Des journey
primary eye surgery and two revisions in South korea
South Korea is a popular destination for cosmetic surgery, especially Asian double-eye lid surgery (DES) and ptosis correction. I was born with natural creases but over time the creases became more droopy and uneven. I wanted a simple change, just my eyes but refreshed without the excess skin and fat along with ptosis correction (sleepy eye look) and undereye fat repositioning (repositioning the eye bags for a smoother undereye). Unfortunately I did not research enough doctors and based my decision too heavily on costs that I ended up with botched eyes…which required multiple revisions to fix. I am sharing my story in hopes of helping others avoid my mistakes and permanent scars.
Primary surgery research
I was only using the Realself and Purse Forum websites for my research and relied heavily on patient reviews. I was too trusting of the posts and didn’t realize there’s promoters on these sites who are either work for the PS clinics or receive discounts for posting positive reviews. Also I trusted one member’s reviews (Ms. Orange) due to her medical background and later discovered that she’s bias with a strange admiration for a surgeon who’s botched other patients. I didn’t discover the surgeon’s negative reviews until I joined the Korean messaging chat app KakaoTalk after my failed primary surgery.
Based on my limited research, I decided on 2 surgeons and scheduled back-to-back in-person consultations with them. In hindsight, I should have met with more surgeons. I also shouldn’t have crossed off Dr Kim from Item (now JT clinic) because the online quote I received was higher than a Korean Youtuber’s price. I let my ego (felt discriminated as a foreigner and being ripped off) dictate Dr Kim’s skills and ultimately paid more than the online price…I could have negotiated during the live consultation but I was too upset to think rationally.
Primary Results
I met with Dr. Jung at Wannabe and Dr. Seo at MVP (now at Machimpyo) and decided on Dr. Seo based on Ms. Orange’s strong recommendations and price. I decided to get DES, medial epicanthoplasty (extend inner corners), ptosis correction and undereye fat repositioning - only the last procedure was a success. Dr. Seo was too aggressive in the medial epi extension resulting in an unnatural look; overcorrected the ptosis in my right eye which resulted in a surprised hidden crease look in the right eye yet under-corrected my left eye with the end result resembling Quasimodo from the Disney cartoons. Even though it takes 3-6 months for the initial swelling to dissipate, I knew at my last follow-up appointment that something was off. Dr. Seo mentioned in the previous follow-up appointment (one week post-op) that I may need a quick adjustment and seemed a bit shocked to see the result of my eyes when I entered the room but then just brushed it off at my final appointment (2 weeks post-op).
First Revision
After 3 months, the ptosis overcorrection became more apparent and I was embarrassed about the results. I felt so terrible and mad at myself for messing with my naturally decent looking eyes. It was a tough few months with self-blame and immense regret, the only light at the end of this dark tunnel was that I could get a revision. At this point, I also discovered KakaoTalk and learned about the promoters, fake reviews/filtered photos and mixed reviews of Dr. Seo. I was determined to find a surgeon to fix my eyes. But again, I did not make the right decision. I met with 3 surgeons, including the “revision specialist” at MVP (Dr. Hyun) and I decided to go with Dr. Hyun based on the B&A of his work. Dr. Seo was no longer at MVP at this time and I didn’t know how to find him…the consultant at MVP said they would take responsibility and do my revision for just the 300k won surgical fee. I trusted Dr. Hyun and the consultant but my results were very unnatural. Dr. Hyun did fix the ptosis overcorrection but created sausage-lids with higher creases that extended past my eye-socket/bone…the scars around my eyes are worst and my creases are thicker due to removal of the thinner skin closer to the lash line.
Second/Last Revision
After the two failed surgeries, I was becoming more depressed and scared of my next revision. I understood that surgeries become more difficult with each revision as more skin is removed and internal scars develop. I was so afraid that I would make another bad decision and ruin my last chance at having normal looking eyes again. This time I was lucky enough to see photos of a KakaoTalk member who had amazing B&A and also met another patient of the same surgeon who I saw in-person. Their results were very natural and they both said the surgeon was very meticulous and had a lot of restrictions for post-op to ensure better results. This surgeon was also very difficult to book for consultation and surgery. You had to contact the consultations in Korean and they will not schedule surgery without an in-person consultation with the surgeon even if you were willing to provide a deposit. My good Korean friend helped me book the consultation via KakaoTalk and went to the live consultation with me a few months later. I was so lucky to have secured a surgery date for the following day. The surgeon was very thorough during the consultation and refused to add any additional enhancement procedures, he only wanted to focus on making my eyes more natural looking. I was so grateful for his skills and pride in his work. I am so happy now with my results even though there’s still a lot of scars around my eyes. My surgeon said he can excise the scars once there’s enough excess skin but it might take 10 years…I hope he doesn’t retire by then!
