Hey everyone!
In August 2023 I traveled to South Korea for 3 different surgeries and got them done at different clinics.
Surgery schedule were as follows:
08.08.23 Revision DES at Wink
09.08.23 Primary Rhino at 1st Button
22.08.23 Face lift, face lipo, forehead fg at V.lif
Please see my future posts for reviews on other clinics, this review is dedicated to my revision DES only.
For my B&A photos follow ga_ps3 on Instagram and mention you are from psf. I won’t be sharing my photos on the forum, but by the time this review is up, my photos will be uploaded on insta.
Background of my eyes:
Fast forward to summer 2023, I planned an extended visit to SK with my mom and sister and finally get the revision that will make a difference for me.
Before settling on Wink’s Dr.Choi, I also consulted with 1 mm and Symphony PS. The decision-making factor was Dr.Choi’s B&A photos of the cases super similar to mine. I was confident choosing Wink when I saw those photos. I really struggled to find cases similar to mine prior to that.
You can reach Wink via email, whatsapp or kakao talk. I find that they reply the fastest via kakao talk. Also note they don’t have an english translator, so if you want the consent form to be translated and explained to you on the day of your surgery, you will need to hire one for around 2 hours.
I pre-booked all of my surgeries prior to coming to SK to secure the exact dates, so I transferred 10% deposit to book my surgery date.
Online consultation was quick for me and I honestly didn’t ask many questions as I knew the consultant is using an online translator, I saved all of my questions for Dr Choi as I read on the forum that he speaks fluent English.
What I got done at Wink:
Incisional DES, ptosis correction, upper eyelid fat repositioning, releasing the old crease, lowering the crease, partially excising the old scar, lateral and lower canthoplasty.
Surgery day:
I arrived to wink at 1 pm and my hired translator was already waiting for me there. The translator I hired is a russian speaker, not English so I don’t think sharing her details makes sense unless you also speak russian.
Everything was very efficient without much waiting time. I was taken to the recovery room to change into pj’s, washed my face, took photos and then taken into the consultation room. I honestly can’t remember exactly but I think first I talked to a consultant and went over the consent form, then Dr Choi came in and we discussed what we were going to do for my eyes, then the consultant came back to explain the post-op case and gave me their final quotation.
They gave me a slight discount for doing several procedures at once but I did not bargain. I understand many people do and that is your decision, which I respect and not bargaining- is my personal choice. If someone wishes to ask for my quote, I will happily share in PM’s, but please do not comment on it by saying I should’ve bargained or how expensive it was. I am satisfied with the prices I paid for my surgeries and do not wish to discuss them any further than necessary.
The consultation with Dr Choi was very pleasant. It did not feel rushed, he has a very pleasant personality and indeed, he’s fluent in English.
I told him my eyes’ surgical history and what I wanted to achieve. I wanted an in-out, semi outline crease, that’s not too low and not too high.
He assessed my eyes and showed me some of his work, showed me several types of creases and asked me to choose the one I’d prefer. He was honest with me by saying that he wouldn’t be able to remove my old inner crease scars fully and that they’ll be slightly visible outside of my new crease. I was okay with that, he said with time it will become less visible.
I also asked him if we can do lateral and lower canthoplasty, he said it can be done but will only add around 1 mm space as apparently my eyes are deep set and I don’t have a lot of room to work with.
After answering all of my questions he told me not to worry and that he will do his best.
Surgery:
Dr Choi came into the OP room and told me that he will first draw the design on my eyes and then they will sedate me, after some time I will wake up so I could open my eyes for him for ptosis correction and then I’d be put back to sleep for lateral and lower canthoplasties.
I can definitely tell Dr Choi is very meticulous with his work! I was laying down on the table wondering if I’m already sedated or no and whether we had started, but then I realized that Dr.Choi was still meticulously designing my upper eyelids! I think it took around 15-20 minutes and then he told me that I’ll now be put to sleep. I took a big note on this because when comparing him to Dr.Park who said he doesn’t need to design anything, Dr.Choi gave me this extra reassurance and a feeling that I’m in good caring hands.
