Eyelid Surgery Reviews
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“Incredible Doctor - Scottsdale, AZ”
Scottsdale1247
Worth It
Spent: $4,300 in Scottsdale, AZ
Spent: $4,300 in Scottsdale, AZ
I had upper bleph and also lower transconjuctival bleph done. It has only been 16 days post op and I am very happy. My eyes look more alive and open. I have more swelling time ahead of me but everyday gets a little better.
The day after was the hardest, my eyes were almost swollen shut and my tears were tinted red. The first few days are definitely tough (get some audio books!) but once the major swelling goes down, its gets better quick.
I never needed anything stronger than tylenol for pain but I definitely utilized Ambien (your eyes are crazy dry and irritated) and Valium (even though you can prepare yourself, its hard to see your own face like that!).
If I had to do it all over again, I would have done this surgery years ago to fix my heavy lids (they were also not symmetric). I was lucky to have found the best doctor too. He was having some special opening prices when I had my procedures done but I would have picked him regardless. It was worth it and then some!
Updated on 16 May 2011:
Over 5 months post op and have had a few minor modifications to my creases. Healing and swelling is a slow process and my doc didn't want to rush things before I had time to heal further. I need to learn to be patient! Had some scar tissue inside lower lid lasered (OWWW!). Dr. Holden has been great with doing my requested alterations gradually to give me the results I want in a way that is beneficial and healthiest for me(I am a perfectionist!). Lower inside lids still healing possibly. I get a lot of discharge from my eyes still but it is also allergy season. Things are looking good through my "new eyes", I may seek a little lid tightening in the future...btw, he is great with botox and fillers as well! He definetly has more of an artistic eye for it than my past injectors.
Updated on 18 Jun 2011:
6 months post op, lower lids have gotten slightly better as far as discharge production. One thing I did notice, I went out last wknd and drank for the first time in over 6 months. Just had a few drinks but the next day my upper lids were really puffy and stayed that way all day :( luckily I don't drink much anymore! Going soon to see about tightening lids with some laser resurfacing. I just have this strip of fat above each eyelash line, wish I could get some micro lipo on them or something. We'll see what the dr. says...
Updated on 2 Jul 2011:
Had upper eyelids lasered about 2 weeks ago to tighten some of the skin. They were crazy swollen for 2 days. But when they heal, you you have really delicate fresh baby skin. I love it, wish I could do my whole face! The skin tightens over time from lasering as I understand but it already seems a little better and it seems to have made my eyes look a little more symmetrical. Don't ask me why. The aquaphor I was using to keep them lubriucated started to make them itch and get inflamed the last few days so I stopped using it per Dr's instructions. They are still a little pink but am happy with the choice to laser them.
Updated on 16 Jan 2012:
One year post op and I am happy with my decision to go through with this surgery. My right eye is still a little resistant because it had the most change to it without cutting the epicanthal fold and continues to want to crease below my new crease which is something I hope to get "tucked" in hopefully soon. It is bothersome to me but likely only because I am a perfectionist and I have to look at it all the time. Although my doctor doesn't think it is necessary, I believe I may need a little tightening further in toward my right epicanthal. My new crease is just a tiny bit too high for the angle of my right eye's inner corner. I did notice that the skin around my eyes seems persistly dry and slightly flaky so I always need nightly eye creams/moisturizer. Love not having to wear eye makeup though which I never was confident enough to do before my blepharoplasties. I would've done this before my breast aug 10 years ago if I had known how much it could change my life! Dr. Holden's expertise and skills played a major role in my transformation and I will continue to seek graceful aging procedures from him in the future.
This review is the subjective opinion of a RealSelf member and not of RealSelf, Inc.
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My Doctor: Paul K. Holden, MD
My rating:
Dr. Holden is the one of most caring, sweetest, and supportive doctors I have ever met. He is so attentive and always has an encouraging and positive attitude. He personally answered my emails when I first inquired about surgery. After surgery, gave me his cell # so I could contact him directly with my worries, questions or emergencies. Great follow up care. He always comforts me with his confidence, knowledge and reassuring words when I have any worries and is easily reached when you need him. He is an incredibly intelligent and talented surgeon, but also has the excellent and important artistic eye that some lack. I highly recommend him and only him for any facial work. He takes his time explaining things, addressing your concerns, and answers all your questions. When you meet him, you can tell that he puts his heart into his work and truly cares about each individual patient, not treating them like just another paying customer.
