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Duhan Plastic Surgery Clinic · 두한성형외과 DUHANISM · March 18, 2020
Under-eye surgery # sunken under eyes # under-eye fat removal # under-eye fat repositioning # under-eye fat # under-eye plastic surgery # under-eye fat laser # under-eye wrinkle re...
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This page is an English translation of a Korean Naver Blog archive entry. For exact wording and source context, verify against the Korean archive original and the original Naver post.
Clinic: Duhan Plastic Surgery Clinic
Original post date: March 18, 2020
Translated at: April 25, 2026 at 6:44 AM
Medical note: This translation does not guarantee medical accuracy or suitability for treatment decisions.
Let's look at before-and-after care for under-eye dark circles.
Guidelines for pre-procedure care for dark circles
| 1. Before surgery, receive enough consultation so that you understand which procedure is appropriate for you, decide on the procedure method, and make a reservation for the desired date. |
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| 2. Do not consume alcohol at all on the day before surgery. Alcohol can reduce the effect of anesthetic agents, which may cause problems with anesthesia during surgery. |
| 3. Try to avoid having surgery during your menstrual period if possible. If there is a lot of bleeding during surgery, it can interfere with the procedure and cause significant bruising. |
| 4. It is better to quit smoking a few days in advance or at least reduce it as much as possible. Nicotine interferes with blood circulation, slows wound healing, and in the case of fat grafting, lowers the survival rate. |
Guidelines for post-procedure care for dark circles
COL-FAT micro fat grafting
| 2 days after the procedure: The donor area is disinfected, and you receive an injection to reduce swelling. |
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| 4 days after the procedure: Go to a steam room or sauna and sweat a little. Sweating once or twice helps improve blood circulation and allows swelling and bruising to go down more quickly. |
| 7 days after the procedure: The stitches at the fat donor site are removed, and the progress is checked. If absorbable sutures were used, you do not need to visit the clinic. |
| Precautions |
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| 1. Do not press on or massage the grafted fat so that it is not compressed. Be careful not to make excessive facial expressions or smile broadly with your eyes. |
| 2. It is important not to apply any physical force or stimulation so that the grafted fat can settle well. When sleeping, be careful not to put pressure on the fat graft area. |
NO scar fat removal
| 1 day after the procedure: Apply a cool pack using the pack provided by the hospital to help swelling and bruising go down quickly. Use the cool pack for only 3 to 4 days, then stop. |
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| 7 days after the procedure: Visit the clinic to check the progress. However, a visit is not strictly necessary just to check the progress. |
| Precautions |
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| 1. Use a cool pack to minimize bruising after fat removal. |
| 2. To prevent blood from rushing to the head and worsening bruising, it is better to sleep with your head elevated on a pillow. |
| 3. Use the prescribed eye drops for about one week. |
Lower blepharoplasty
| 1 day after the procedure: Visit the clinic to disinfect the surgical area and receive an injection to reduce swelling. |
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| 4 to 5 days after the procedure: Remove the stitches from the surgical area. |
| Precautions |
|---|
| 1. Apply cold compresses for exactly 3 days. Doing it for longer can result in swelling not going down properly. |
| 2. Until the stitches are removed after surgery, wash your face only with a wet towel to prevent infection of the surgical area. |
| 3. After the stitches are removed, when washing your face, wash in a direction that does not cause the surgical area to open. |
| 4. After the stitches are removed, do not rub your face hard when washing it. |
Vascular sclerotherapy
| 1 month after the procedure: It takes about one month for the blood vessels to disappear completely. If the blood vessels have disappeared completely, you do not need to visit the clinic. If they have not completely disappeared, there are rare cases in which you may need to visit the clinic and receive another treatment. |
Q&A on dark circle treatment
Q. What is the best treatment for dark circles?
A. Dark circles appear in various forms and patterns depending on the individual.
It is not possible to say that one method is better than another.
The appropriate treatment varies from person to person depending on the cause and symptoms.
In some cases, fat grafting is needed; in others, fat removal is better for relieving symptoms. In some cases, lower blepharoplasty with skin removal is the only way to achieve results.
