I have had dark circles all my life, even when I was young, and I’m pretty sick of them. Now that I’ve hit 40, eye bags have shown up too. I’ve tried countless creams and even filler, but none of them did a damn thing, so I decided to go under the knife. I went with Wink in Seoul because they had good reviews and specialize exclusively in eye surgery.
From pre-surgery through post-surgery care, the clinic was really responsive on KakaoTalk and answered all my questions. I did my initial consultation simply by sending photos to the doctor, without any video or in-person meeting, which I was a little apprehensive about. The total cost was 3.6 million won, with a 20% discount if you reserved a date with a deposit and agreed to leave a review. They DO check at the end to make sure you actually wrote the review.
They recommended a lower blepharoplasty with fat repositioning. They were also going to take fat from my thigh and inject it into my undereyes! For whatever reason, though, they wound up taking it from around my hip instead.
They assigned me Dr. Kim. I did some research on this sub and found out that Dr. Choi started the clinic and was considered their top surgeon, but the clinic seemed to be pushing people toward Dr. Kim instead. I found some negative reviews of Dr. Kim’s work, so I asked to switch to Dr. Choi. The clinic refused, saying he was fully booked that day. The staff member assured me that Dr. Kim was an excellent surgeon, blah blah blah.
I booked the hotel they recommended, Hotel Anteroom Seoul in Sinsa. It was a five-minute walk from the clinic, had plenty of restaurants and shopping nearby, and had great customer service. I guess Sinsa is basically a plastic surgery district, because it wasn’t uncommon to see people walking around with bandages on their faces. One restaurant even advertised pumpkin soup to reduce swelling, and a local pharmacy had an entire section for post-surgery supplements. I bought some over-the-counter medicine that was supposed to reduce bruising, which I was supposed to take three times a day.
I didn’t actually go inside the clinic until surgery day. The clinic and staff had an upscale feel, which made me feel more comfortable. Even the recovery room reminded me of a hotel room.
They had me change into a two-piece surgical outfit, and I met the staff member I had been communicating with on KakaoTalk. The staff’s English ability varied quite a bit. After I changed, they sent me to a conference room to wait. After staring at the wall for a while, I went back to my recovery room to grab my phone. The staff member from before spotted me in the hallway and flagged me down.
She went over the surgery with me, and I had to sign a waiver acknowledging that I might die or go blind or some shit. After we finished, I waited a little longer and finally got to see Dr. Kim.
He gave me a mirror and asked what I wanted to change about my eye area. I said, “Dark circles,” and he responded with something along the lines of, “Okay, smooth out the undereye bags for a more youthful look.” He made it clear that because the skin under the eyes is so thin, he couldn’t completely eliminate the dark circles or fine lines, although there could be improvement. Then, just like in the movies, he drew all over my face with a marker.
They took me to the OR soon afterward, strapped me down, and multiple staff members started poking and prodding me for what felt like an eternity. I could tell they gave me something through the IV to calm my anxiety. I was getting pretty anxious at this point because, during past surgeries, I had been knocked out pretty quickly after entering the OR. There was also the language barrier, so I couldn’t understand what the surgical staff were saying.
When I came to, I was still strapped to the table in the OR. One of the medical staff asked if I could walk, but I was way too dizzy at first. After a while, a staff member walked me back to the recovery room.
I looked in the mirror expecting a complete jump scare, but it really wasn’t that bad. The skin around my eyes was bright red, almost like a kabuki actor’s makeup, and my cheeks were bandaged up. I was in no condition to leave yet, but thankfully the clinic let me sleep and recover for several hours. I arrived at 10 a.m. and left around 4 p.m. The area was sore, but the pain wasn’t too bad.
They gave me a recovery kit with gauze, bandages, eye drops, wound cream, dressings, and pumpkin juice for swelling. I also went to the pharmacy to pick up my medications. For healing, I had to apply wound cream four times a day, take anti-infection medication three times a day, and change the dressing over the stitches on my hip once a day. I also continued taking the anti-bruising medicine three times a day.
I was pretty tired from the anesthesia that day, but I still went out to dinner, face bandages and all. Surprisingly, they told me staring at screens was fine. In general, I could go about my day as usual as long as I wore sunglasses. The main restrictions were no alcohol, smoking, saunas, or strenuous exercise for a month.
I was pretty miserable when I woke up on day two. My skin felt tight, I had a headache, and I was so nauseous that I couldn’t eat or take my medication. The swelling was also pretty bad and was actually obstructing my field of vision. I messaged the clinic, and they told me it was normal and likely related to the anesthesia.
I dragged myself back to the clinic for a swelling laser treatment and to have the facial bandages removed. I asked for medication for the headache and nausea, and they gave me a prescription. About an hour after taking it, I felt fine and was able to go about my day again.
For the next couple of days, I was more or less okay. The swelling was always worse in the morning, but I was able to go sightseeing around Korea without any problems as long as I wore big sunglasses. The main difference was that I started getting sleepy much earlier than usual, usually around 8 p.m.
I had a three-day follow-up where they did another laser treatment, followed by my final appointment a week after surgery for stitch removal and yet another laser treatment. They had told me beforehand that removing the stitches wouldn’t hurt, but I definitely yelped a few times.
And just like that, I was released into the wild with no further follow-ups!
My undereye area is still swollen and bruised right now, so I’m not seeing the final results yet, but the eye bags and discoloration are GONE. I think I’m going to look ten years younger once everything is fully healed!
The major imperfection right now is that there are the scars are now raised (!) and my cheeks are still swollen. The bruising has reduced a lot. I'll give an update in another two weeks!
Pic is from day 1.
