First, I had double eyelid surgery with buried stitches almost 17 years ago. Then the line got a bit thinner, so 3 years later I had buried stitches again at the same hospital. But then one side completely came undone a few months later. I was so pissed that I changed hospitals and, 1 year later, had partial incision surgery at a place that was just starting to get word-of-mouth attention at the time (fat removal around the eye socket + buried stitches). So the last surgery was almost 13 years ago.
After that I just lived like that for years. The line didn’t come undone or get noticeably thinner, but my eyes were also uneven, so I was never 100% satisfied. Then I felt it was time to do it again, so I got serious and went for consultations. Oh, and 3 and a half years ago I had a back-and-bottom canthoplasty, and it wasn’t terribly strange or anything, but I honestly wasn’t that happy with it, so I wanted to have that corrected too and consulted about it together.
1) ㅅㅅ Incisional surgery (ptosis correction) + upper canthoplasty Back canthoplasty revision + lower canthoplasty revision or just back canthoplasty revision
That was the guidance I got. They said it should be done with an incision and recommended doing upper canthoplasty too if I wanted the inner corners of the double eyelids to show well. They said the thing I didn’t like about the back canthoplasty could be fixed with revision, and that revising it wouldn’t completely take me back to my original eyes. If I wanted to do the lower canthoplasty again, they said they would either just release it or re-fix it by placing the thread somewhere else. Overall the consultation was fine, but since it was the first place I’d been to, I said okay and went elsewhere. The price was on the higher side, and the estimate for canthoplasty revision was the highest among the five places.
Also, this was the only clinic that recommended ptosis correction and upper canthoplasty. The others didn’t mention that at all.
2) ㄷㅂㅇ Brow lift Back canthoplasty revision, then revision of back-and-bottom canthoplasty Consultation fee: 10,000 won
I went here on short notice because they’re said to be famous for canthoplasty revision. They told me my double-eyelid line wasn’t undone and was still intact, so how about lifting only the brows to match both sides and show more of the double eyelids? It was a solution I’d never heard of or even thought about before, but it was kind of tempting. The cost seemed to be almost half the price of double-eyelid surgery if I only did the brow lift. Of course, since they’re famous for canthoplasty, the revision price for that was expensive. When I said I wanted to undo the lower canthoplasty, they said just releasing it might not be effective, so they recommended doing revision with their own method instead.
3) ㅈㄷ (a place I went to before) Buried stitches They do not do canthoplasty revision Consultation fee: 30,000 won
This is the place where I had my last partial-incision surgery 13 years ago, basically buried stitches. Actually, even though the line was uneven, I didn’t hate the line itself that much, and since they were still running the hospital as a one-doctor clinic, I went back thinking I might try again. The hospital was still doing well. But the consultation wasn’t all that great... because when I said, “I had this eye done by the doctor before, and after just living with it for over 10 years, I came here because I want to match the line,” they said, “This is the line I made? Wasn’t it a line from before?” which felt a bit... They were extremely proud of buried stitches here and immediately recommended buried stitches, saying we could just raise the line and match it with buried stitches. When I asked whether buried stitches can come undone, they said they can. Still, they did recommend buried stitches. The consultation manager was kind. I told the manager I came because I wanted my last surgery, and asked whether buried stitches might come undone again, and the manager said, “It can’t be the last surgery because we all age...” That line somehow stayed with me lol
They just said to go somewhere else for canthoplasty revision. I wasn’t really expecting that from this clinic anyway.
4) ㅇㅁㄷ-ㅂㄷㄱ Buried stitches Canthoplasty revision
I heard you had to wait more than 3 months here, so I booked 3 to 4 months in advance. They all said they were the main surgeon, but I still picked the one who seemed like the senior chief doctor. Like ㅈㄷ, they also recommended natural-adhesion buried stitches for me, and I had a brief panic. My eye has already had surgery 3 times, and they’re recommending buried stitches...? But anyway, they said my eyes aren’t difficult eyes. And they said if I do incisional surgery, there could be a slight mucosal eversion.
When I said I wanted to undo the lower canthoplasty because it seemed a bit too much, they said they wouldn’t know whether it would go back until they released it. If I wanted to touch the canthoplasty, they recommended first releasing it and then redoing it their way.
What surprised me, though, was that ㅇㅁㄷ is such a famous and large hospital that I thought the price would be pretty high, but with the photo-provision event applied, it was the cheapest of all the places. Both canthoplasty and buried-stitch revision... Maybe because it’s buried stitches? Even with both buried stitches + canthoplasty revision, it was cheaper than doing incision ptosis correction + upper canthoplasty at ㅅㅅ.
5) ㄴㅅㅎ-ㄴㅅㅎ Incision Canthoplasty revision
This place is so famous that I had some expectations. I also knew that the doctors ㄱㄷㅎ and ㄱㅈㅎ are famous, but I thought that for a clinic putting one name on it like this, the chief doctor would be better, so I intentionally chose the chief doctor. The chief doctor’s consultation count is higher and the price is more expensive. They had just come out of the operating room and were doing the consultation, and they looked very tired..
Since I’ve already had buried stitches several times, they recommended incisional surgery. But they said the choice was mine, so they didn’t push it very strongly. They just said incision would be best.
They were the only ones who looked at me and said that although I’ve already had a back canthoplasty, there’s still about 2 mm more room to open, and they touched the bone near the outer corner of the eye. So they told me to do the back canthoplasty again and make it more refreshed, of course it’s my choice. For the lower canthoplasty, they said if you release it, it usually comes back more than 90%. If I want it to come back, I can release it, but if possible they recommended releasing it and redoing it properly. They said ptosis correction isn’t needed.
But the price... I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying ㄴㅅㅎ is inexpensive, but because it was the chief doctor, it was the most expensive price. It was even a little more expensive than ㅅㅅ. It was almost the same as the combined price of incision ptosis correction + upper canthoplasty at ㅅㅅ. They said aftercare is 3 years, which feels longer than the others.
**Conclusion After going through all of them, what I felt was... how can the diagnoses be this different from clinic to clinic for a revision of a revision of a revision? I went to 5 places, and got 2 recommendations for buried stitches, 2 for incision, and 1 for a brow lift lol But my eyes aren’t some extreme case or anything, and since this is the 4th surgery, I’m leaning toward incision. I don’t want to keep worrying about my eyes anymore, so I’m going in for the knife again, but I’d probably regret it a lot if I tried buried stitches and they came undone. So for now, the one that most strongly appeals to me is ㄴㅅㅎ, which clearly recommends incision and doesn’t push unnecessary ptosis correction. The unexpectedly high price is also a bit of a hesitation point.
I’m planning to go to about 3 more places in total, including ㄸㅋ, ㅊㅇ, and another place where I had canthoplasty done before, and I’ll probably make the final decision depending on what ㄸㅋ and ㅊㅇ recommend... I know buried stitches can look natural, but I don’t know why I just can’t bring myself to choose it. I think I hate the risk of it coming undone too much
Oh, and since it’s a revision surgery anyway, I’m also thinking of taking a conservative approach and first getting the double-eyelid line properly matched, then if the canthoplasty is still disappointing after that, maybe do revision then. That would probably be better, right? I’m on leave, so I have plenty of time.
The chief doctor at ㄴㅅㅎ... will be okay, right? There aren’t many reviews, but I guess that’s because the chief doctor doesn’t do events. And does ㅇㅁㄷ usually recommend buried stitches like this? That was also surprising.
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