In other words, it is important to perform the procedure that matches each person's eyes.
Q. I heard that micro fat grafting under the eyes can make the under-eye area bumpy and has many side effects. What do you think?
Under-eye fat grafting is not a procedure that just anyone can do.
As with all surgeries, the results depend on the surgeon's experience and expertise.
There are many clinics that perform fat grafting, but only a few do it properly.
Fat grafting is easy to do but difficult to produce proper results.
People may think fat grafting is easy, but it is absolutely not.
In principle, fat grafting can produce good results only when performed accurately.
The method differs by clinic, and results can vary greatly depending on experience.
People may have negative preconceptions after hearing about or experiencing poor fat grafting, but if it is done properly, satisfying results can be achieved with a single procedure.
Q. How is micro fat grafting under the eyes performed?
Under-eye fat grafting is one of the most delicate and technically demanding areas in fat grafting.
Therefore, if performed carelessly, side effects can occur.
To prevent side effects, every step of the process must be carried out precisely and according to principle.
Good results can be achieved by harvesting the fat into very small particles, completely removing impurities, securing space for the fat to be evenly grafted through tunneling in the treatment area, and then carefully grafting an appropriate amount evenly.
A special grafting cannula equipped with a micro needle about 1 mm in diameter is used for highly precise treatment.
It is best to receive treatment at a clinic with professional know-how and many successful cases.
Q. I had pigment laser treatment several times, but why did it not work?
Pigment laser is a laser that responds to red color, and it is mainly a good laser for people with red telangiectasia or skin with red erythema.
It is effective for redness in the skin itself, but applying it to red dark circles under the eyes is unreasonable.
The reason is that the source of the redness is not in the skin itself but in the entire red muscle layer under the eyes.
No matter how much laser is applied to this red orbicularis muscle layer, the red color will not change.
As long as the muscle is alive, the red color cannot change.
If all of the red muscle layer were burned away, the redness would disappear, but if the muscle were burned to the point of disappearing, it would cause a major burn under the eyes and leave a scar, so it is impossible and should not be done to remove the muscle layer with a laser.
You should not expect laser treatment to remove red dark circles.
Q. I had fat removal, but my dark circles got worse. Why?
The main purpose of fat removal is to address under-eye protrusion.
Sometimes a sunken wrinkle below the protruding area creates shadowing, and fat is removed to eliminate it. However, if done incorrectly, it can easily have the opposite effect.
The result of fat removal is that the under-eye area becomes more sunken than before the procedure.
A sunken eye area creates shadowing and makes it look darker.
Also, when fat is removed, the skin contracts as it shrinks, increasing skin density and making the skin tone appear darker.
Fat removal is best when the under-eye protrusion is severe and the protruding area shows a strong red color.
In most other cases, it can worsen dark circles, so caution is needed.
Q. How much improvement can I expect from micro fat grafting under the eyes?
There are four effects of under-eye fat grafting.
It raises sunken skin to remove shadowing, lightens the skin tone through skin expansion caused by fat grafting, improves fine wrinkles in the process, and can dilute the dark reddish tone by laying down yellow fat.
Because symptoms differ from person to person, whether it will be effective can only be judged through a direct examination.
Usually, the procedure is performed only when it is judged that a 50% to 90% improvement in dark circles can be achieved.
If the expected result is below that level, it may be better not to perform the procedure at all.
The goal of fat grafting is not to completely eliminate the symptoms, but to reduce and improve the current dark circles as much as possible.
Q. Can micro fat grafting under the eyes be done at any clinic?
The under-eye area requires a very delicate procedure because the fat must be finely distributed like grains of millet beneath the thin skin.
Therefore, it is differentiated from ordinary fat grafting in everything from selecting the donor site to refining and grafting.
The success of the procedure depends on using a scarless micro fat grafting cannula to accurately and evenly graft the proper amount.
Therefore, it is difficult to expect good results without extensive experience and know-how.
Careful consideration is needed, because poorly done under-eye fat grafting can be worse than not doing it at all.
Q. What about using filler for sunken wrinkles under the eyes?
The skin under the eyes is very thin.
