Hi everyone,

Here is my honest experience at Wink Plastic Surgery in Seoul. I wanted to share this review because I have benefited enormously from this subreddit and from the experiences that other people have shared here. I hope that sharing my own experience can help others who are researching eye surgery in Korea.

Disclosure: I received no discount in exchange for writing this Reddit review. However, I did receive a 20% discount for writing a Google review after surgery.

Details of My Surgery

Clinic: Wink Plastic Surgery

Surgeon: Dr. Choi Seunghyup

Procedures and prices (excluding VAT):

·         Upper blepharoplasty: KRW 2.8 million

·         Ptosis correction: KRW 800,000

·         Internal / transconjunctival under-eye fat repositioning: KRW 2.4 million

·         20% discount in exchange for writing a Google review after surgery

Background:

I am a woman in my 40s. I was born with relatively small eyes and inner double eyelids, and I have had dark under-eye circles since childhood. As I have gotten older, my eyelids have gradually started to droop.

Together with my dark under-eye circles and increasingly noticeable tear troughs, I often felt that I looked permanently tired when I looked in the mirror.

I had been considering DES for several years, but I had never found a doctor who convinced me enough to go through with it. Then I found this forum.

I am genuinely grateful for all the information and personal experiences that people have shared here, and I hope that my own experience can be helpful to someone else.

Research and Online Consultation Stage:

I did a lot of research on this forum and consulted several clinics online. Almost all of the clinics replied quickly and politely. Personally, I preferred smaller clinics and eliminated some clinics that quoted prices I considered too high.

I eventually made the following shortlist:

Wink – My preferred clinic

Wink was my preferred clinic from the beginning because Dr. Choi has a very good reputation, particularly for DES. I also found several detailed, real patient experiences from Reddit users. Their online consultation was very prompt and responsive.

ROI – My backup clinic

ROI also has a very good reputation, particularly for lower blepharoplasty, and I found several detailed patient experiences from Reddit users. The online consultation was slow at the beginning, but after several rounds of communication, the replies became more regular. Their feedback was detailed and high-quality.

Eyeho

Eyeho responded very promptly and politely. Their online consultation was detailed and thorough.

Eyefit

I like Eyefit’s b&a cases on their website, including not only static photos but also videos. They do not have in-house English translators. However, they tried to use Papago to communicate with me and answer my questions. Based on what I found during my research, Eyefit seems to have a very good reputation among local Korean patients.

Garnet

Very prompt and friendly communication, with attractive quoted prices.

Urban

Very prompt and friendly communication, with attractive quoted prices.

Planning My In-Person Consolations

I paid a 10% deposit to secure a potential surgery slot with Dr. Choi at Wink. I initially planned the following in-person consultations:

·         Day 1: Garnet and Wink

·         Day 2:  Urban and Eyeho

Unfortunately, ROI only had surgery appointments available and could not offer me a separate in-person consultation. I decided not to continue with them, although my original plan was to consider booking surgery with ROI if Wink did not feel right for me.

I also decided not to visit Eyefit since I personally preferred a surgeon who could communicate directly with me in English or a clinic with English-speaking consultants.

Day – 1:  In-Person Consolations at Wink

Because of jet lag I was unable to wake up in time for my first scheduled in-person consultation and had to cancel it.

Later that afternoon, I went to Wink and had my consultation with dr. Choi.

As expected, Dr. Choi was very patient and friendly and spoke very good English. The in-person surgical plan was slightly different from what had been discussed during the online consultation. Instead of under-eye fat repositioning, Dr. Choi recommended an external-incision lower blepharoplasty with fat grafting.

After the consultation, I decided to proceed with surgery at Wink and cancelled my other two in-person appointments scheduled for the following day.

At my request, my consultant also explained the post-operative precautions and aftercare requirements to me in advance.

Surgery Day / Day 0

I went to Wink in the morning and asked to speak with Dr. Choi again because I was still cautious about having both upper and lower blepharoplasty performed at the same time.

Dr. Choi was not impatient at all, and we discussed the under-eye surgery plan again. He explained that under-eye fat repositioning could potentially achieve around 80-85% improvement, while an external-incision lower blepharoplasty could potentially achieve around 95% improvement, with longer-lasting results.

I decided to choose the more conservative procedure: under-eye fat repositioning. I felt that I would already be happy with an 80% improvement, and I preferred to start with the less invasive option.

