Review after 2 weeks since under-eye fat repositioning + fat grafting (writing casually in clipped style)
Had surgery on 12/30 (Fri). I didn’t have a lot of fat bags, and I was more worried about hollowness, so I had fat grafting done together. The swelling after surgery was mostly because of the fat grafting. From days 1-5, I was so swollen that I really looked like a mean, greedy, plastic-surgery-looking lady lol. I understood what reviews meant when they said your nose bridge disappears and you become Avatar-like. At least I wore a mask outside, so while staying shut in, I just pulled a hat down and walked around the neighborhood to reduce swelling. If you absolutely never take off your mask all day and only work, it might be okay, but having a social life is absolutely impossible.. Went in on 1/4 (Wed), had the tape removed and got a swelling laser treatment. They said I could get the swelling laser as much as I wanted. But I don’t know if it has a dramatic effect.. Until one week after surgery, I could see the swelling go down day by day. Fortunately, I didn’t bruise much. Swelling was the biggest issue. On 1/6 (Fri), I suddenly had to go to a funeral, so I met acquaintances, but I couldn’t take off my mask.. Around then, my face had returned to looking like mine, but it was still obvious enough that other people would quickly notice there was something under my eyes. On 1/8 (Sun), I also had a meal gathering, so I had no choice but to take off my mask, and people said my face was swollen ㅠㅠ I had plans on 1/12 (Thu), so I was worried about what I’d do if the swelling didn’t go down, but strangely, that morning it had gone down a lot compared to the day before, so my friend didn’t really notice until I told them. Originally it protruded overall, but as the swelling decreased, a slight aegyo-sal-like fullness formed right under my eyes. As of today (1/14), if I look closely, there are still fat lumps under my eyes ㅜㅜ I can feel them if I touch them with my hand. I’m waiting for them to fully engraft..
If the swelling went down noticeably every day up to week 1, from week 2 onward it feels like it’s going down very gradually. Until week 1, I couldn’t even wash my face properly.. I realized washing your face is a stronger movement than I thought.. I absolutely couldn’t wash my face the way older men commonly do lol. While showering, I aimed the water stream at my forehead and gently washed my face with the water flowing down. They told me not to lower my head either, and if I happened to lower it, I felt pressure. From the middle of week 2, I could still wash my face (because the under-eye swelling had gone down that much), and even bending down wasn’t as uncomfortable as before. I usually bend my head down when blow-drying my hair, but I’m still scared, so I’m drying it while standing upright.. Even things like this are surprisingly inconvenient.
Swelling originally gets worse if you don’t sleep well, are tired, don’t move around much, or eat salty food, so I think it’s important to follow these basic rules. For 1-2 weeks after surgery, it seems good to eat well, sleep well, and do walking and stretching (not intense exercise)!
The hospital says it’s a simple surgery, but there are way more uncomfortable things than expected. I recommend doing it when you have as much free time as possible and are physically and mentally comfortable lol (Until week 1, reading a book and things like that are okay as long as you don’t lower your head, but the area under the eyes keeps feeling tired.)
And this is obvious, but I did it to fill under my eyes and look younger, yet the skin sagging is still there.. During engraftment, the sagging can even look more noticeable because of the fat lumps.. So I booked Ulthera in March lol
I’ll know better after more time passes, but I chose autologous fat grafting because I’m averse to fillers, and it seems so poor in cost-effectiveness + convenience ㅠㅠ I’ll write another progress update after one month..