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Welcome to RealSelf and thanks for sharing your experience so far. It sounds like you'll have a dramatic result once the swelling subsides.
Have you been taking before/after photos to chart your progress? If so, we'd love to see them, if you're comfortable sharing.
Good luck and please keep us posted on the rest of your recovery!
Thanks for your input. Unfortunately for my eyebrows, being Korean I don't have much hair on my body! People think I shave my arms! I have considered some options like permanant makeup and have started to occasionally use Latisse on them in addition to my lashes. Trust me, I hate drawing them in and hope to soon resolve the no brow issue!
As far as being natural, I am way past that lol! I highlight my hair, use botox, fillers, and have silicone breast implants! I do what makes me feel good and that's my ultimate decision factor for me. After I did my eyes, I felt like people could finally see me and I don't hide under 10 lbs. of eyeshadow and makeup anymore. In fact, I rarely wear much eye makeup at all now! It's very liberating!! I was lucky to find Dr. Holden because here in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area, there is not a lot of experienced Asian eyelid surgeons, trust me, I called around! I had one doctor tell me she would not do it because she was not comfortable and experienced enough to do "ethnic eyes" at my consultation! It's a good idea to find a facial specialist like I did.
Anyways, my eyes was part of my "total overhaul" goal since I was stressed about turning 30. I've gotten really healthy and fit and just had a breast aug revision on Monday! I love the line in Nikki Minaj's "moment for life" song...-everybody dies but not everybody lives... and this year, I am going to start living :)
I'm sorry that saddens you. I respect your opinion but just so u know, I have both clear and colored contacts that I like to wear. It's a cosmetic choice as is coloring my hair, wearing make up, and changing my lipstick color.
It's interesting to me that you singled out Asian women. Millions of women with beautiful natural colored eyes wear colored contacts among their other fashion preferences. This isn't old school Asian times, it's the USA and it's 2011! Asian and all races of women wear colored contacts, people dye their hair-sometimes crazy colors, grandmas get plastic surgery! etc., lol. GOD BLESS AMERICA! :)
I am not influenced by what the media tells me is beautiful, I believe beauty comes from within. That being said, don't you think that YOU are kind of telling me what is beautiful? Everyone has there own individual opinions and preferances and styles and that is great! Btw, that's one of the best parts about being a woman-we can have fun beauty regimens!
No need to apologize that it saddens me.
I'm glad that you have both clear and colored contacts. I certainly hope you wear your clear ones more than the colored ones.I don't think you truly understand the "bigger picture" as to why some Asian women feel the need to wear colored contacts. It's a much deeper rooted issue that I hope you will be able to truly be honest with yourself as to why. Wearing different colored makeup is purely superficial whereas feeling the need to wear colored contacts is perhaps coming from a more subconscious desire to fit in with the majority whereas in this case, it is white.
Although we don't want to admit it, we are truly influenced by media. Do you not read the latest fashion magazines, watch MTV, movies, etc...?
I myself am Asian and singling you out because I was once like you (although you are much prettier!) until I realized what I was so "white washed". In looking at your photos, you are a beautiful Asian American women.
Let your true inner beauty show. You are not white. Be proud of your Korean ancestry.
Ditch all my previous comments. I don't think you'll understand the deeper meanings of them. You are already beautiful, don't get any more work done.
Peace.
I am proud to be American. I was raised in a Caucasian family and was not raised in a traditonal Korean family but still am proud to be Korean as well. Maybe it's a more deep rooted issue with Asians raised Asian. To me it's just fun! I recently got very healthy- lost 20lbs, stopped eating meat and drinking and started taking better care and maintenance of my body (I'm 30-not that young!). I don't by all means have tons of money and I worked very very hard for the surgeries I chose to have. Yes, I have had botox, filler, bleph and breast aug. But that is not that extreme especially in this region, trust me. I do appreciate your incite, btw, I will not be getting any major procedures for a long time. My wallet will not allow it anyways lol.
Warm regards
By the way, your eyes look great! I'm considering upper eyelid surgery and I'm in the Scottsdale area also. I'll be adding Dr. Holden to my list of doctors to schedule a consultation with.
