Get the real deal on beauty treatments—real doctors, real reviews, and real photos with real results.Here's how we earn your trust.

POSTED UNDER Eyelid Surgery REVIEWS

Outdated Surgical Approach Leads to Bad Outcome

ORIGINAL POST

Outdated Surgical Approach Leads to Bad Outcome

Regret2022
$12,000
It has been a year since my upper and lower bleph. Dr Soparkar used (and told me he usually prefers) a transcutaneous approach to my lower lids. This means that instead of operating in a scarless fashion from inside the lid, he cuts through the skin under your lash line. In doing this, he necessarily cuts through the important support structure under your eye. This is the old way of doing eyelid surgery. Most even general plastic surgeons will no longer use this method bc it has an unacceptably high rate of complications. Dr Soparkar told me that in his hands it does not. Of course, he told me this after surgery. He did not tell me beforehand about the risks to this procedure bc he seems to think that when he does it there aren't any.
I immediately had eyelid retraction. My lower lid was pulled down, my lateral canthus on both eyes was lowered. My eye shape changed. This has proved to be permanent. It alters my appearance drastically. I do not recognize myself in the mirror.
Dr Soparkar denies that anything he did surgically could have brought about these changes. It is just a coincidence that I used to have a different eye shape and then immediately after surgery with him it changed. He claims that I have thyroid eye disease and blames that for the state of my eyes. But no labs or any other oculoplast or specialist in thyroid eye disease agrees. They all say that Soparkar is trying to evade responsibility for what he did.
If I had any idea that my eye shape could change from this procedure I would never have done it. I went to an oculoplast bc I wanted an eyelid specialist to help give me a refresh to my under eye bags. I believe I found the only oculoplast that would have operated in this fashion on sub a young patient as myself.
You can tell a lot about a doctor by how they handle a poor outcome or a complication. I wanted to trust in him, but it became clear over the ensuing months that I had selected a man to operate on my face who is not to be trusted. He was cold and totally uncaring about what he had done to me. Having a conversation with him starts to feel like playing Whose on First, as he slips around answering questions.
I have since found out that other practitioners in the area know that he hurts people with his outdated transcutaneous surgeries. They can guess who operated by looking at the outcome.
Please protect your eyes. A transcutaneous surgery is too risky, and this man doesn't care. The damage will be permanent. Instead of the subtle refresh we discussed, I look altered, unnatural, and older.
He sold me when he said that he is so subtle his patients complain they don't look different. That was the kind of bleph I wanted. But I no longer believe any patients don't feel they look different. I believe they went through what I did, upset that they look worse. And he responds by trying to tell you that you are improved, despite your retraction, which is just a coincidence and isn't his fault. He may even tell you what he told me, which is that I only look worse bc now that the overgrown hedges of my eyelids are corrected, one can more clearly see the falling down shutters and peeling paint of my face.
This man is a terrific salesman. His arrogance can read as high competence. But he utilizes a risky and outdated approach to the lower lids and he won't be able to help you after he ruins them.

Regret2022's provider

Charles Soparkar, MD, PhD, FACS

Charles Soparkar, MD, PhD, FACS

Oculoplastic Surgeon, Board Certified in Ophthalmology

Regret2022 rating for Dr. Soparkar:

Overall rating
Doctor's bedside manner
Answered my questions
After care follow-up
Time spent with me
Phone or email responsiveness
Staff professionalism & courtesy
Payment process
Wait times

Replies (7)

May 16, 2023
I would like to add here that I didn't even go into the bad results with my upper lid. He was overly aggressive and as a result my eyebrow is pulled down. I have had to pluck eyebrow hair from my crease. If you notice in the picture I posted, my eye area is now very condensed, which is the opposite of what women want. I had low brows to begin with but now they are even lower. I considered trying to lift with Botox but then my eyes would be even rounder and my upper lid platform even more exposed. So I will just have to live with it. All in all I look far worse and there is nothing I can do but try to accept.
May 16, 2023
I’m so sorry you experienced this. I also had devastating results from my lower blepharoplasty by a top expert ocular plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. I however had the transconjunctival approach, the internal scarless method. I also experienced eye shape change. I was unaware of the risk of facial contour change that occurs with fat repositioning. This happens because they sever attachments to make room for the repositioned fat to the hollows below. This results in a flattened look to the cheeks, losing the facial contour you are familiar of seeing in the mirror. My lower eyelids have lost their dip in the center probably from lower eyelid tightening which my surgeon repeatedly denies but other ocular plastic surgeons have said was definitely done to me. I’m convinced no matter what approach is done on a lower blepharoplasty, it is not worth the risk of doing the surgery. I don’t look improved or refreshed at all. I look distorted and the change is traumatizing, even at 15 months post op. I will never get used to my altered look of my eyes. Even using who is considered the “ best of the best” has given me very upsetting results and more tears and sleepless nights than I ever imagined would happen to me especially using a top expert ocular plastic surgeon. Unless someone has truly huge under eye bags, I don’t think it’s worth risking eye shape change or identity change by doing this procedure whichever technique is used. They both have risk of eye shape change which is too upsetting to risk doing this procedure in my opinion. Even in the best of hands a lower blepharoplasty carries too much risk.
May 16, 2023
Thank you for being so brave to speak out about your experience. Your review will hopefully save other people. These drs seem to purposely leave out how risky eyelid surgery is And only upsell how great the results will be. They pray on insecurities and vulnerability by selling you that you will no longer have the issues that you're insecure about. What person wouldn't want to improve some thing that's made them insecure? The problem is they didn't give us the opportunity to make an informed consent. Because they left out all the risks. In my experience I was told there was no risk other than change might not be as drastic as I'd like. That seems to be similar for you as well. But as we've both learned that was not true. And after talking to hundreds of real patients over the last year I have learned that that is the norm with these doctors. So anybody reading this please talk to real patience before you make a decision and having any sort of eyelid surgery done. Because most doctors aren't going to tell you the truth about what the risks are or about what the procedure really is and how dangerous it is. No surgery around the eye is minimally invasive and perfectly safe. I don't care how great the doctor looks on paper or how he presents himself or herself on social media, eyelid surgery is extremely invasive and risky.
May 16, 2023
Well said Katy445627 .Most surgeons will not explain the risks for fear of a patient cancelling. Most people’s results will not come out as the surgeon’s before and after photos so heavily advertised in social media because they are an example of their best work and the use of filters and special lighting. I have found it is not so much the reviews you see online but rather the ones you don’t see . By that I mean the one’s removed because of agreements made between patients and their surgeons and the use of NDA’s, keeping their unhappy patients silenced while they keep their reputations intact. Not enough is evaluated by the patient or the surgeon of the psychological damage that can occur over changes to the face and how that affects the patient. Poor and disappointing results leaves an emotional trauma that most patients don’t realize before undergoing surgery and the gaslighting most of these surgeons do as a common way to deal with the situation adds salt to the wound. Undergoing most of these procedures are not as simple as they make it seem. Most procedures are referred to as minimally invasive and that couldn’t be further from the truth.
May 16, 2023
Wanted to add also that aside from changing the shape of my eye, he did a very bad job sculpting the fat under my eyes. It's lump and uneven and hollowed. Not a single aspect of this surgery improved my aesthetic. It made everything worse.