Reviews you can trust, from real people like you.
How it works
- Our highly-trained Review Moderation team evaluates all reviews before they're published to ensure they're written by people like you and not a member of a doctor's office.
- This multi-step process takes up to 24 hours from review submission to publication.
- Doctors can't pay to have reviews removed or hidden.
- Reviews are only removed at the reviewer's request or if they violate our Terms of Service.
If you have questions or believe we should re-evaluate a published review, let us know.
Sort by:
*Treatment results may vary
I recently underwent eyelid surgery with Dr....
I recently underwent eyelid surgery with Dr. Kenneth Kim of Dream Surgery in Los Angeles. I went in for the procedure about a week ago and I'm extremely concerned because the incision on my right eye is longer than the one on my left eye and is very visible outside of the fold. It also curves upwards and looks like I have a gash on my eye. I also have a visible fork on the inner corner of my left eye because he cut into my epicanthal fold. It's so disappointing and I'm regretting my decision to go with Dr. Kim. It's still early so I will update this review one month out but I've seen other post one day and one week photos and mine looks really bad compared to the pictures I've viewed. It's not the swelling I'm worried about as I understand it takes months to go down...it's the haphazard job he did with the incision on my right eye and I know the scar is going to be visible. I just don't understand why it extends so far out and curves upwards! I'm extremely stressed out about it and am actually going to see another surgeon for a second opinion.
I read many of the reviews about him online before I met him. It's true that his demeanor is extremely cold and seems to have no personality. He seems very technical and to the point but I was willing to look past all of that if he's a skilled surgeon. I was also concerned about the reviews that noted they experienced excruciating pain during their procedures so I raised this with him. He said that there might be fake reviews out there from competitors and that perhaps there are miscommunications that occur with non-Korean speaking patients. He told me you can't really believe those reviews. I gave him the benefit of the doubt as he has an impressive resume and credentials. He also showed me some beautiful before/after pictures but now I'm wondering whether they were photos that were given to him by Dream Surgery in Korea and not his actual patients. In any case, he kept saying I need to get an epicanthoplasty but I told him I didn't want to as the risk of developing a raised visible scar didn't outweigh the benefits for me. He said I was placing a limitation on the work he's able to do and said he thinks I should. I agreed but after thinking about it for another week, I decided to go in again for more information as I was on the fence about it. He seemed really annoyed and ultimately told me "it's a free country" and that he can't force me to do something I don't want to do. He quickly shooed me out of his office as a consult was waiting for him and said that I should go home and think about it more. I obviously didn't feel good about this as I felt like he wasn't willing to take the time to talk to me more about it given these sorts of decisions are life altering and extremely important to us patients. I just wanted to know if he could do a good job on my eyelid surgery even without an epi. This was after I had already paid the deposit so maybe that had something to do with it (since he had other new patients that he needed to hook in but i'm just being presumptuous).
I decided to move forward with the eyelid surgery with no epi. The injection of the local anesthesia hurt a bit but other than that, I didn't feel any pain during the procedure. I did start having somewhat of an anxiety attack as my blood pressure shot up and I felt extremely anxious and he started talking to me on the table. We ended up chatting the whole time about various things. This was actually one of the things I appreciated most about my experience. It really calmed me down and I actually realized he does have a personality and can be quite self-deprecating and funny. Anyone that meets him will quickly realize though, that he's short on patience and is easily annoyed. I guess this doesn't matter when everything goes smoothly but when you are faced with concerns about the outcome of your procedure, his demeanor makes you more anxious and stressed out as you don't feel comfortable even talking to him. I went back a few days after the procedure because of my concerns and he didn't even really look at my eyes or take me seriously. He just seemed irritated again, told me to wait and jokingly said that I'm a difficult patient. Perhaps, but who wouldn't be if they undergo a procedure on their face?
Some things to note:
- One of his patients told me that during the planning phase, they went over how big she wanted her incision (in exact mm) but he never did this with me. Be sure you do this before undergoing the procedure. I regret not being more diligent about this but how is a patient supposed to know how these things go? He's the expert after all and should be consistent with each of his patients to ensure they'll be pleased with the outcome.
- Similar to the experience of another reviewer, he didn't see me after my stitches came out today. You'd think he'd want to see his work and to ensure you're feeling good about the procedure but nope, not the case. He did pop in the doorway for 10 seconds and said "ok I've seen you so we're good." Not sure what that was about. Maybe because he knows I'm not a happy camper and he wanted to make a half ass effort to at least show his face for a few seconds?
