Very happy with the results - I still look like myself–just better

I first met Dr. Taban in February of last year. I initially booked the consultation for the purpose of having almond eye surgery (which consists of eyelid retraction surgery with infraorbital rim implants and canthoplasty). As soon as he saw me, he immediately told me I didn’t need the surgery. He said he cannot see my eyelid retraction while I’m talking and animated. He said that it can only be seen when I’m perfectly still and he is looking close up. He said it’s not obvious to the untrained eye and that he can’t think of any situation where a person would be observing my lower eyelids from such close range to notice. He then said he won’t do the surgery. I told him “I don’t trust anyone else to do this surgery. If you don’t do it, I’ll just find another surgeon to do it and I’ll probably end up getting botched and then coming to you for a revision anyway so you may as well do it the first time!”. But he still refused.

Since the consultation fee was not cheap and I wanted to get my money’s worth, I figured I would inquire about another procedure I had been thinking about–an upper blepharoplasty. He said I didn’t need an upper blepharoplasty either. He said “you already have youthful eyes.” I explained to him that I wasn’t concerned about my eyes looking old, I just didn’t like how hooded they were. He said he would be willing to give me a very conservative blepharoplasty. I told him that’s exactly what I want. I ended up booking the procedure for the end of April. My surgery was early in the morning. I took a xanax he prescribed 30 minutes before so I would be calm during the procedure. The procedure went by extremely quickly. It took less than half an hour. The only part that hurt was the local anesthesia injections. Once everything was numb, I could only feel a little pressure and tugging. I felt very safe and at ease the whole time. It was just me and Dr. Taban in the surgery room so I tried to make a little bit of small talk since I was fully awake during the procedure and felt awkward just laying there in complete silence. He was nice and polite the whole time and didn’t seem to mind chit chatting. I had a very fast and uneventful recovery. I had my stitches removed by Dr. Taban on the 7th day. I was presentable within one week and none of my friends or coworkers could tell I had anything done. My eyelids were still full (he didn’t remove any fat) and hooded, just slightly less so. My mom said I looked exactly the same and that the procedure was a waste of money. I highly disagree. I wasn’t trying to change the look of my upper eyelids. I just wanted them to be slightly less hooded. He gave me exactly what I wanted, which I consider money well spent. I’m sure most other surgeons would’ve removed too much skin and then it would be obvious I had something done.

I saw him again 3 months later for my final post-op. I told him I was still interested in almond eye surgery. He told me that it’s very expensive, that the recovery is very long, and that it’s not worth it for something so minor. I explained to him that my eyelid retraction may not be obvious in person, but it’s pretty obvious in photos and it makes me not want to take pictures of myself. I showed him a picture of myself on my phone where the eyelid retraction was very obvious. He finally agreed that he would do the surgery but recommended that I didn’t book the surgery right then. He told me to think about it long and hard before going through with it. I then went to speak with his surgical coordinator to get a quote on the procedure and to discuss potential surgery dates. I took his advice and did not book the procedure right then, but I did get a quote on the procedure which was good for 6 months. I weighed the pros and cons for two months before I decided to book it. I ended up emailing the surgical coordinator in mid October and setting everything up for December 14th. When the day came, I was a bit nervous, but excited to finally have this procedure done that I had wanted for years. I was his first surgery of the day. When I got there at around 7 am, I met his nurse and his anesthesiologist. They were both nice. The anesthesiologist explained that I would be put under IV sedation (not general anesthesia), but that he would insert a tube in my throat just to keep my airway clear. He explained that the tube would not be hooked up to a ventilator, so I would still be breathing on my own. Fair enough. I was put to sleep and woke up about two hours later in the recovery room unable to see anything! My sister came to pick me up and helped me get dressed and put all my things away. When I got home, I still could barely see anything. My eyes couldn’t open more than a few millimeters. I was so swollen; I was practically blind for a whole week. During that time I took oral antibiotics, a medrol pack (steroids), and used antibiotic ointment every night. I also had to sleep propped up which was very uncomfortable but I ended up managing to do it somehow.

I went to my follow up appointment 7 days later and was seen by Dr. Taban’s PA. I’m not going to lie–I was not excited about the fact that I’m going to see his PA. Almond eye surgery is VERY intense. The recovery is extremely rough. I wanted to see Dr. Taban so I could ask him any questions directly and get his opinion on my early results and how I’m healing. I told her I wanted to see Dr. Taban and thankfully he agreed to come into the room and talk to me. Although he only spent a few minutes assuring me that I’m healing normally, it made me feel a lot better to see him and have him put my concerns to rest.

My overall recovery took a looooong time. I didn’t look presentable until one month passed. And even then, I was not even close to being fully recovered. It took until now (3 months) to fully recover. Up until about a week ago, I was still waking up with swelling under my eyes that took about an hour after rising to resolve.

I’m very happy with the results. I still look like myself–just better. I really don’t think any other surgeon could’ve done as good of a job. I’ve seen lots of before and after photos from other surgeons who perform this procedure and the after results look over corrected. Most people end up with eyes that are too slanted, squinty, and unnatural looking. Dr. Taban takes a conservative approach which preserves the natural essence of a person’s eyes; he just refines them.

He’s by far the best oculoplastic surgeon out there. There’s a reason he’s world renowned! He’s also extremely honest and moral. He will not try to convince anyone they need a procedure they don’t need, and he is not afraid to turn someone away and say they are not a good candidate for surgery which proves he’s not in this business only to make money. He turned me away initially which actually made me have more respect for him.

I recommended him to my sister who had her lower blepharoplasty and ptosis surgery done by him. She’s still recovering but she’s happy with the results so far. I will continue to recommend him to anyone I come across who expresses an interest in cosmetic eye surgery!