please, both good and bad, and they have lives that are similar to those of humans, e.g. they marry, have kids, work, get sick, die, etc. However, unlike humans, some of their differences include the ability to change shape (appear as someone else). Many of them also follow different religions, speak different languages, have different names, and can live to 1000+ years. Spirits were created before humans. Whereas humans are made of clay and mud, spirits are made of smokeless fire ^[1]. When humans die, their physical organic bodies decompose (except the bones) and become part of the Earth. However, the spirits associated with those physical human bodies are still alive.

^[1] Quran: 15:26

وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ مِن صَلْصَـٰلٍۢ مِّنْ حَمَإٍۢ مَّسْنُونٍۢ وَٱلْجَآنَّ خَلَقْنَـٰهُ مِن قَبْلُ مِن نَّارِ ٱلسَّمُومِ

Indeed, We created man from sounding clay moulded from black mud. As for the jinn, We created them earlier from smokeless fire.

Note: for more information about spirits, the Quran has a chapter named The Spirits (Al-Jinn).

Seeing and Communicating with the Unseen

Prophets and Messengers of God

According to the Quran, prophets and messengers, like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, were able to communicate with God. However, they could not see God, and their communication with God was not necessarily direct. Muhammad (SAW), for example, received revelations from God via the angel Gabriel.

Gifted People

Some regular people (non-prophets/messengers) apparently are gifted, often from birth, with the ability to see and communicate with spirits. Many of them inherit this gift, however, the gift can skip a generation. For example, when people die, their souls are still alive in the form of spirits/jinn. These spirits can choose to follow their human descendants and provide them with spiritual guidance and information. The gifted people I’ve spoken to were Muslim and Catholic, but they can be followers of any religion, and there doesn’t appear to be a particular reason why some ancestor spirits choose to follow certain human descendants. The determination as to who is gifted appears to be random as spirits have free will to do whatever they want.

Gifted people who can see spirits may not be able to handle the associated stress. They can even faint regularly as a result of their spiritual ability. For that reason, some gifted people ask that the spirit(s) following them stop being visible.

Sometimes, these gifted people can only sense when the spirits are around or can only communicate after performing a certain ritual, like throwing shells or burning a candle.

Just like regular people, gifted people can use their gifted abilities for both bad (do witchcraft) and good (cure people from witchcraft).

If you are not gifted, you can summon a spirit by opening a portal to the unseen so that you can communicate with it. This is what witches do to communicate with evil spirits. However, if you open a portal with the intent of communicating and getting help from benevolent spirits, you open the door for evil spirits to come in as well. As such, it is very dangerous to perform rituals to open portals to the unseen.

Regular People

It’s also possible for regular people to communicate with spirits. However, this requires a medium (a human who is sensitive to being possessed by spirits). For example, a Muslim person (the caller) can recite certain verses of the Quran in the presence of a medium. At some point, the medium becomes possessed by a spirit. The caller can then have a conversation with the spirit and even call other spirits by name to possess the medium’s body. During the process, the medium’s eyes are usually closed despite their lips moving as they talk. Furthermore, the medium may behave erratically and may even speak a language the medium may not even know since the one talking is actually the spirit. To terminate the possession, the caller tells the spirit to leave the medium, after which the medium opens their eyes and reverts back to their original human self. The medium isn’t aware of anything that happened while being possessed as if they were unconscious the entire time. In this way, the medium has an experience similar to a hypnotism, but they were temporarily possessed as the spirit temporarily possessed (took control over) their body. After the possession, the medium usually feels very tired.

Good and Evil

Good and evil is not something new. It dates all the way back to when Satan disobeyed God and vowed to tempt humans to commit evil (Quran 2:168-169). God created everything, including evil, as proven in verse 2 of chapter 113 (Al Falaq/The Daybreak) of the Quran. The same chapter also makes a reference to

• evil caused by blowing into knots, which is likely a ritual that witches perform
• evil caused by envious people, which, according to my sources, could be caused by the “evil eye” and “witchcraft”.

قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ ٱلْفَلَقِ ١ مِن شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ ٢ وَمِن شَرِّ غَاسِقٍ إِذَا وَقَبَ ٣ وَمِن شَرِّ ٱلنَّفَّـٰثَـٰتِ فِى ٱلْعُقَدِ ٤ وَمِن شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ ٥

Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “I seek refuge in the Lord of the daybreak, from the evil of whatever He [God] has created, and from the evil of the night when it grows dark, and from the evil of those [witches casting spells by] blowing onto knots, and from the evil of an envier when they envy.”

Types of Evil

There are many types of evil. Evil that we are most familiar with is the kind we can see, e.g. poisoning someone, committing murder, etc. In both examples, you seek

• a cure from medical doctors
• protection from the police
• justice from the legal system

Another type of evil, which is far more difficult to detect, is evil caused by the unseen. Witchcraft can be done by doing black magic and/or casting a spell or curse. The evil eye is when someone is jealous of someone and, optionally, wishes bad luck on them. Usually, people commit witchcraft for the following reasons

• Money: e.g., they want to unfairly become rich by interfering with anything around them. For example, they may cause a hiring manager to choose them over other, more qualified job candidates, so they get hired and keep getting a promotion.
• Envy: e.g., they see their friend, relative, or coworker having something they want, so they cause misfortune for them, e.g. job loss, divorce, illness, etc. For example, a worker in India may be envious of their coworker in the US, who makes way more money, and does witchcraft to cause them to lose their job, or someone who is envious of their friend or relative, who is married to someone they like, and causes them to get a divorce.
• Success: this can take the form of success in work and relationships, especially marriage. People can do witchcraft to unfairly make them succeed in work and also to make someone want to marry them.
• Revenge: e.g., some people do witchcraft simply because they feel they’ve been wronged and they want revenge.

There are an unlimited number of reasons why someone may do witchcraft. For example, someone may want to buy their neighbor’s house, so they do witchcraft to make it appear unattractive to prospective buyers so no one wants to buy it. They then hope the owners will lower the selling price so they can afford to buy it themselves.

Unless you are witch, you would need to go to a witch to do witchcraft. Similarly, if you are affected by witchcraft, unless you are a spiritual healer, you would need to go to one to get cured from witchcraft, although from healers I’ve talked to, even spiritual healers sometimes need to get cured from witchcraft or spiritual attacks by seeking help from other spiritual healers.

Note: Many religious people believe that faith in and submission to God alone is sufficient for everything, including curing one from witchcraft. If it were this easy, that would be great. Unfortunately, many religious people, including Islamic priests (imams) have been affected by witchcraft, and have realized the need to seek help from others who God has gifted with the ability to help cure people from witchcraft. This does not mean that faith in God is unnecessary. On the contrary, all spiritual healers I’ve talked to, both Muslim and Catholic, have emphasized the importance of faith in addition to the other efforts required to cure one from witchcraft.

As an analogy, if someone has a medical illness, they don’t just pray to God for a cure; they go to a doctor to get help, e.g.; medicine, with the belief that God ultimately is the creator of the cure (medicine), and that doctors are subject matter experts who can advise and help regarding what cures (medicine) can be used for an illness.

Likewise, seeking help from a gifted spiritual healer does not mean that one has lost faith in God; it simply means that they are seeking help from gifted people who God created with the ability to help. In other words, spiritual healers are to spiritual witchcraft what medical doctors are to medical illnesses, both of which can only exist by virtue of God.

Put another way, if someone has a headache, they don’t ask God to cure their headache; they take a headache pill, knowing that God caused humans to discover that cure (the ingredients in the pill). Taking a headache pill doesn’t automatically mean that someone has lost faith in God. However, when taking the pill, people should remember that the cure (a headache pill) indirectly originated from God. Similarly, if someone is afraid of being attacked, they don’t just ask God for physical protection; they ask the police to help, in addition to believing that ultimately God provides protection, whether via the police or not.