All in all, I regret my decision. I just know the scar is going to be visible outside of the fold (it's hideous) and the fork in my epicanthal fold looks so weird. I asked him why he cut into it and he said if he didn't, I would just complain that the fold wasn't deep enough? Well isn't that something he needs to talk to me about BEFORE the procedure to ensure I understand my options because if he did, I would've told him that I'd risk having the fold be not deep enough as that's something that you can redo..but an incision into your epicanthal fold?! That's a tough one to redo if it's even possible at all!
I'm so unhappy right now I don't know what to do. I guess it's a waiting game at this point to see how it turns out. I just pray that it ends up looking better than how I think it's going to look.
I read many of the reviews about him online before I met him. It's true that his demeanor is extremely cold and seems to have no personality. He seems very technical and to the point but I was willing to look past all of that if he's a skilled surgeon. I was also concerned about the reviews that noted they experienced excruciating pain during their procedures so I raised this with him. He said that there might be fake reviews out there from competitors and that perhaps there are miscommunications that occur with non-Korean speaking patients. He told me you can't really believe those reviews. I gave him the benefit of the doubt as he has an impressive resume and credentials. He also showed me some beautiful before/after pictures but now I'm wondering whether they were photos that were given to him by Dream Surgery in Korea and not his actual patients. In any case, he kept saying I need to get an epicanthoplasty but I told him I didn't want to as the risk of developing a raised visible scar didn't outweigh the benefits for me. He said I was placing a limitation on the work he's able to do and said he thinks I should. I agreed but after thinking about it for another week, I decided to go in again for more information as I was on the fence about it. He seemed really annoyed and ultimately told me "it's a free country" and that he can't force me to do something I don't want to do. He quickly shooed me out of his office as a consult was waiting for him and said that I should go home and think about it more. I obviously didn't feel good about this as I felt like he wasn't willing to take the time to talk to me more about it given these sorts of decisions are life altering and extremely important to us patients. I just wanted to know if he could do a good job on my eyelid surgery even without an epi. This was after I had already paid the deposit so maybe that had something to do with it (since he had other new patients that he needed to hook in but i'm just being presumptuous).
I decided to move forward with the eyelid surgery with no epi. The injection of the local anesthesia hurt a bit but other than that, I didn't feel any pain during the procedure. I did start having somewhat of an anxiety attack as my blood pressure shot up and I felt extremely anxious and he started talking to me on the table. We ended up chatting the whole time about various things. This was actually one of the things I appreciated most about my experience. It really calmed me down and I actually realized he does have a personality and can be quite self-deprecating and funny. Anyone that meets him will quickly realize though, that he's short on patience and is easily annoyed. I guess this doesn't matter when everything goes smoothly but when you are faced with concerns about the outcome of your procedure, his demeanor makes you more anxious and stressed out as you don't feel comfortable even talking to him. I went back a few days after the procedure because of my concerns and he didn't even really look at my eyes or take me seriously. He just seemed irritated again, told me to wait and jokingly said that I'm a difficult patient. Perhaps, but who wouldn't be if they undergo a procedure on their face?
Some things to note:
- One of his patients told me that during the planning phase, they went over how big she wanted her incision (in exact mm) but he never did this with me. Be sure you do this before undergoing the procedure. I regret not being more diligent about this but how is a patient supposed to know how these things go? He's the expert after all and should be consistent with each of his patients to ensure they'll be pleased with the outcome.
- Similar to the experience of another reviewer, he didn't see me after my stitches came out today. You'd think he'd want to see his work and to ensure you're feeling good about the procedure but nope, not the case. He did pop in the doorway for 10 seconds and said "ok I've seen you so we're good." Not sure what that was about. Maybe because he knows I'm not a happy camper and he wanted to make a half ass effort to at least show his face for a few seconds?
All in all, I regret my decision. I just know the scar is going to be visible outside of the fold (it's hideous) and the fork in my epicanthal fold looks so weird. I asked him why he cut into it and he said if he didn't, I would just complain that the fold wasn't deep enough? Well isn't that something he needs to talk to me about BEFORE the procedure to ensure I understand my options because if he did, I would've told him that I'd risk having the fold be not deep enough as that's something that you can redo..but an incision into your epicanthal fold?! That's a tough one to redo if it's even possible at all!
I'm so unhappy right now I don't know what to do. I guess it's a waiting game at this point to see how it turns out. I just pray that it ends up looking better than how I think it's going to look.
Provider Review
