3 Ways to Tell Whether a Gangnam Eye Plastic Surgery Clinic Is Good — Explained by a Specialist

How to Choose a Gangnam Eye Plastic Surgery Clinic, as Explained by a Plastic Surgery Specialist

Hello.

I’m Ban Hokeong, a board-certified plastic surgeon whose specialty is eye surgery and whose strongest area is revision eye surgery.

Strictly speaking, when I say I’m good at “revision surgery,” I mean revision surgery for eye procedures that went wrong at another hospital.

I’m deeply grateful to every patient who visits our clinic, but when patients come in for revision consultations, my first feeling is usually sympathy.

Naturally, none of those patients expected they would need revision surgery, and because they have already suffered mentally from disappointing surgical results, I don’t feel very good about it either.

That is why, in hopes that even one revision case can be avoided, I keep repeating the same message through my columns: eye surgery must be done right the first time. Today as well, I prepared this column with the hope that even one patient might avoid an unavoidable revision.

I will share my honest opinion on how to choose an eye plastic surgery clinic that can minimize concerns such as recurrence and discomfort after eye procedures like lower eyelid fat repositioning, lower blepharoplasty, and brow lift.

When choosing an eye plastic surgery clinic, check just three things.

1. Look for a clinic that handles a wide range of eye surgeries.

This is especially important in surgery for drooping eyelids in middle age.

Banni Plastic Surgery, Gangnam Eye Plastic Surgery Clinic

People who have gotten consultations at several places often say this:

“Each clinic said something completely different, so I actually got more confused.”

At first, it seemed like the surgical direction was somewhat set, but one clinic said a brow lift would be better, another recommended upper blepharoplasty, and yet another said a forehead lift was necessary, so their concerns only grew.

However, it is difficult to say that each clinic’s diagnosis is wrong.

That is because each medical team may have slightly different standards for interpreting the eye shape and different approaches to surgery.

In fact, when deciding which surgery is appropriate, medical staff with deeper experience and skill in a particular procedure know its advantages and limitations more clearly. So they often propose solutions within the surgeries they are most familiar with. In a way, that is only natural.

Banni Plastic Surgery, Gangnam Eye Plastic Surgery Clinic

But the area around the eyes is not a structure that can be simply solved with just one procedure.

Because many anatomical elements—such as the eyelids, eyebrows, forehead muscles, cheekbones, and under-eye fat—interact organically, it is much more important to identify the true cause of the problem accurately, analyze it comprehensively, and then decide on the surgical plan.

For example, when drooping eyelids make the face look tired or heavy after middle age, most people initially think that upper blepharoplasty alone will solve the problem.

But in actual practice, we often see cases where the drooping has spread extensively to the outer corners of the eyes, and in such cases, improvement may be limited with upper blepharoplasty alone.

Brow lift procedure

Upper blepharoplasty involves making an incision along the double-eyelid line and removing skin mainly from the front part of the eye, so it is difficult to lift skin that has drooped all the way to the outer corner of the eye.

In such cases, a brow lift, which removes skin beneath the eyebrow and closes the incision, is more appropriate.

That way, even the skin that has drooped toward the outer side of the eyes can be lifted over a wider area, creating a more refreshed and natural-looking eye shape.

On the other hand, if the double-eyelid line is already crooked, has scars, or keeps coming undone, then the line itself needs to be newly designed and refined. In such cases, correction is only possible by directly addressing the line with upper blepharoplasty rather than a brow lift.

If such patients undergo a brow lift without careful consideration, the existing double-eyelid incision plus the incision beneath the brow can overlap, resulting in two scars between the eye and eyebrow.

Upper blepharoplasty procedure

In other words, even for the same symptom of drooping eyelids, the approach must be completely different depending on the degree of droop and whether there was a previous double-eyelid surgery. The surgical options may include upper blepharoplasty, brow lift, or forehead lift.

To distinguish and explain all of this accurately, the clinic should not focus on just one type of surgery. It should have a comprehensive understanding of the entire periorbital structure and broad experience with a variety of procedures.

Only then can it explain both the limitations and possibilities of each procedure and recommend the most suitable method for the patient’s facial structure, right?

Left: Before surgery / Right: After upper + lower blepharoplasty

2. Choose a clinic that considers not just the immediate result, but also the changes that may come later.

Eye surgery should not aim only to make you look better right now.

Depending on how precisely the first surgery is performed, your appearance several years later can be completely different. In particular, it is very important to consider the natural aging changes that may appear over time.

Before lower eyelid fat repositioning

After lower eyelid fat repositioning surgery

Left: Before surgery / Right: After lower eyelid fat repositioning surgery

For example, with lower eyelid fat repositioning, you should not focus only on “removing bulging fat.”

As we age, the amount of fat itself decreases and the skin becomes thinner, so a few years after surgery, the under-eye area may actually look more hollow and tired.

