I had four incisions along the hairline with endoscopic surgery and decided to lift the tail of my eyebrows. (early 30s)
I went to a clinic I had previously visited once for a consultation, mainly because I liked the surgeon there, and booked the procedure for a week later that same day....
This is my first-ever cosmetic surgery review, so it may be a bit long-winded.
1. On the day of surgery, prepayment was made before the operation. - I don't know if this is standard.
2. On the day of surgery, there was also a double-eyelid surgery patient at roughly the same time. - They said that was fine because that double-eyelid surgery would take only 30 minutes, while the endoscopic forehead lift required a lot of preparation in advance.
3. Things prepared right before the endoscopic forehead lift - Final consultation with the surgeon: decided how much lifting would be done. They did not explain the exact design, such as how many mm. - Final consultation with the clinic coordinator: detailed explanation, and I decided to buy bruising cream after surgery (KRW 50,000) - Rinsing my mouth with antiseptic: I had to rinse and spit out a brown antiseptic that tasted like death. - Lying on the operating table with my hands and feet secured: I assume this was to keep me from moving during sedation anesthesia. - Braiding my hair: they tightly tied it up so no hair would get caught in the four incision lines. - Spraying antiseptic or a skin-fixing preparation : I don't know exactly what it was, but they seemed to spray it from hair to face to inside the ears and down to the neck line, and it felt cold and made me shiver. After it was sprayed, my face felt like it was stiffening, and there was an antiseptic smell left behind (similar smell/color to the antiseptic used for mouth rinsing).
4. Surgery - Sedation anesthesia: they said they would tell me before the sedation, but... I don't know if I fell asleep before that or if they gave the anesthetic without informing me. In any case, I don't even remember entering sedation anesthesia. I simply slept and woke up to find the surgery was over.
5. At the hospital after surgery - Cold compress: they gave me an ice pack and told me to lie in the rest room for about 30 minutes with a cold compress, but... they placed it on my forehead before leaving, so I thought, oh, I just need to keep the cold pack on my forehead, and missed that golden time completely... such a frustrating part. - Condition: I went home with a compression bandage, a pain pump, and a blood drain attached. (Extra: These days a lot of places have taxi shortages, but for long distances T map Taxi was easy to get / You can't drive yourself on the day of sedation anesthesia.)
6. Post-surgery condition - Pain: fortunately, there was no headache or nausea (maybe thanks to the pain pump) - I wore the compression bandage for two more days, then went to the clinic to have the pain pump/blood drain removed, and they changed it to a fresh bandage and told me to keep wearing it at home for two more days (since surgery was on Saturday morning..) - Swelling: after Saturday's surgery, by Monday I was swollen so much that my Mongolian fold had disappeared, like a butterfly tribe member, but since yesterday it went down quickly and now the major swelling is gone. - Bruising: bruising is still there, but it has gone down a lot. - Sensation: itching and a pulling feeling. Maybe because I haven't shampooed properly... my head still feels exactly like the surgical area is being pulled tight. - Washing my hair: they said I can only wash it today, on day 5, but this is hair that was tightly braided, tied up, and sprayed with a fixing antiseptic?, so it is not the usual greasy day-5 hair.. Even if water touches it, it doesn't really count as being washed, and I have to work hard to loosen it by hand. But they told me not to put pressure on the surgical area and not to brush or finger-comb it, so I have no idea how I'm supposed to wash it. I only washed the back of my head reasonably well, and I'm booking a salon appointment on Friday to properly wash even the area near the surgical site....
7. Satisfaction after surgery - In my case, I decided to lift the tail of the right eyebrow a little more than the left one (originally the right eye was a little smaller, without being too noticeable) - When my face is neutral: I'm very satisfied with the left eye, but the right eye didn't lift as much as I wanted, so it looks much smaller and more noticeable than before... - When making facial expressions: I can't really make any expression. Only the left eyebrow/forehead barely trembles and moves, while the right eyebrow/glabella doesn't move at all... The clinic says this may happen while nerves are recovering, but I don't know if it's normal.
Afterwards: tomorrow I'll wash my hair at the salon.. and on Saturday I'll have the stitches/staples removed and a consultation with the surgeon about the eyebrow muscles.
There are almost no reviews saying that facial expressions don't come back after surgery, and it really is extremely rare to see them, but nobody tells you whether it gets better after a long time. I'll leave this here.. I really hope I can say it does get better
Everyone, please be careful. Right now, on day 5, I can't even make an expression, and even when I do, I look like a monster with uneven eyes..
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2 months later - using plain style for convenience
The bruising and swelling, surprisingly, disappeared completely within 1 to 2 weeks, but.. By the time I went for the 1-month follow-up, the left-side expression had improved a lot, but the right side still could not make any expression at all. Of the four incisions, the two areas closer to the temples had almost no pain to the point I could barely tell where they were, but the two closer to the part line had some pain, and the area above the right forehead in particular had heat and severe pain.
I went to the clinic looking like Madame Asura, and during the doctor's consultation they tried to brush it off by saying there is usually some pain, but after I kept complaining, they finally looked directly at the surgical site and diagnosed inflammation, so I got an additional 7-day prescription for anti-inflammatory medicine. (I took about 7 days of anti-inflammatory medicine right after surgery, but it seems that wasn't enough.) Based on the doctor's explanation, I also wondered if the inflammation was what made facial expressions even harder to make.
I waited while taking the anti-inflammatory medicine, and at the 2-month mark my facial expressions now feel much more natural than before. (I can make expressions, but there is a strange time lag between the two sides, so I can even wave with my eyebrows... hehe) Still, I'm relieved that my facial expressions have returned, so it feels like a small thing. In the very early stage after surgery, even if I saw something funny and wanted to laugh, only my mouth could laugh and my eyes couldn't, so even laughing didn't feel happy.
At first I was only worried about the pain and the facial expressions, but after a month, whether because of the medicine or time, the expressions gradually came back, and now there are other bothersome things, like pain, nerve itching, and the Endotine protruding slightly on both sides among the hair like goat horns... Still, it's better than worrying only about expressions, so relatively speaking I'm satisfied.. But my impression has changed in a strange way, and the eye-smile I thought was pretty cute is not as easy to make as before, and I think it may stay that way even as time goes on...
Now at 2 months, hair has not yet grown in over the surgical area, but since they say it takes about half a year, I'm waiting a bit. I have no sensation on the right scalp, so I can't wash it as thoroughly as before, and the hair near the right surgical site has developed a bit of dandruff. Recently sensation has started to come back too, but there is still a tingling feeling when I touch it, so I still can't wash it really vigorously, though I am trying.
Since the forehead had been lifted after surgery, the downward pressure on the eyes was reduced, so opening my eyes had become quite a bit easier, but, these days I can again feel the eyes being pressed a little almost like before (However, it still doesn't seem as bad as before surgery.)
My overall conclusion is... I think I understand why this is a surgery people are told not to do when they're young, and even though it's an expensive operation, as a surgery it is by no means simple for the patient to endure. There is much more to deal with after surgery than just bruising and swelling, but I only knew that bruising and swelling would go down quickly, so I think I was too careless about the surgery. As a result, there are parts I regret, and also parts where I would have regretted it if I hadn't done it, so I do feel relieved too... Still, if I could go back and choose again, I would not do it.
In any case, please look into it carefully according to your age, condition, and temperament, and make a wise choice.