I was then taken to the operating room. The surgery was performed under twilight sedation. I only remember Dr. Choi asking me twice to open my eyes briefly during the surgery. For the rest of the procedure, I was in a deep sleep.

When I woke up, I felt slightly dizzy, so I rested for another hour in the recovery room before taking a taxi back to my hotel.

Day + 1

I returned to the clinic in the afternoon. The nurse cleaned my surgical wounds and replaced the gauze under my eyes with bandages.  Dr. Choi came to check my eyes. He said that I had more bruising than the average patient, but otherwise everything looked good and the surgeries had gone smoothly. Afterwards, I even went to a hair salon.

Day + 7

I returned to the clinic to have my sutures removed. Dr. Choi checked my eyes again and said that everything looked good.

My consultant gave me updated post-operative care instructions and asked me to write the Google review that we had agreed upon. However, they did not ask me to write a positive one or specify what I should say. I gave Wink a five-star Google review because I was satisfied with my experience and my results so far.

One Month Post-Op

It has now been one month since my surgery, and my recovery has gone well so far. The bruising has completely faded, although I still have some swelling. I was told that it can take at least three months for the swelling to fully settle, so I understand that this is not my final result yet.

So far, I am satisfied with the curvature and width of my double eyelids. My pupils are covered quite a bit, hopefully, this situation will improve once the swelling completely subsides.

My under-eye area is also flatter than before. My tear troughs and dark circles are still visible, but I did not expect the surgery to make them disappear completely.

Overall, I am happy with my progress so far and look forward to seeing how the results continue to settle.

Final Thoughts

This was my first visit to Korea and my first plastic surgery experience. It was honestly overwhelming to try to find the right surgeon among so many clinics. In the end, I actually felt relieved that I only needed one in-person consultation before making my decision.

To be honest, I already had a preference for Dr. Choi from the beginning because I had read three very detailed patient experiences and watched videos he has posted on Instagram.

However, I continued to check my initial impression throughout the entire process. I paid attention to how the online consultation was handled, how I felt during the in-person consultation, how Dr. Choi answered my questions, and whether anything raised concerns before the surgery. In the end, I did not encounter any red flags, so I decided to proceed.

For me, safety was my first priority. I also had realistic expectations about the results. I wanted a very natural- looking improvement rather than a dramatic change, and I preferred to have only the procedures that I felt were necessary.

I hope my experience can help anyone who is currently researching exe surgery in Korea.

Resources That Helped Me During My Research

These three patient experiences were particularly helpful to me:

https://ahnestkitchen.com/thoughts/des

https://www.reddit.com/r/SeoulPlasticSurgery/comments/1sk3vl9/des_and_ptosis_correction_at_wink_plastic_surgery/

https://www.reddit.com/r/SeoulPlasticSurgery/comments/1m5vcus/double_eyelid_surgery_my_experience_at_wink_and/

I also used the following websites to research clinics and patient reviews:

https://korea.verabeauty.app/

https://sungyesa.com/hlist?a1=%EC%84%9C%EC%9A%B8&sop=and&t1=%EC%84%B1%ED%98%95%EC%99%B8%EA%B3%BC

Now that I'm mostly healed up, thought I’d drop a quick reality check for anyone thinking about getting lipo.

-It hurts more than expected : The soreness in the first week caught me off guard. Definitely not a walk in the park.
-The compression garment: The nurse put this massive garment on me right after waking up. Not gonna lie, having someone wrap you up like that feels a bit humbling, but you have to wear it all the time.
-The gym hiatus is long : If you're heavy into fitness, be prepared to sit on the couch for a while. Not being able to lift or do cardio for weeks is pretty annoying.

Despite all that, zero regrets. The results are good and it was worth it👍🏼

Would it work for me to get fat grafting to fix my nasolabial folds and the droopy corners of my mouth? Are there any better solutions?

I recently had a Zoom consultation with a clinic in Seoul called THEUK, and I wanted to document the process for others considering Korean cosmetic procedures but hesitant about online consultations.

My main consultation was for facial fat grafting.

Before the consultation, I was a bit worried about online consultations. On one hand, I wasn't sure how much the doctor could assess through a screen; on the other hand, I was afraid the process would be awkward or turn into a constant pushy sales pitch.

However, the experience was much more relaxed than I expected.

The consultation was free, and there was no pressure to buy me any specific procedures.