That is why I approach it by preserving as much of the under-eye fat as possible and repositioning it downward rather than removing it.

Before surgery

After lower eyelid fat repositioning surgery

Left: Before surgery / Right: After lower eyelid fat repositioning surgery

This is because it does not end with simply making the area look better; it is also a way to prevent future hollowness and a tired appearance in advance. In addition, I strengthen the septum as well so that the fat does not move back up, blocking the possibility of recurrence.

Lower eyelid fat repositioning procedure

Brow lift is the same.

When our eyelids feel heavy or our field of vision feels blocked, we unconsciously tense the forehead muscles to open our eyes. Quite often, this is overlooked when measuring how much skin to remove in a brow lift.

At first after surgery, there may seem to be no problem, but once the eyelids become lighter and the field of vision opens up, the forehead muscles are no longer used, and additional drooping eventually occurs.

That is when people say, “It hasn’t even been that long since the surgery, and it drooped again.”

Left: Before surgery / Right: After brow lift + lower blepharoplasty

Left: Before surgery / Right: After brow lift + lower blepharoplasty

That is why, when planning a brow lift, I always measure the amount of tissue to remove with the forehead completely relaxed. I don’t need to separately explain how important that is, do I?

In this way, a good surgery is not simply one that solves the problem visible right now. It is a surgery that also calculates and designs for changes that may occur as time passes.

3. Check whether there is discomfort or pain during the surgery.

People getting eye surgery for the first time often think, “Once I’m anesthetized, won’t I not feel anything?” Especially when they hear the term sedation anesthesia, they assume the anesthesia will remain completely effective until the end.

But the problem is that quite a few patients actually feel pain or discomfort during surgery.

In particular, the upper eye area is relatively narrow and shallow, so it is easier to anesthetize, but the lower eye area is wider and deeper, making it more difficult than expected to ensure that the entire area becomes evenly numb.

If the anesthesia is incomplete like this, patients feel a dull pain during surgery and become uncomfortable, which leads to more movement. More movement ultimately causes unnecessary tissue damage, increases the surgery time, makes bruising and swelling worse, and lengthens recovery.

In other words, even if the surgery itself is simple, insufficient anesthesia can raise the difficulty dramatically.

Gangnam eye plastic surgery clinic, the importance of anesthesia

At this point, a question naturally arises.

“Should I go to a hospital with an anesthesiology specialist?”

For major surgeries such as contouring, breast surgery, or abdominal surgery that require general anesthesia, that is correct.

Hospitals that mainly perform those surgeries usually have anesthesiology specialists on site, but the issue is that such hospitals are not primarily focused on eye surgery.

So, when it comes to anesthesia for eye surgery, what matters is how well the board-certified plastic surgeon performing the surgery can handle sedation anesthesia. Some plastic surgeons study anesthesia separately, and I am one of them.

If the anesthesia seems slightly insufficient, it is adjusted immediately, and the surgery continues while the patient’s condition is checked throughout the procedure. That is how the surgery goes more smoothly and the results stay clean.

In other words, because plastic surgery clinics that focus on eye surgery do not have anesthesiology specialists on site, the surgeon’s anesthesia skill is important. Since pain and discomfort during surgery can also lead to unnecessary tissue damage and a longer recovery period, you should definitely ask during the consultation whether pain or discomfort may occur during the procedure.

Anesthesia is one of the most basic elements in eye surgery, but please remember that if it is not done properly, that one basic element alone can affect the entire outcome.

In conclusion, eye surgery should be planned with the patient’s changes 5 and 10 years from now in mind, not just the present. In addition, rather than pushing a patient toward one specific procedure with a “this is right, this is wrong” attitude, the clinic should neutrally explain the strengths and limitations of each surgery based on each patient’s facial structure and degree of aging, so the patient can make the most appropriate choice for themselves.

Also, it is essential to check whether anesthesia is performed accurately so there is no discomfort during surgery, and whether the surgeon themselves understands and can control the importance of anesthesia.

Only when all of these details come together can a surgery truly be called a good surgery.

There is one more thing I want to emphasize.

Accidents always happen in moments of complacency, when people think, “That would never happen to me,” and when something actually happens, it is easy to panic and fail to respond properly.

But on the other hand, if you know the possibilities in advance and prepare for them, even in the same situation the shock is reduced and the problem can be kept smaller.

That is why I explain in detail to patients the possible side effects and variables before surgery. And I also explain specific response methods for what to do if such things actually happen.

It is the hospital’s role to take care of safety even after the patient leaves the clinic.

This is why I’m Ban Hokeong, the one who makes you fall for it.

Thank you.

P.S. Our clinic does not charge a consultation fee. Feel free to come in and get answers to any questions you may have.

https://blog.naver.com/rush_724/223776150003