I think the surgery lasted for around 2.5-3 hours, I woke up and was taken into the recovery room. The nurse put ice packs on my eyes and left me to rest. After some time the nurse came back and made it clear I can go whenever I am comfortable.
I had 5 appointments (due to my extended stay):
My results and final thoughts:
I think Dr.Choi is a very skilled surgeon who can handle complicated revision cases! His work is very natural and refined. If you are into dolly looks, probably he’s not your surgeon. He is very meticulous at what he does.
He’s very straightforward and honest, so he will tell you if something can be done or no.
P.s: my final results were altered by forehead fg that I got done 2 weeks after revision DES. Since this has nothing to do with Dr.Choi’s work, I won’t mention it here. I talk about this and my other procedures on my surgery IG.
In August 2023 I traveled to South Korea for 3 different surgeries and got them done at different clinics.
Surgery schedule were as follows:
08.08.23 Revision DES at Wink
09.08.23 Primary Rhino at 1st Button
22.08.23 Face lift, face lipo, forehead fg at V.lif
Please see my future posts for reviews on other clinics, this review is dedicated to my revision DES only.
For my B&A photos follow ga_ps3 on Instagram and mention you are from psf. I won’t be sharing my photos on the forum, but by the time this review is up, my photos will be uploaded on insta.
Background of my eyes:
- May 2015. I had primary DES done in my home country, Kazakhstan and I think this was one of the worst decisions of my life lol. I was 19 years old without resources to fly to SK for a surgery but I was desperate to get rid of my monolids. So i found an ethnic Korean plastic surgeon who was “famous” for his des. Long story short, i was left with “European”-like creases that made my eyes look hollow, sad, short, with no ptosis corrected and “epicanthoplasty” that left visible scars on the inner corners of my eyes. At the time I was pretty haply with the results as I didn’t know any better. I was just happy that I now had a double eyelid. I’m not sure if my eyes were to be considered botched, they were functioning well and looked decent, especially for those who didn’t know what des is.
- November 2021. I was concerned with the look of my eyes and knew they were not done properly for a few years by then, but due to Coronavirus and other factors i found myself unable to travel to SK yet again. Nevertheless, I already had resources at my disposal so I started checking that maybe there are doctors from SK who visit Dubai (my current country of residence) and I could get my eyes fixed here. So I found that dr Park Yang Soo from Dream PS was a visiting doctor at one of the clinics here. Not going to go into details here, but all I can say is that i paid 10k$ for a non-incisional des that only lifted the saggy skin a little, maybe made my crease look a bit more natural. Dr Park promised that he can change the shape of my crease using non-incisional method and justified not using the incisional method by saying that i don’t have enough skin. Again, I am not a surgeon and I have little knowledge about surgeries but i think he, as a surgeon already knew he couldn’t fix my case. I find it very unethical of him not saying this straight to my face. Instead, i was ripped off and left with an additional deep scar on the left eye (mid crease) and pretty much same eyelids.
Fast forward to summer 2023, I planned an extended visit to SK with my mom and sister and finally get the revision that will make a difference for me.
Before settling on Wink’s Dr.Choi, I also consulted with 1 mm and Symphony PS. The decision-making factor was Dr.Choi’s B&A photos of the cases super similar to mine. I was confident choosing Wink when I saw those photos. I really struggled to find cases similar to mine prior to that.
You can reach Wink via email, whatsapp or kakao talk. I find that they reply the fastest via kakao talk. Also note they don’t have an english translator, so if you want the consent form to be translated and explained to you on the day of your surgery, you will need to hire one for around 2 hours.
I pre-booked all of my surgeries prior to coming to SK to secure the exact dates, so I transferred 10% deposit to book my surgery date.
Online consultation was quick for me and I honestly didn’t ask many questions as I knew the consultant is using an online translator, I saved all of my questions for Dr Choi as I read on the forum that he speaks fluent English.
