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Best Incisional Double Eyelid Surgery in NYC!!
I received an incisional double eyelid surgery from Dr. Choe about 2 months ago that I am very happy with. I originally had very fatty monolid eyelids with thick skin and small, “deep-set” eyes (my actual eyeball does not protrude out at all from my face unlike many East Asians, and thus you can’t see the contour of my eyeball through my skin), and was seeking a semi-outline double eyelid crease. I knew what I was looking for was ambitious so I wanted only the best, and was hoping to find it in the area without having to book a flight to Korea.
I had consulted with a couple other doctors in NYC beforehand and immediately decided on Dr. Choe after the (free!) consultation— compared to the other consults I never felt rushed, he listened closely to what I was looking for, was very kind and knowledgeable, and offered an optimistic prospect. (Compare this to a different doctor nearby who 1. made me wait over 30 minutes past my appointment time, 2. said only a very subtle in-line crease was possible, 3. degraded me by saying my eyes were like “little peas on a dinner plate”, and 4. on top of that I had to pay $200 for just the consult. Bleh.)
After arriving for my procedure, I signed paperwork and was given aftercare instructions by Christina (the sweetest person ever btw). I was very anxious going into the surgery but there was no need to be. About 30 minutes prior to going into surgery I was given a Valium to help soothe my nerves. Right when I laid down for surgery Dr. Choe also administered some kind of a twilight sedation injection in my arm that kept me awake but in a “dreamy” state (I was able to talk to the doctor and Sharon the nurse the entire operation but felt warm, fuzzy, and relaxed the whole time). Finally, he also administered local anesthetic injections to the eye area.
By the time I realized the operation had begun, he was already almost done stitching up my right eye. The left eye I was more aware of him working on, but at most there were only a couple of pricks from the stitches being placed I would describe as feeling painful. Dr. Choe apparently uses some kind of “laser” tool that burns away the excess fat in the eyelid, which I would generally freak out at, but because of the sedation all I could think was that it smelled like grilled octopus lol. No pain or sensation from it whatsoever. And then it was done! All in all I think the operation took about an hour or less. It was clear that this efficiency was a result of Dr Choe’s decades of experience.
Christina guided me to a room to recover in for 30 or so minutes after the surgery, then handed me off to my boyfriend for pickup, also giving him the aftercare instructions to help me out with.
I had ice packs on and off my eyes for the rest of the day and into the following morning. There was definitely soreness for the first day, and the worst of the swelling was on the 2nd-3rd day, but there was hardly any "real" pain. There was a fair amount of bruising but honestly not as badly as I expected. I was able to go outside wearing sunglasses by day 3 but the bruising could have easily been passed off as (bad) eyeshadow. I was told to try and keep my eyes wide open as much as possible to help the crease form, even though the swelling made it hard to do so.
After 1 week I went back in to get my stitches removed. I definitely healed relatively fast— I feel like a majority of my swelling went down by the 4th/5th day, and the bruising was gone by the end of the 2nd week. YMMV.
Almost 3 months post-op now, I am still very happy with my results. It is a natural look that I feel the average person would never be able to guess I wasn’t born with. It dramatically changes the way I can do my makeup. For instance, I’m no longer going through piles of eyeliner just to get it to show up. If I HAD to complain about something it would be that there is some asymmetry in the way the creases fold, but again I feel this is hardly noticeable unless you’re looking for it, and all eyelids are naturally asymmetrical to begin with. Check out my progress pics for reference!! Overall 10/10 experience with Dr. Choe and I would recommend him to anyone looking to get a similar procedure done.
I had consulted with a couple other doctors in NYC beforehand and immediately decided on Dr. Choe after the (free!) consultation— compared to the other consults I never felt rushed, he listened closely to what I was looking for, was very kind and knowledgeable, and offered an optimistic prospect. (Compare this to a different doctor nearby who 1. made me wait over 30 minutes past my appointment time, 2. said only a very subtle in-line crease was possible, 3. degraded me by saying my eyes were like “little peas on a dinner plate”, and 4. on top of that I had to pay $200 for just the consult. Bleh.)
After arriving for my procedure, I signed paperwork and was given aftercare instructions by Christina (the sweetest person ever btw). I was very anxious going into the surgery but there was no need to be. About 30 minutes prior to going into surgery I was given a Valium to help soothe my nerves. Right when I laid down for surgery Dr. Choe also administered some kind of a twilight sedation injection in my arm that kept me awake but in a “dreamy” state (I was able to talk to the doctor and Sharon the nurse the entire operation but felt warm, fuzzy, and relaxed the whole time). Finally, he also administered local anesthetic injections to the eye area.
By the time I realized the operation had begun, he was already almost done stitching up my right eye. The left eye I was more aware of him working on, but at most there were only a couple of pricks from the stitches being placed I would describe as feeling painful. Dr. Choe apparently uses some kind of “laser” tool that burns away the excess fat in the eyelid, which I would generally freak out at, but because of the sedation all I could think was that it smelled like grilled octopus lol. No pain or sensation from it whatsoever. And then it was done! All in all I think the operation took about an hour or less. It was clear that this efficiency was a result of Dr Choe’s decades of experience.
Christina guided me to a room to recover in for 30 or so minutes after the surgery, then handed me off to my boyfriend for pickup, also giving him the aftercare instructions to help me out with.
I had ice packs on and off my eyes for the rest of the day and into the following morning. There was definitely soreness for the first day, and the worst of the swelling was on the 2nd-3rd day, but there was hardly any "real" pain. There was a fair amount of bruising but honestly not as badly as I expected. I was able to go outside wearing sunglasses by day 3 but the bruising could have easily been passed off as (bad) eyeshadow. I was told to try and keep my eyes wide open as much as possible to help the crease form, even though the swelling made it hard to do so.
After 1 week I went back in to get my stitches removed. I definitely healed relatively fast— I feel like a majority of my swelling went down by the 4th/5th day, and the bruising was gone by the end of the 2nd week. YMMV.
Almost 3 months post-op now, I am still very happy with my results. It is a natural look that I feel the average person would never be able to guess I wasn’t born with. It dramatically changes the way I can do my makeup. For instance, I’m no longer going through piles of eyeliner just to get it to show up. If I HAD to complain about something it would be that there is some asymmetry in the way the creases fold, but again I feel this is hardly noticeable unless you’re looking for it, and all eyelids are naturally asymmetrical to begin with. Check out my progress pics for reference!! Overall 10/10 experience with Dr. Choe and I would recommend him to anyone looking to get a similar procedure done.
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