I noticed clear asymmetry early on but was told it was swelling
Terrible double eyelid experience and results
I went to dr. Lee for an Asian eyelid surgery as I had read many of the positive reviews and saw his photos posted online. I'm from out of town so did an initial video chat and I should have listened to my gut when he was rushed and didn't go into any details. I had double eyelids already but wanted a slightly higher fold and was told It would be straightforward given the starting point.
On the day before surgery when I flew out, again he rushed through and spent maybe ten minutes with me addressing concerns haphazardly and the aesthetic I was looking for. I thought this was all likely normal given it was my first time undergoing a cosmetic procedure and the day of surgery and days after until I left went through ok.
It was during the healing period and when results started coming through that the attitude of the dr and staff changed completely. I noticed clear asymmetry early on but was told it was swelling and so I allowed the month and then 3 months to pass all the while the results actually looked worse as my eyes de swelled. When I reached out about a follow-up, I flew to LA and spent $500 on a flight and hotel and was seen for 10 minutes before I was rushed out and told it was too early.
Finally, after multiple attempts and mix-ups with scheduling or the dr being continually late and just taking my calls through facetime " whenever he had 5 minutes" or as convenient for him vs our actually scheduled time, he admitted that a revision was needed. When I reached out for my medical records, I was told they'd b happy to transfer my care again without any thought about how it might feel to be walking around with really clearly badly done eyes. I had to wear glasses for 6 months to hide them and it really ruined my confidence and impacted my social life. I spent thousands consulting with other DRs / oculoplastic surgeons all who had the same feedback that too much fat was removed and the ptosis repair was way too aggressive. Also at 6 months I still could not fully close my eyes as I was also told too much skin was removed so our options for revision were also limited. I finally decided on a local dr Bc I simply did not trust dr lee for the skill/competency/consistency / and poor follow-up and feedback manner. It felt like it was a huge burden to address my concerns and I left each conversation feeling bad and unheard. Also, there were clear inconsistencies each time we spoke about what he recommended or did which was frankly scary.
While my eyes look way better now, the New dr could only do so much to fix what was done prior, and ultimately I regret my decision to get this done by dr lee at all. It took me a while to decide on whether or not to post this but these are the facts of my experience and I'm happy to share photos and correspondence with those considering this procedure to raise awareness and hope this helps with your decision. Perhaps if the dr is having a good day and the results turn out well and you don't run into any issues or don't need post-op consultation or a revision, it will work out but I don't think that's a gamble I'd ever take again.
Blooming lotus's provider
Replies (2)
I am sorry about your experience with us. Please allow me to discuss about revision surgery. The most common cause of dissatisfaction after eyelid surgery is eyelid unevenness caused by a preexisting uneven muscle strength, called ptosis. These tiny muscles are set to different tensions on each eye during surgery, and the degree of correction required varies from patient to patient. Because of post operative swelling and uneven ability for each side to handle the swelling weight, each eye heals at a different pace. It can take up to 2 years to see a final result, but typically I have patients wait 6months before deciding on a revision (this policy is clearly stated prior to any surgery. We do not charge for this revision other than a few hundred dollars for materials). Some patients are better than others during this waiting period. If extremely uneven, I will intervene earlier. I do see in your photos that the lid position is excellent, which is good news because that is the difficult part of eyelid surgery. Correcting the remaining crease asymmetry which you have is straightforward to fix and I would gladly have done so. As for the discourteousness you may have encountered, I do apologize for that. We are all human - some of the staff may have been upset you flew in, came to the office and outside of your appointed time and demanded a long meeting which forced rescheduling and cancelling of other patients. Until we hit the 6mo mark, there is nothing we can do to speed up the waiting period. The office does get frustrated when the patient makes repeated demands for immediate revision, which is against the interest of the patient.