What I got done at Wink:
Incisional DES, ptosis correction, upper eyelid fat repositioning, releasing the old crease, lowering the crease, partially excising the old scar, lateral and lower canthoplasty.
Surgery day:
I arrived to wink at 1 pm and my hired translator was already waiting for me there. The translator I hired is a russian speaker, not English so I don’t think sharing her details makes sense unless you also speak russian.
Everything was very efficient without much waiting time. I was taken to the recovery room to change into pj’s, washed my face, took photos and then taken into the consultation room. I honestly can’t remember exactly but I think first I talked to a consultant and went over the consent form, then Dr Choi came in and we discussed what we were going to do for my eyes, then the consultant came back to explain the post-op case and gave me their final quotation.
They gave me a slight discount for doing several procedures at once but I did not bargain. I understand many people do and that is your decision, which I respect and not bargaining- is my personal choice. If someone wishes to ask for my quote, I will happily share in PM’s, but please do not comment on it by saying I should’ve bargained or how expensive it was. I am satisfied with the prices I paid for my surgeries and do not wish to discuss them any further than necessary.
The consultation with Dr Choi was very pleasant. It did not feel rushed, he has a very pleasant personality and indeed, he’s fluent in English.
I told him my eyes’ surgical history and what I wanted to achieve. I wanted an in-out, semi outline crease, that’s not too low and not too high.
He assessed my eyes and showed me some of his work, showed me several types of creases and asked me to choose the one I’d prefer. He was honest with me by saying that he wouldn’t be able to remove my old inner crease scars fully and that they’ll be slightly visible outside of my new crease. I was okay with that, he said with time it will become less visible.
I also asked him if we can do lateral and lower canthoplasty, he said it can be done but will only add around 1 mm space as apparently my eyes are deep set and I don’t have a lot of room to work with.
After answering all of my questions he told me not to worry and that he will do his best.
Surgery:
Dr Choi came into the OP room and told me that he will first draw the design on my eyes and then they will sedate me, after some time I will wake up so I could open my eyes for him for ptosis correction and then I’d be put back to sleep for lateral and lower canthoplasties.
I can definitely tell Dr Choi is very meticulous with his work! I was laying down on the table wondering if I’m already sedated or no and whether we had started, but then I realized that Dr.Choi was still meticulously designing my upper eyelids! I think it took around 15-20 minutes and then he told me that I’ll now be put to sleep. I took a big note on this because when comparing him to Dr.Park who said he doesn’t need to design anything, Dr.Choi gave me this extra reassurance and a feeling that I’m in good caring hands.
I think the surgery lasted for around 2.5-3 hours, I woke up and was taken into the recovery room. The nurse put ice packs on my eyes and left me to rest. After some time the nurse came back and made it clear I can go whenever I am comfortable.
I had 5 appointments (due to my extended stay):
- Next day, Dr Choi checked on my eyes, told me the swelling is very minimal. Had red light laser treatment
- Day 5 post op to remove the upper eyelid stitches, Dr.Choi says keeping them for too long might lead to unnecessary scarring.
- Day 7 post op, met up with Dr Choi and had red light treatment.
- Day 10 post op, had my lateral stitches removed, met ip with Dr.Choi and had red light treatment.
- Day 20 post op, final meet up with Dr Choi to just go over the result, he answered my last questions and we said our goodbyes.
My results and final thoughts:
I think Dr.Choi is a very skilled surgeon who can handle complicated revision cases! His work is very natural and refined. If you are into dolly looks, probably he’s not your surgeon. He is very meticulous at what he does.
He’s very straightforward and honest, so he will tell you if something can be done or no.
P.s: my final results were altered by forehead fg that I got done 2 weeks after revision DES. Since this has nothing to do with Dr.Choi’s work, I won’t mention it here. I talk about this and my other procedures on my surgery IG.
, it's antebellum_xx