POSTED UNDER Eyelid Surgery Reviews
Upper Blepharoplasty Procedure
ORIGINAL POST
Upper Blepharoplasty Procedure
I chose Dr Kevin Ho for my procedure from the reviews from amazing reviews online. I went to Dr Kevin Ho for an upper blepharoplasty procedure a few years ago. When I met him for my initial consultation, I had to wait an additional 45 minutes after my appointed time - but this didn't bother me initially. He has friendly & has a calm demeanour & asked me what I wanted & what my concerns were. I let him know what I wanted & then he told me what he thought & informed me on how he would perform the procedure. He had told me that he wanted to do tapered cuts & I said through my research of this procedure I wanted to do it another way (parallel cuts) & he said that the way he initially informed of was better for my results. Given that he is the professional, I agreed & then my consultation was over in about 10 minutes. He said that on the day of the surgery, he would show me how it would look & make sure I was happy with it before the I went under.
On the day of the surgery, I was extremely nervous & was just doing as I was told to do by the nurses, anaesthetist etc. When Dr Kevin Ho came to greet me, he said hi for about two minutes then left again & then the anaesthetist came in & put me under (I didn't think to raise the topic again to speak to the doctor before this) - so I never got to talk with Dr Kevin Ho about what I wanted once again before the surgery.
About 1 week after the surgery, I went back to the practice to remove my stitches. I was told Dr Kevin Ho wasn't yet available, but that a nurse would begin to me assist me. She began to remove the stitches on my left eye, and it was so painful & choppy. I've never had stitches removed before, so I thought that was just how it felt. After she removed the stitches, Dr Kevin Ho came in & began working on my right eye, & it was so seamless, fast & painless! (A testament to his experience & skill!) After this, he told me to look in the mirror & I realised that my eyes were not symmetrical. I voiced this to him & he said that this was normal immediately after the surgery & that this was not the final result - it would take a few months to see the long-term results.
After a couple of weeks, I emailed him & let him know that the swelling & bruising had gone down, but the asymmetry was still very apparent. He replied to say "I appreciate your concern but you are only 10 days post op. You will have different swelling and tightness - as everyone does. Please be patient and let everything settle." And that he would see me at my 5 week post-op appointment.
This hadn't been booked in for me yet, so I spoke to his assistant/receptionist, and since I lived a little far away and was realising a trend of being somewhat dismissed in my interactions with him, I didn't want to drive 1.5 hours each way for a 10 minute appointment again, so I asked if I could speak with him on the phone instead. On the day of the scheduled phone appointment, he didn't call so I called at the end of the day & his assistant/receptionist said she would rebook the phone appointment again for a week later. Again, he didn't call.
I was quite upset & the asymmetry was still very apparent. I'd assumed that he would just tell me again that my eyes were still healing & to be "be patient", so I didn't call back (I take responsibility for this) but it was also because in hindsight, I realised that my entire surgery / results was based on a 10 minute consultation in which he asked for what I wanted, told me he would do something else anyway & then that was that. In my brief & albeit limited interactions with him, I felt I was dismissed or not given the "care" that all the glowing reviews detailed & it was my mistake for getting emotional about this rather than taking charge of the situation. It may have been because I was so young at the time (& perhaps this was also why I was kind of cast aside compared to his other patients).
Now a few years later, my eyes are still very asymmetrical and the scars are very prominent and raised. The tapered cut that he insisted on creates a strange look to my eyes when they are closed - they were definitely not like that before my surgery. The asymmetry is especially noticeable in photos.
I wasn't going to write a review initially, but actually, a friend of mine had asked me last year who I had seen for my surgery & when I told her who (without going into details of my experience), she had actually booked the same procedure with him without my knowledge. Now, a year after her procedure, she also has the same results - prominent scarring and asymmetry.
I don't write this to create some sort of disturbance - I just wanted to share my honest experience for others who are thinking of doing the same procedure. The other reviews on this page was the reason I had chosen this surgeon for my procedure - & I wish I had the chance to go into detail with my friend about my experience so she could've taken it into consideration while making her decision on choosing a surgeon, for a surgery that will affect us for the rest of our lives.
On the day of the surgery, I was extremely nervous & was just doing as I was told to do by the nurses, anaesthetist etc. When Dr Kevin Ho came to greet me, he said hi for about two minutes then left again & then the anaesthetist came in & put me under (I didn't think to raise the topic again to speak to the doctor before this) - so I never got to talk with Dr Kevin Ho about what I wanted once again before the surgery.
