Before before before* I brought over the post I wrote for myself as-is as a review, so I could later look back and see whether the surgery went well!*
I’m a working mom, so I really didn’t have time to go around to consultations. I searched through tons of reviews, watched YouTube, and narrowed down the clinics. ㅇㄹ, ㅇㅂㅈ, ㅈㅅㅌ, ㅅㅅㅇ, ㅊㅂㅉ, ㅅㅌㅌ, ㄹㅇㄹ, like this. I ruled out places that were too expensive, and also ruled out places that seemed too advertisement-like... I sent photos, got quotes, had consultations, and the place I finally decided on was ㅇㄹ. Originally I was going to have it done by Director ㄱㅅㅊ, but there was also an extra fee of 300,000 won, so my final decision was Director ㅊㅁㅅ. I met him for the first time on the day of surgery, and right before me, he had just finished doing an under-eye fat repositioning surgery on another woman. First of all, his voice was strong and he seemed confident. His explanation was simple and clear, but he answered everything I was curious about and was very thorough! Also, in my case, besides under-eye hollowness, I also had pretty severe pigmentation, so I was told that under-eye fat repositioning might not make the area completely clean. After the design marking, I went into the operating room.
Day of surgery - The operating room nurse was so kind, so we talked about this and that and I relaxed. I asked for a time-lapse, and she took my phone and set it up for me! I felt the sleep anesthesia going in, and when I opened my eyes, it was over. I moved to the recovery room with the nurse, but my eyes wouldn’t open as much as I expected, so I was a bit worried. It felt like I had to forcefully lift and open them? I lay down for about an hour, then barely opened my eyes wide enough to take a photo, and later when I looked, there were bloody tears next to my eyes…. When I got home, I took out a winter blanket, rolled it up, placed it near the head of the bed, put a pillow on top of it, and slept almost sitting at a 45-degree angle. (I slept sitting up for 1 week.)
D+1 – It was my first time trying to sleep sitting up, and maybe I somehow slid sideways strangely at dawn, but bloody tears came out of my right eye, making my upper and lower eyelids stick together, so I woke up at 5 a.m. because it was uncomfortable. I sprayed artificial tears on a cotton swab and gently wiped it off, but the blood had also clumped on my eyelashes, so I don’t even know how many cotton swabs I used... lol. I fell asleep again, and when I woke up in the morning, I gently removed the eye discharge, dropped my baby off at daycare, then went to work wearing a hat and glasses... They say the eyes usually swell the most on days 2-4, but for me, the swelling was worst the next day. I worked hard with cold compresses, and in the evening my husband bought swelling-reducing medicine from the pharmacy, so I took it. After taking that, the swelling started going down quickly. Even if it didn’t look different to the naked eye, it felt much lighter. My swelling went all the way up to the eyelids above my double eyelid line.
D+2 - Compared with the first day, I barely had any eye discharge, and the swelling had gone down only very slightly. I went to a lunch appointment I had made long ago (even with my baby). Before going out, I wanted to wash my hair, so I pulled a mask up toward my forehead, even taped it so water wouldn’t get in, and washed my hair. Outside, I felt like people were staring because of the tape under my eyes, but well... I just walked around wearing a hat and glasses lol. Maybe because I talked a lot, my eyelids felt lighter than on the first day.
D+3 - I stayed home that day, and the swelling felt like it had gone down more. I finally removed the tape! I started pulling from the outer side, but if I removed it like that, it seemed like the tape’s super-strong adhesive would make me swell a lot, so I couldn’t do it…. I searched for how to remove it well, but nothing came up, so I just used alcohol swabs I had at home, placed them on top of the tape to loosen it a bit, then rubbed the inner side of the tape to weaken the adhesion before removing it. Even so, the swelling and bruising came up sharply, so I alternated cold and warm compresses all day and applied bruise cream at least 10 times. The bruising… maybe because I took the swelling-reducing medicine too early, it felt like bruising that might not have appeared spread out? I heard that if you take bruise-dispersing medicine too early, it can actually make the bruising spread. On my left eye, yellow bruising suddenly came up all the way to the inner corner of the eye. At night, it seemed to be swelling again, so I wanted to put tape back on before sleeping, but I didn’t have tape. Instead, I put on the hydrogel eye patches you stick under your eyes when golfing. They pressed over a fairly wide area and had a cooling effect too, so I slept feeling satisfied. I was a bit worried about whether covering the bruise cream with them might cause skin trouble, but nothing happened.
D+4~5 – Even though it was embarrassing, I thought it would be better than walking around with visible bruises, so I slightly trimmed the ends of golf patches and wore them. On the evening of day 5, my face was a bit swollen, but after compresses, it went down slightly and Indian bands that I had never seen on my face before started showing. I guess the swelling went down unevenly?
D+6 – The swelling suddenly went down a lot, and my eyelids returned to normal. But the Indian bands became more deeply indented (the face inside the red line was sunken in). Only a little bruising remained and most of it had faded, so now I think it could be covered with makeup. I put in contact lenses, but they felt gritty and painful, so I removed them. I took the KTX and left for a 5-day, 4-night trip.
D+7 – Since I was excited about being on a trip, I tried makeup for the first time after surgery. Maybe because I tapped under my eyes while applying makeup and it irritated the area, it swelled a bit more. I also wore contact lenses, and unlike the day before, they were totally fine. But they did get dry in the evening. I couldn’t last the whole day and took them out.
D+8 – Because of the bruise cream, my skin peeled little by little, so my makeup pilled and it was a mess. I took care of it a bit with a gentle peeling gel. The bruise under my right eye was still there.
D+9~10 – The bruising faded a lot, but swelling was still there. And seriously, don’t do what they tell you not to do…. I got excited because I was traveling and drank one bottle of beer, and I swelled up so much lol. There really is a reason they tell you not to drink alcohol for a month… (They told me no alcohol, smoking, or sauna for one month.)
D-11-14 – It seems like my eyes have almost returned to normal, but there’s still slight swelling under the eyes, so my eye shape isn’t like before, and it feels like the under-eye line has moved upward a bit? When I look downward, it still feels a bit rubbed or pressed, and there’s still a slight Indian band under my right eye, but it’s not as severe as before. It’ll probably go back after a month!!
So this is the progress I had written down in my phone every day up to this point! I was worried after seeing reviews saying it’s not a surgery you can think of as easier than expected, that if it goes wrong it can become more sunken, and so on. For me, the swelling and bruising were not at a level where I could return to daily life within 1-3 days, and I saw swelling and bruising on my own face that I hadn’t seen in other reviews... lol. Every time I dropped off and picked up my baby, all the daycare teachers worried and asked if I was okay, so I confessed honestly... Still, at least no blood vessels burst in my eyeballs... Swelling and bruising can be different for everyone, so if you have an important event, I recommend doing it looong before that important event. This really was a bit TMI, but I hope it’s a helpful review for people who are worried about or have lots of questions about under-eye fat repositioning surgery! I’ll come back with a one-month review in 2 weeks~
This review is for a surgery review pursuing natural beauty.