The Origins of Witchcraft

According to the Quran, God tested people’s faith by teaching them witchcraft (black magic). At Babylon, two angels, Harut and Marut, taught people witchcraft, but they warned people not to practice witchcraft. Nevertheless, the devils, which likely were evil spirits, convinced disbelieving people to practice witchcraft, particularly to cause divorces. According to the Quran, practicing witchcraft is akin to selling your soul to the devil, and whoever practices witchcraft (or pays a witch to perform witchcraft) will have no share in the Hereafter, i.e. will go to Hell.

The Cow (2:102)

وَٱتَّبَعُوا۟ مَا تَتْلُوا۟ ٱلشَّيَـٰطِينُ عَلَىٰ مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَـٰنَ ۖ وَمَا كَفَرَ سُلَيْمَـٰنُ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱلشَّيَـٰطِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ يُعَلِّمُونَ ٱلنَّاسَ ٱلسِّحْرَ وَمَآ أُنزِلَ عَلَى ٱلْمَلَكَيْنِ بِبَابِلَ هَـٰرُوتَ وَمَـٰرُوتَ ۚ وَمَا يُعَلِّمَانِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَآ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ فِتْنَةٌۭ فَلَا تَكْفُرْ ۖ فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُمَا مَا يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِۦ بَيْنَ ٱلْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِۦ ۚ وَمَا هُم بِضَآرِّينَ بِهِۦ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنفَعُهُمْ ۚ وَلَقَدْ عَلِمُوا۟ لَمَنِ ٱشْتَرَىٰهُ مَا لَهُۥ فِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ مِنْ خَلَـٰقٍۢ ۚ وَلَبِئْسَ مَا شَرَوْا۟ بِهِۦٓ أَنفُسَهُمْ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا۟ يَعْلَمُونَ

And they followed [instead] what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon. It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Hārūt and Mārūt. But they [i.e., the two angels] do not teach anyone without saying, “We are a test, so do not disbelieve [by practicing magic].”¹ And [yet] they learned from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife. But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of God. And they [i.e., people] learn what harms them and does not benefit them. But they [i.e., the Children of Israel] certainly knew that whoever purchased it [i.e., magic] would not have in the Hereafter any share. Miserable indeed was the price for which they sold their souls, if only they knew!

How Witchcraft Works

As mentioned earlier, everyone has the ability to do good and evil, including people who have been gifted to communicate with spirits. These gifted people can do witchcraft, spiritual healing, or both. Ordinary people (people who are not gifted) may be able to learn how to do witchcraft and spiritual healing, but it’s likely more difficult as they may not be able to communicate with the spirits and may not know whether what they’re doing is effective or not. On the other hand, gifted people, who can communicate with spirits, can get confirmation from their good or bad spirits as to whether their efforts, witchcraft or spiritual healing, have any effect.

At a high level, witchcraft works as follows:

1. An ordinary person (the requestor) finds and tells a witch what evil they want to do
2. The witch asks for money and gives the requestor a set of tasks they must perform.
3. The requestor pays the money and performs the tasks.
4. The witch performs some rituals and asks their bad spirits, with whom the witch are friends or have a pact/agreement, to carry out the evil.

The tasks that the requestor and the witch perform vary depending on the evil requested. Since the evil can only be carried out by bad spirits, usually the bad spirits tell the witch what tasks must be done. This may include desecrating holy books, human sacrifice (e.g. killing a baby), putting menstrual blood in the victim’s drink, sticking needles in a doll and burying it somewhere, etc.

If the requestor fails to perform all the tasks (promises) that the witch told them to do, then the witchcraft may not be effective and may even backfire on the requestor.