About 1 week after the surgery, I went back to the practice to remove my stitches. I was told Dr Kevin Ho wasn't yet available, but that a nurse would begin to me assist me. She began to remove the stitches on my left eye, and it was so painful & choppy. I've never had stitches removed before, so I thought that was just how it felt. After she removed the stitches, Dr Kevin Ho came in & began working on my right eye, & it was so seamless, fast & painless! (A testament to his experience & skill!) After this, he told me to look in the mirror & I realised that my eyes were not symmetrical. I voiced this to him & he said that this was normal immediately after the surgery & that this was not the final result - it would take a few months to see the long-term results.
After a couple of weeks, I emailed him & let him know that the swelling & bruising had gone down, but the asymmetry was still very apparent. He replied to say "I appreciate your concern but you are only 10 days post op. You will have different swelling and tightness - as everyone does. Please be patient and let everything settle." And that he would see me at my 5 week post-op appointment.
This hadn't been booked in for me yet, so I spoke to his assistant/receptionist, and since I lived a little far away and was realising a trend of being somewhat dismissed in my interactions with him, I didn't want to drive 1.5 hours each way for a 10 minute appointment again, so I asked if I could speak with him on the phone instead. On the day of the scheduled phone appointment, he didn't call so I called at the end of the day & his assistant/receptionist said she would rebook the phone appointment again for a week later. Again, he didn't call.
I was quite upset & the asymmetry was still very apparent. I'd assumed that he would just tell me again that my eyes were still healing & to be "be patient", so I didn't call back (I take responsibility for this) but it was also because in hindsight, I realised that my entire surgery / results was based on a 10 minute consultation in which he asked for what I wanted, told me he would do something else anyway & then that was that. In my brief & albeit limited interactions with him, I felt I was dismissed or not given the "care" that all the glowing reviews detailed & it was my mistake for getting emotional about this rather than taking charge of the situation. It may have been because I was so young at the time (& perhaps this was also why I was kind of cast aside compared to his other patients).
Now a few years later, my eyes are still very asymmetrical and the scars are very prominent and raised. The tapered cut that he insisted on creates a strange look to my eyes when they are closed - they were definitely not like that before my surgery. The asymmetry is especially noticeable in photos.
I wasn't going to write a review initially, but actually, a friend of mine had asked me last year who I had seen for my surgery & when I told her who (without going into details of my experience), she had actually booked the same procedure with him without my knowledge. Now, a year after her procedure, she also has the same results - prominent scarring and asymmetry.
I don't write this to create some sort of disturbance - I just wanted to share my honest experience for others who are thinking of doing the same procedure. The other reviews on this page was the reason I had chosen this surgeon for my procedure - & I wish I had the chance to go into detail with my friend about my experience so she could've taken it into consideration while making her decision on choosing a surgeon, for a surgery that will affect us for the rest of our lives.
Replies (3)
Im so sorry you've had this happen to u! I hope u can get a revision to fix this! Thank u for sharing your experience x
Sorry to hear about your poor experience w this doctor. I'm going through a similar situation and my surgeon denies there is a problem with one of my eyes after upper blepharoplasty. .it is frustrating as the patient when a surgeon doesn't accept responsibility for mistakes. I look worse than before the surgery. Good for you for sharing your story!!!
They(surgeons)sound so perfect on paper and their reviews.

Thank you for your feedback and we are truly sorry about your experience. It is completely out of character for our practice which prides itself on exceptional care.
We would like to have the opportunity to address your concerns but are unable to locate you on our system based on your pseudonym and that your recent review was for a procedure a few years ago. If you would like, please reach out to us on (02) 9650 4900 or admin@drkevinho.com.au.
The process in our rooms for upper blepharoplasty is uniform:
- an initial consult which takes on average 30-40 minutes (it is impossible to curtail this much shorter to cover all aspects).
- a second consultation (done face to face or over the phone for patient convenience) which takes on average 10 minutes.
- Dr Ho sees you in the anaesthetic bay prior to surgery to explain how you feel when you wake up, goes through the recovery and discharge instructions, he then needs to mark up the upper eyelids and take photos (this process takes at least 15 minutes).
- Dr Ho checks on you postop (however most patients don’t remember this as they are still under the after-effects of anaesthesia)
- the first post op appointment is 4-7 days for suture removal which his nurse usually does but as Dr Ho is in rooms at the same time, he will always pop in if there is an issue or difficult suture that requires help removing.
- the second postop appointment is usually around 6 weeks postop where Dr Ho will always be the one who sees you face to face. The only exception is if the patient opts for logistical reasons to do this by phone having sent in photos prior (eg. regional/interstate/overseas patients, Covid restrictions, etc).
- Postop appointments are not charged and Dr Ho encourages patients to see him if there is ever any issue.