I have had fat bulging under my eyes since I was young, so it has always bothered me. It got worse as I got older, and I had been thinking about lower eyelid surgery for several years, but I couldn’t bring myself to go through with it because I was worried about side effects. Recently, I finally decided to go ahead with lower eyelid surgery, and this past Monday I had consultations at three plastic surgery clinics. I want to share the consultation review for anyone considering lower eyelid surgery.
The three clinics I booked consultations with were chosen after checking their reputation on cafe sites and blogs, as well as whether they were accessible from home and whether they focused on eye surgery.
1. Object Plastic Surgery (Gangnam Station) - appointment at 10:30 a.m. on January 8
- I arrived at 10:23 a.m., just before the 10:30 appointment time, and after arriving I was asked to fill out a simple medical questionnaire. - After filling out the questionnaire, I was moved to a separate consultation room, where the consultation manager checked the main items I had written on the form. The main check items were dry eye syndrome, medications I take, any previous surgeries, and whether I take any other medications. - After about 2 minutes of confirming the above items with the consultation manager, I kept waiting in the consultation room for Director Shin Chi-ho. - One hour after arriving at the clinic, at 11:20 a.m., Director Shin Chi-ho arrived and spent about 10 minutes explaining the surgery. For about 5 of those minutes, he talked about the problems caused by facial skin aging and how they could be addressed. As possible solutions, he suggested lower eyelid fat repositioning and dual lower eyelid surgery, and asked which one I wanted. - Since I knew the under-eye bulging was severe, I chose dual lower eyelid surgery. He then explained that surgery for about 5 minutes and strongly recommended fat grafting in my case because the area under my eyes was sunken. - If I had had more time, I would have asked many more questions about the surgery, but the consultation started 50 minutes after my appointment time, and the consultation at LiEye Plastic Surgery, which had originally been scheduled for 1:30 p.m., had been changed to 12:00 p.m., so I hardly asked any surgery-related questions. - After that, the consultation manager came in and spent about 3 minutes checking the cost and surgery schedule for the recommended procedure.
2. LiEye Plastic Surgery (Sinsa Station) - originally 1:30 p.m. on January 8, changed to 12:00 p.m.
- About the Wednesday of the previous week before the consultation, they requested a change to the appointment time from 1:30 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. because the surgeon’s operating schedule had been set, so I changed it. From the time I first booked it, they had said the consultation time could change if the surgeon’s operating schedule came up, so it wasn’t really a problem, but if it hadn’t been adjusted to 12:00 p.m., it would have been awkward since my next appointment was at 3:00 p.m. - After finishing the consultation at Object Plastic Surgery at 11:40 a.m., I left and arrived exactly at 12:00 p.m. - After arriving, I filled out the medical questionnaire and consented to the use of personal information, just like at Object Plastic Surgery. - After filling out the questionnaire, I immediately started a consultation with the consultation manager. Before the consultation began, the manager served me corn silk tea. - At the other plastic surgery clinics, the consultation time with the consultation manager was usually about 2 minutes (Object, Hambaksnow), but at LiEye I talked with the manager for about 8 minutes. As at the other clinics, they checked the main points on the questionnaire, and afterwards they also answered questions about the surgery very comfortably, which I appreciated. - After the consultation with the manager, Director Jeon Hyo-jin came in right away and the consultation began. I thought it would be hard to talk for long since surgery was scheduled for that afternoon, but this ended up being the longest consultation, a total of 23 minutes. - After looking at my face, they said lower eyelid fat repositioning alone would be difficult and suggested lower eyelid surgery plus lower eyelid fat repositioning. They explained the surgery in detail for about 6 minutes, the next 12 minutes were spent on my questions and their answers, and the final 5 minutes were for questions about surgeries other than the one I was getting, such as upper eyelid surgery and forehead lift. I also liked that they explained everything well without showing any annoyance. - Director Jeon Hyo-jin also said, as at Object, that the area under my eyes was sunken, but did not recommend fat grafting. They recommended that if I wanted fat grafting after the swelling goes down following lower eyelid surgery, I should do it then. - Rather than doing fat grafting during the lower eyelid surgery, they recommended combining it with a mini face lift, so I thought about it and decided to first make sure the lower eyelid surgery goes well, then consider the mini face lift later. - After 23 minutes with Director Jeon Hyo-jin discussing lower eyelid surgery and other questions I had, the consultation manager came back in and we had an additional 20-minute consultation. - What would have been a 5-minute consultation with the manager after speaking with the director ended up taking about 20 minutes because I kept asking about things like recovery after surgery, the schedule, and the surgical fee. It was a little awkward because we had gone past lunchtime, but the manager made me feel comfortable, so I could ask everything I wanted.