How Spiritual Healings Work

If someone is a victim of witchcraft, they would need a spiritual healing, i.e. a process that removes the evil spirits that were sent to inflict suffering on them. To do so, they seek the help of a gifted person called a spiritual healer. At a high level, the process goes like this:

1. An ordinary person notices strange things happening, e.g. can never find a job, keeps getting a divorce, keeps getting fired, etc.
2. After too many illogical things happening, the ordinary person eventually becomes suspicious and wonders if they are affected by witchcraft.
3. The person finds and asks a spiritual healer for a spiritual reading.
4. The spiritual healer, who works with good and reliable spirits, asks the spirits for information about the person.
5. The good spirit informs the spiritual healer that the person is a victim of witchcraft. The spirit may provide some details depending on the situation.
6. With that confirmation, the person (victim) requests a spiritual healing.
7. The spiritual healer asks the good spirit for the cost. The good spirit responds with an amount, e.g. $2000, and the healer relays it to the victim.
8. The victim pays the amount and the healing process begins.
9. The healer has a series of prayers and rituals to perform and gives the victim a set of tasks (promises) to perform as well.
10. Both the victim and healer carry out those tasks/rituals. The healer may be required to pray to God in a holy place (mosque, church, etc.) at a certain place (in a mosque or church, on a mountain, etc.), light certain candles, etc. The victim may be required to bathe in herbal/floral water, light incense, fast from certain kinds of foods, wear certain clothes, meditate and focus on appreciation in nature, etc.
11. The healer periodically checks with the good spirit on the status of the healing.
12. Eventually, the good spirit confirms that all the witchcraft has been removed and the victim should no longer be affected by past witchcraft done to them.

How Evil Spirits Conduct Evil

It’s important to understand that the effect of witchcraft can only be done by evil spirits. For example, if the witchcraft is to make someone feel pain, one or more spirits could enter a human’s body and cause the pain. If the person goes to a medical doctor to look for a medical cause of the pain, the doctor would likely not be able to determine the cause, especially since the spirits can come and go, only creating temporary pain.

In another example, if the witchcraft is intended to cause divorce, the spirits could cause the couple to get into arguments, appear unattractive to each other, prevent pregnancies, etc. If the witchcraft is to get someone fired or to make someone get a job, the spirits could influence relevant people to make mistakes or to simply favor a particular person. They do this by influencing people’s minds. And if the witchcraft was to kill someone, the spirits might distract the victim to cause them to get into a fatal accident.

Evil spirits usually don’t work alone. They can be part of an army of spirits with different spirits having different ranks and job duties.

How Good Spirits Combat Evil

If a country attacks another country using their military, the target country doesn’t sit around and ask God to fight back. Rather, they use their military to do so until the threat is eliminated. Similarly, if someone is attacked by evil spirits as a result of witchcraft, the victim, via a spiritual healer, must use good spirits to fight back. I am not aware of humans fighting directly with evil spirits.

The human world is very similar to the spirit world, but spirits can mess with humans, whereas I am not aware of humans being able to mess with spirits.

When a spiritual healer works with good spirits to cure someone from witchcraft, the good spirits do whatever is needed to eliminate the harm caused by the evil spirits. This may include destroying an object, e.g. a voodoo doll, or physically fighting evil spirits until they leave for good or die. In this regard, it’s no different than how humans eliminate threats from other humans. A spiritual healer has a dedicated good spirit or spirits who they work with to fight the evil spirits. During the healing process, it’s possible for other good spirits and even ancestor spirits of the victim to get involved in helping eliminate the harm caused by the evil spirits. This is why in many cultures like Buddhism and Hinduism you find people giving offerings in the form of things like fruit in an altar dedicated to their ancestors. Though the ancestors are physically dead (the human bodies no longer function), their spirits are still alive.

Accidental Victims of Witchcraft

It’s possible to accidentally become a victim of witchcraft intended for someone else. For example, if a witch performed witchcraft in a house, moved, and then someone else moved in to that same house, the evil spirits that were in that house may haunt and interfere with the lives of the new residents. Haunted houses are simply houses that contain evil spirits.

