Full Incisional Upper Blepharoplasty Plus Epicanthoplasty at Wave Surgery

Before I start this post I want to get a couple of things out of the way. First and foremost, please don't post anything offensive or stupid because your stupidity will not be tolerated. This topic can be sensitive to many and your insensitivity is not appreciated. We only promote love and unity here haha. I don't want to go into too much detail in regards to what counts as stupid comments, we should all know how to be respectful and accepting of other people's choices.
Secondly, many of you know that I had the non-incisional double eyelid method done in China a little over a year ago. However, the results were very temporary (despite the reassurances from the doctor who had performed it) and in less than a year's time my eyelids reverted back to the size they were before surgery. (Insert angry face here.) Imagine how upsetting that is, going through all that trouble and only ending up with a temporary fix that didn't even last a year. *SIGH*. I don't even want to talk about that any more. Let's just forever bury that memory and never think about it again. -_- For those of you out there who are contemplating which method to get, I would hands down say just get the full incisional method since it'll definitely be more rewarding once all the healing is done.

Okay, now that we have those things out of the way, let's jump right into today's topic - full incisional double eyelid plus epicanthoplasty.
To be honest, although I've done a lot of research on the different methods of double eyelids and read through many befores and afters from other people I never really did a thorough research on the different practices that offer this procedure. I read through hundreds of pages of comments on Soompi forums but found very little information on actual experiences of people who had gotten their eyelids done in Southern California. I ended up choosing a place called Wave Plastic Surgery & Laser Center in Los Angeles. Going into surgery you never know what you're really getting into because each surgery performed will vary by case to case situations. I know that with anything you do there will be risks of failure, but I was brave enough to just go for it. (I figured if not now, then when?!) There are three doctors at Wave Surgery, two out of the three doctors can perform a full incisional upper blepharoplasty. There's Dr. Peter Lee, who is the more experienced out of the two and, Dr. Goretti Ho, a younger doctor who is just as adequate. I chose Dr. Ho because her price points are more affordable, and due to my not so happy financial statuses right now I really can't afford ~$4,000.00+ on eyelids. Dr. Ho's prices were more comfortable for me, although the initial offer was over $3,000.00 I was able to negotiate for a discount and ended at a price that I was more comfortable with.  I don't want to put the exact amount since it'll be different based on each individual but let's just say that it was a bit over ~$2,000.00 (There goes all of my savings :*( tear tear). I had two consultations in the Irvine office (no surgery performed there), one with Natasha back in June, and another one with Dr. Ho in December. We had talked about the shape that I wanted, what the surgery would entail, and of course expenses etc. I figured I'm approaching my mid twenties and if I don't do this now then when am I going to do it? Youth doesn't stick around forever and if not now then I probably won't even need to get it later when I'm old and ugly. JK. But I really wanted this done so I can save the hassle of taping (the reason why I got it the first time) my eyelids every single day and also prevent getting angry all day long at the sight of my droopy eyelids that the first Doctor promised were going to last forever. And so I secured Dec 29th, 2014 as my surgery date. Thought I'd give myself a little Christmas/ New Years present.

A few days before surgery I had to get blood tests done to make sure that my body is suitable for surgery and also take a little supplement (Arnica Montana) that's supposed to help with swelling. 24 hours before surgery I was not allowed to drink or eat anything, so I followed those directions. On the day of the surgery I had to go in a bit earlier to take pre-op photos and be interviewed by their Marketing team. That didn't take that long and before I knew it I was laying on the operating table and everything was in full action! To be honest I really don't remember the details of the surgery. They gave me something in the IV that they hooked me up to and I really can't recall much of the details other than some tugging and MAYBE the smell of my skin burning from fat removal, but really though, I can't remember much. I was at the clinic for over three hours which was longer than I had expected but I doubt the actual surgery took longer than an hour. (I think most of that time I was just resting after the surgery; was totally out of it after everything was done.) When it was time to leave they had scheduled me to come back the next day (Irvine Office) to get shots for swelling. I also already had the antibiotics/ ointment from the week before and I was already taking the Arnica Montana supplement. As we drove out of the parking lot we had to pay $10.00 for parking because they only validate your stay for 3 hrs and since I was in there for a little over 3 hours I had to pay. -_-

It's going to be 1 month tomorrow since surgery and I can say that they are looking better by the day. The swelling had gone down quite a bit although there's still some left. My scars are not as terrible as they had looked in week 1, but again, there's definitely scarring, especially in the inner corners. I also have tiny bumps along the incision line where the sutures were placed but I think all of this is normal and I have patience/ faith that with time these problems will subside. Overall, I really think Dr. Ho did a great job and she was super nice. She really listened to what I had to say and gave me some really good advice. She didn't just take my money and bullsh*t me but really communicated with me on what I wanted and gave me a look that I am happy with. As of now I am content with the progress that my eyes have been making and crossing my fingers that in the future they'll continue to heal well and that they won't drop down like last time. -_- I will include pictures from the day of surgery until recently and also a video (Thank you Alex for sending me footage from surgery) to take you through the day of surgery. If you have any questions feel free to ask me on any of my social platforms (Youtube, Instagram, Blogger). Hope this helped!

Oh before I forget, there was only one complication throughout this whole experience and that happened the day I got my sutures removed. They had squeezed me in on day 7 post-op and for some reason it was a day that Dr. Ho was not at the clinic. Another doctor (I will not mention his name -_-) removed my sutures and I later found out that he doesn't normally take out sutures. SO long story short, he couldn't see very well and left a bunch of sutures in my eyelid. I went home and picked out a bunch of tiny broken sutures...I feel like there's probably more in there that I couldn't get but sigh...let's just cross our fingers and hope they will just peacefully coexist with me for the rest of my life and not cause me any complications. The next day I went in again just to bring this to Dr. Ho's attention and she was very apologetic even though it's totally not her fault. She checked my eyelids again and also gave me some Kenalog shots to soften the scar tissues.  

pre-op

pre-op

right after surgery day 1

right after surgery day 1 

right after surgery day 1

day 2

day 2

day 2

day 2

day 3

day 3

day 4

day 4

day 5

day 6

day 6

day 6

day 6

day 6

day 7 (removing stitches today!)

day 7

day 7 right after stitches were removed 

day 7 right after stitches were removed

day 7 right after stitches were removed

day 7 right after stitches were removed

day 7 right after stitches were removed

day 7 right after stitches were removed

day 7 right after stitches were removed

okay... do you see this?! Left over stitches I pulled out...

Day 8

day 8

day 9

day 9

day 10

day 10

day 10

day 10

day 11 with eyeliner

day 11 with eyeliner

day 12 with full face makeup

day 13

day 13

Below are after two weeks post-op: I stopped taking pictures daily since they seem to be changing rather slowly now. 

For more recent updates please visit my Instagram @lazybumtotbeauty

That's all for today!