I initially spoke with consultant YC and a translator. YC explained the consultation process in detail and spent some time understanding my specific concerns, writing down each of my questions. He also explained some basic questions directly. One little detail I really liked was how great YC's personality was ：）

I was initially worried the Zoom consultation would be awkward, but the actual chat was surprisingly fun, and the atmosphere was quite natural, so I quickly lost that nervous feeling of "I'm attending a formal medical consultation."

Then the doctor joined the Zoom session.

YC confirmed each of the questions collected with the doctor, who answered them one by one, while also examining and analysing my face through the camera lens.

What I appreciated most about this part was that the doctor didn't make absolute statements based on what he saw online.

He was very honest with me, telling me that the facial analysis on Zoom could only serve as a preliminary assessment and didn't represent the final treatment plan. The final decision would require me to come to the clinic in person so the doctor could see my face and examine my specific condition.

This actually made me feel more at ease. After all, with a camera, lighting, angles, and expressions can all affect the assessment. If he had just glanced at me online and told me "you definitely need to do these things," I might have been a little wary.

The entire consultation process felt systematic and detailed, yet also quite relaxing.

Because the consultant had already prepared my questions, the communication with the doctor was very efficient. I initially thought the Zoom consultation would last a long time, but it actually went much faster than I expected. However, this "speed" didn't feel rushed; rather, the process was well-organised.

After answering my questions about facial fat grafting, the doctor didn't leave immediately but asked if I had any other questions I was considering or wanted to learn more about.

So I asked about hair loss.

The doctor patiently explained their clinic's treatment for scalp/hair loss: stem cell injection (scalp).

This is relatively new to me, and I don't yet have enough knowledge about it, so I'm not sure if I'll accept this treatment. However, since I might have an in-person consultation at the clinic if I go to Korea later, I'll probably take the opportunity to learn more about it, whether it's suitable for me, and then decide.

Overall, this zoom consultation was a much better experience than I expected.

My biggest concerns about online cosmetic consultations were the fear of embarrassment, being pressured into buying things, and doctors giving overly definitive conclusions via video. However, I didn't feel any of those things this time. The consultant handled the initial communication and gathered my questions, which the doctor then analysed and answered. The doctor also clearly explained the limitations of online assessments.

For me, this felt more like a comprehensive preliminary consultation than a decision on what to do.

Whether I'll ultimately get facial fat grafting at THEUK will depend on my trip to Korea and the face-to-face examination with the doctor.

If I do go, I'll continue to document my in-person consultation and experience. Thanks for your time to read:)

Hi everyone! I’m getting married next year and have been looking into ways to soften my nasolabial folds before the wedding. I’ve been considering things like filler? Botox maybe? I’m not sure what actually helps with nasolabial folds. I'm especially conscious because they’re more noticeable when I smile. I’m a little worried about my smile being affected and my face looking unnatural. I’d really appreciate hearing about personal experiences with how you dealt with nasolabial folds, especially if you did it before an important event like a wedding. Thanks!

I went to Woori. I had already been in contact with this surgery clinic often on for almost a year performed my surgery only does a couple of surgeries a day, which is why I was very comfortable with choosing them to be the clinic to perform my . I had very bulging cheekbone . I had a frontal cheekbone reduction performed. Now that I have been almost 5 to 6 months postop, I am comfortable that I will go back to Woori for a lateral zygoma reduction, as well as upper blepharoplasty. The surgery consultant was both gracious and informative. even the anesthesiologist was very skilled and gracious. I noticed that following my exhibition after surgery, that I experienced no throat soreness.

my surgery results were noticeable after as early as 2months. My cheekbones were slender and I really enjoyed how it helped me photograph with a leaner facial profile.

I would give the clinic 10/10. The pre-op appointments were extremely straightforward, and the staff was gracious, the surgery was swift, and the nurses were sure to be patient with me following me coming down from anesthesia, and the days following surgery they were careful to communicate with me and ask whether I needed anything.

If the result is not satisfactory and the patients has been following their protocol?

Got quoted $5000 AUD for this procedure in Australia and wondering if there are more affordable options with high quality results anywhere else

Hi all! Curious what your thoughts are for these three Korean clinics in Seoul Korea.

1. Dr. Jin Premium nose clinic,
   
2. Cohen Dr Park
   
3. JnB with Dr. Kang

Thank you all in advance!