It’s also possible to become a victim of witchcraft by inheriting the witchcraft or by simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time. For example, if someone carries a lot of negative energy (evil spirits) and you happen to be near that person, some of the evil spirits can jump to you and interfere with your life. If a woman is pregnant and someone does witchcraft to her, the effect of the witchcraft can be inherited by the newborn baby. Unless the witchcraft is destroyed, the baby will be affected by that witchcraft throughout their lives. In another example, if witchcraft was intended for one person, and the target was required to eat or drink something containing a particular ingredient, someone else could be affected by that witchcraft if they accidentally eat or drink the prepared item.

Evil spirits don’t require a witch in order to commit evil against humans. Similarly, good spirits don’t require a spiritual healer to guide and protect humans.

Witchcraft to Become Rich

The two most common ways someone becomes rich due to witchcraft are

1. someone does witchcraft to themselves to become rich
2. someone’s relative (wife, mother-in-law, etc) does witchcraft to someone to become rich so they can benefit indirectly from the acquired wealth

Haunted Houses

Strange things happening in haunted houses are not limited to movies. For example, it’s not unusual for spiritual healers and victims to witness seemingly impossible things happening, like inexplicable loud noises, objects falling from a shelf, lights flickering on and off, random objects appearing out of nowhere, and much more. This is caused by good and bad spirits. These are signs to you or the healer. Usually, only spiritual healers can explain the meaning behind these experiences since you need to be able to communicate with spirits to know what other spirits are doing. These signs may mean the evil spirits are mad because you are on to them. They may also mean that you are on the right path to getting cured or that you need to do something to avoid imminent danger. For example, if you are talking to a healer and you changes topics and suddenly you weird things start happening (objects falling, strange noises, etc), then that’s either a good sign from good spirits or a sign from bad spirits that they are mad because you are on to them.

Compounding Effects of Witchcraft

When you are physically sick, e.g., with high blood pressure, you are more likely to get other illnesses as well. Similarly, if you are affected by witchcraft, you are more likely to attract more witchcraft the longer you wait to get healed by a spiritual healer. For example, if the first witchcraft done to you was intended to ruin your life, it can block you from finding a job, getting a promotion, getting married, etc. However, the evil spirits that are interfering with your life can make matters worse for you by only letting you get a job the spirit knows you will hate or only letting you marry someone who does witchcraft. In other words, the evil spirit from the first witchcraft draws you closer to bad people who also do witchcraft, thereby increasing the chances of you becoming a victim of multiple sources of witchcraft. In this sense, the effect of one source of witchcraft can multiply, resulting in harm caused by multiple sources of witchcraft.

Statistics

Among the entire world population,

• 40% of people perform some form of witchcraft (that’s almost one in every two people)
• 70% of people are affected by witchcraft
• 40% of the 70% affected by witchcraft have it in themselves to get help
• 30% of the 70% affected by witchcraft don’t get help. Examples are some of the homeless alcoholics and drug addicts.

Witchcraft as a Test From God

Many religious Muslims and Christians who face adversity and struggles in life claim that their experiences are simply a test from God. While the Quran does mention in 2:155 the fact that God tests mankind,

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ ١٥٥

And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient,

that doesn’t mean that people should solely wait for God to make things better without making an effort to find a solution to their problems, including seeking spiritual help. Faith must be accompanied by effort in order to realize any changes/improvements.

Positive and Negative Energy

Most people would agree that negative energy attracts negative energy. The experts I’ve talked to have also repeatedly said so, which is why they emphasize the importance of not sharing one’s negative experiences as a victim of witchcraft with other people. While I have not been able to verify that this actually happens, it’s reasonable to believe that it does happen, so if you must share your negative experiences with others, you should limit it as much as possible.