Unless the procedure is done with great precision, it is difficult to obtain satisfactory results, and irregular bumps after the procedure should not occur.
In the case of fillers, the color is transparent, making it difficult to create a natural skin tone, and it is difficult to create soft contours after grafting.
If the shape looks awkward, it is very difficult to remove.
By contrast, fat grafting can create a natural skin tone, correct dark circles, and present a natural shape, so if performed precisely, bumpy irregularities rarely appear.
It is possible when the practitioner performs the procedure accurately.
Fillers are effective for improving fine wrinkles around the eyes or on the forehead, but using them under the eyes can cause many problems, so the procedure should be approached carefully.
Q. How much swelling and bruising occurs after micro fat grafting?
Swelling and bruising vary by person, but they usually disappear after about 1 to 2 weeks.
The under-eye area has many blood vessels, so bruising inevitably occurs after the procedure.
Whether mild or severe, bruising cannot be avoided.
If bruising occurs, it can only be covered with makeup until it disappears.
You should undergo the procedure with bruising and swelling in mind.
Q. Is a second procedure necessary after micro fat grafting?
The fat survival rate after fat grafting varies from person to person, but usually about 50% remains after 2 to 3 months.
Sometimes the survival rate is good and more than 80% remains, and sometimes less than 30% remains.
The variable for the survival rate depends on individual constitutional factors, so it can only be judged how much has survived about 3 months after the procedure.
The decision about whether to perform a second procedure is made after seeing the appearance at 3 months.
If the result of the first procedure is satisfactory, a second procedure is not necessary.
However, in rare cases where the survival rate is unexpectedly low, a second procedure may be performed.
The Duhan Dark Circle Clinic's 5 STEP solution is
accurate assessment and surgery for
various dark circle symptoms.
It is not just about removing dark circles,
but for youthful and beautiful eyes,
we operate a dark circle combo program
and an After Care system for thorough management.
Director Shin Duhan
Analysis of various dark circle symptoms
Thorough analysis based on extensive clinical experience with dark circles
Dark circles can appear in various types, including sunken areas, protruding areas, wrinkles, pigmentation, and blue blood vessels.
At Duhan Plastic Surgery Dark Circle Clinic, the surgical method also differs depending on the symptom, based on accurate analysis.
In other words, for better results, choosing the surgical method based on analysis is very important.
Accurate surgery
There are several surgical methods depending on the type of dark circles, but they are broadly divided into three categories: COL fat grafting, fat removal, and under-eye fat repositioning, or a combination of fat removal and fat grafting depending on the situation.
Dark circles must be treated while considering the amount of extra skin, the degree of muscle laxity, and even the bone structure surrounding the eye. Only an experienced specialist can achieve good results and determine what shape the eyes will have after surgery.
In dark circle treatment, after accurate analysis, how the surgery is performed is very important.
Remove the under-eye groove + laser removal of pigmentation
Dark circle treatment cannot address the root cause of dark circles with under-eye fat removal alone or fat grafting alone.
The key is to remove the adhered under-eye groove to eliminate the root cause of dark circles, and to use laser treatment to remove pigmentation to create a brighter eye area and a more youthful face.
Dark circle combo program
We operate various combo programs along with dark circle treatment.
A combo program refers to procedures or surgeries that are good to perform together with dark circle treatment.
Thorough post-operative care
Side effects and swelling that can occur due to poor patient care after surgery can be managed through an After Care system.
Duhan Plastic Surgery Dark Circle Clinic does its best to ensure there are no regrets from the beginning to the end of treatment.
A plastic surgery specialist directly provides treatment based on more than 20 years of experience and know-how.
Duhan Plastic Surgery Dark Circle Clinic designated it as a specialized field and, from the time the hospital opened, made it a key treatment item, researching and developing it for 20 years.
As various medical fields have advanced,
dark circle treatment and dark circle surgery have also made great progress.
Duhan Plastic Surgery Dark Circle Clinic is also keeping pace with this
by acquiring and developing new medical knowledge and techniques,
and is leading a new paradigm in the dark circle field.
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