Thanks Sinderella, you certainly cannot blame someone for having their own opinion which they are entitled to but it sometimes keeps people more open minded if you explain things from your point of view, which I enjoy doing (hence the reviews lol). It would be hard to always look exactly like you were born nowadays with makeup and hair coloring - I suppose some people may have deeper reasons for wanting colored contacts but I think the majority are like you and me, use them for fun cosmetic accessories. It doesn't change who we are!
I love love my eyes now and so wish I would've done it sooner...sometimes I feel like I got a late start living my life to the fullest having had my eyes "opened up" so late but then I appreciate the timing since your 30's are supposed to be when you feel better than ever in your own skin. Please do go see Dr. Holden first, he is so supportive and caring, and very smart, he really deserves all the credit to my transformation. Let me know if you decide to do it, I want to know how it goes! It dramatically changed my life:)
Thank you so much! :)I feel so much more alive when I look at myself. First off, you should not worry!!!!! When I did all my internet research beforehand, all the reviews said, "oh yea, 10 days I was fine and back to work." Pffffffffff. Yea, Right. That is the biggest load of crap I ever heard. Maybe it's different for Caucasian surgeries. I believed that and so only planned on taking 2 wks off work when I really needed a good month to month and a half. The high height of the platform you are talking about will take a while to go down. They were still high at 3-3 1/2 months. It's hard to tell bc you are constantly seeing yourself but it will go down gradually. I took pics everyday so when I was feeling discouraged, I could look through the pics and really see my progress.
Nothing can prepare you for the emotions-depression, anxiety, possible regret, lack of self esteem. It's really really hard, you have to be strong! It's not like a bad boob job or lipo where you can hide it and get along with your life. It's your face and it makes you who are.
I would say at 4 months I was really starting to feel like myself again. I had a lot of skin and fat removed though. Everyone's different and you may find that it happens sooner for you. I heard that the key to Asian bleph is not what they remove but what they leave. Usually the bad blephs you see, they just over did it.
I worried and obsessed and it does nothing to help speed up the healing. Luckily I had a really nice understanding Dr. that was there for me to alleviate those worries and kept reassuring me that I just had to be patient. Communicate with your doc a lot so you don't feel like you're in the dark. If you need to know anything else from me, feel free to ask anything! I think it helps to have some support from ppl that know what you are going through. I just had breast aug revision 5 days ago and have at least another wk off work so I have a lot of time on my hands and I'm sure I'll be on the computer a lot lol.
Just be patient, you will look and feel more beautiful in no time :)
Best wishes!!
It is definitly a slow process, not an overnight one. After a few weeks, you will have a day when you see your reflection and think. "hey, I'm really starting to look good!" Everyone is puffy in the mornings but you will find that it takes you a little longer than normal to "de-puff" in the a.m. for a few months. I will show you a pic i literally just took. Even myself this morning looks bloodshot and puffy and feel crummy but I haven't been sleeping well and my body is still recovering from Monday's trauma, I'm sure.
It doesn't help that I have pms and am breaking out from that and my recent surgery!! I had bad skin for a few months after my bleph. Prob a combo of the physical and emotional stress. I went through a really deep depression for like 3 months but you reflect on a lot of things and by the time you start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, your face will look great and stop stressing you out. Instead, it will start to make you feel better, there are days where I feel like I'm glowing
and I know it shows:) Try to focus on something else, try a new hair style or color. I got my lips plumped with filler shortly after and it gave me something on my face to love looking at and show off.
It will SOO be worth it when you get through the healing process-I Promise! You are so so early in the process, and don't forget millions of other women including celebraties went through it too and come out with amazing life changing results! And you will too!! When I started seeing the positive results, I always wished I had done it so much sooner!!
Happy healing!
I hope you see that pic soon, may take it down shortly. In the meantime, I'm going to go get some visine and cucumber slices lol.
My little girl said by looking at your transition. She is a little 6 years old who always tries on my prada 5 inches heels. She knows what she is talking about. Thank you for your support.
I wrote: I cried because of your warm words and support.
My little girl said by looking at your transition, ohhh she has become so pretty, she is pretty! She is a little 6 years old who always tries on my prada 5 inches heels. She knows what she is talking about. Thank you for your support.