Removing Witchcraft Yourself

A long time ago, witchcraft was simple, so one could simply pray to remove witchcraft from themselves. Nowadays, witchcraft has become more complex, and so too, the means to be cured from it is also complex. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible for someone to cure themselves from witchcraft by simply praying and practicing good deeds, e.g., giving charity, etc. If an inexperienced person tries to learn white magic to combat black magic, they could accidentally cause more harm to themselves by opening a portal for demons and evil spirits to harm them. Sadly, effective removal of witchcraft nowadays must be done by a gifted and experienced spiritual healer.

Removing Witchcraft from Relatives

There are different levels of spiritual healers. Some are gifted, and some aren’t. In all cases, a spiritual healer can’t remove witchcraft from themselves and from their relatives. It is unclear why this is the case, but it may be due to some healers abusing their gift to only help themselves and their relatives when the gift was meant to help everyone.

What Happens When You Die

People can die from natural causes (e.g., old age) and unnatural causes (e.g., black magic). When people die naturally, they often see a light and are drawn to it. They are supposed to go to the light, which may be where Heaven is. However, some spirits may not want to go to the light or may not even see a light. For example, some people who die due to black magic may refuse to go to the light as they prefer to stay in the human world. These spirits are stuck between the human world and the afterlife. They may roam around invisible to humans, or they may stay in someone’s house. If they are evil, the house may become what is commonly referred to as a “haunted house.” These spirits that are stuck between the human world and the afterlife can be benevolent or evil, and they may voluntarily choose to help or hurt humans.

Incomplete Spiritual Readings

When a spiritual healer does a reading, he or she gets information from spirits. This information almost always not 100% complete. For example, if 3 people have done witchcraft on you, the reading may only reveal two of them. There are different reasons for this, including:

• The healer may not look deep into the issues affecting someone, and therefore they’ll only detect some of the witchcraft.
• During a reading, some evil spirits may hide to avoid getting caught. Usually, this happens when the witchcraft is of the stronger type, e.g., a curse rather than ordinary black magic.

For this reason, it is recommended to get multiple readings, whether from one or more spiritual healers. However, multiple readings along will likely still not give you the complete picture. Nevertheless, the time you lose from not addressing one source of witchcraft can be more costly than the cost to pay for 2-4 readings.

In order to get a complete picture of all sources of witchcraft affecting you, you need to do a cleansing. During a cleansing, oftentimes a healer will discover more sources of witchcraft. However, not all healers are effective when doing a cleansing, so even they won’t be able to get the complete picture when cleansing you, which is why it’s critical to find an effective healer.

Conclusion

Ultimately, only God, who created both good and evil, has the final say on what good and evil can happen, but based on all the evil that exists in the world, it appears that God expects people to use the good resources that he put on Earth to combat evil, including seeking the help of gifted spiritual healers to combat witchcraft.

So Now What?

If you suspect that something isn’t normal in your life, you can get a spiritual checkup with a spiritual healer. The checkup involves getting a “reading”, where the healer communicates with their good spirits to find out if there are evil spirits interfering with your life, whether caused by witchcraft or not. They will be able to get specific information about you that would be impossible for a stranger to know. This is a clue that they are legit and can communicate with spirits. Unfortunately, some so-called spiritual healers are scammers, so it’s important to shop around. It’s like getting multiple diagnoses from multiple mechanics when there’s an issue with your car. If multiple healers tell you the same thing, then most likely they’re all telling you the truth. However, some healers may only provide limited information, whereas others can go deep into your past and uncover the source of the witchcraft that has been affecting you. Once you’ve confirmed that you’re a victim of witchcraft, you can choose a healer to get a healing.

Questions to Ask When Getting a Spiritual Reading

• Who are all the people who did witchcraft to the victim, e.g., relative, friend, coworker, etc?
• What was the goal of witchcraft, e.g., to cause sickness, divorce, etc?
• When did they do the witchcraft?
• Where did they do the witchcraft?
• Why did they do the witchcraft, e.g., jealousy, etc.
• How often do they repeat doing witchcraft to the victim?