3. Hambaksnow Plastic Surgery (Apgujeong Station) - changed from 3:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on January 8
- The consultation had originally been booked for 3:00 p.m., but while I was receiving my consultation at LiEye, they called and asked if it would be possible to move it 30 minutes earlier to 2:30 p.m., and I said yes. - I arrived around 2:20 p.m., filled out the questionnaire, and immediately checked the main items on the form with the consultation manager (about 1 minute). - After the consultation with the manager, I immediately began a consultation with Director Ko Han-woong. The total consultation time was about 16 minutes, with 6 minutes spent on surgery-related explanation and the remaining 10 minutes spent on my questions and their answers. - Director Ko Han-woong also said my under-eye bulging was severe, so lower eyelid fat repositioning alone would be difficult, and like LiEye, he recommended fat repositioning plus lower eyelid surgery. In his case, he did not specifically mention fat grafting. - Director Ko said he performs surgery conservatively, so I do not need to worry about ectropion. He explained things comfortably, and it was easy to ask questions as well. - After speaking with the director, I immediately had another about 8-minute consultation with the manager about things I wanted to know after surgery, such as the surgical fee, surgery schedule, follow-up visit schedule, eye ointment, swelling, and my wife’s eye condition. I paid the 10,000 won consultation fee after that.
4. Final conclusion after the consultations: LiEye Plastic Surgery
- To prepare for the consultations, I looked through many blogs, plastic surgery cafe communities, and YouTube videos, and decided to consult with the three clinics above. I considered factors such as accessibility from home, whether it was a solo-practitioner clinic, blog or cafe reputation, whether they do a lot of surgery for middle-aged patients, and their surgical explanations on YouTube. - Even if someone seemed impressive because they appeared a lot on YouTube, I searched blogs and cafe posts to check their reputation, and I found that some surgeons are very different at the beginning and the end, so I excluded those surgeons. Even if a place had a good reputation, if the blog or clinic website had little information and didn’t give me a good feeling, I excluded that place too. - I tried to find real surgical cases rather than advertisements, especially cases of lower eyelid surgery in middle-aged and older patients. I left comments on blog posts and asked the writers about their satisfaction to confirm it. There are fewer reviews than I expected for middle-aged lower eyelid surgery. - As the consultation day got closer, I saw many cases of failed lower eyelid surgery, so until today’s consultations I was a bit nervous. After actually consulting at three clinics today, I definitely felt that even if it takes time and money, I should consult at least three places. - After consulting with the three clinics, I decided to have the lower eyelid surgery at LiEye Plastic Surgery and paid the deposit. - Hambaksnow Plastic Surgery was not bad either, but Director Jeon Hyo-jin at LiEye explained things very well, just as I had hoped, and did a good job explaining the discomforts after surgery. I also liked that the consultation manager tried to explain various surgery-related details. Overall, it felt very sincere. - The surgery date for the lower eyelid surgery is set for Tuesday, January 23 in the morning, but the exact time has not been decided yet. It can be confirmed the day before. - Whether deciding to have the lower eyelid surgery at LiEye Plastic Surgery was a good decision or a bad one will be clear in a month, but since I am over 50, I think I have a reasonable eye for people, so I am taking it positively and plan to go through with the surgery. I hope the surgery goes well and that I can write a happy review afterward.