Blepharoplasty in Korea: Hooded Upper Lids, Under-Eye Bags and Your Stay

I am Im Young Min, chief director and board-certified plastic surgeon at VG Plastic Surgery in Seoul. I trained at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, where I am an adjunct professor of plastic surgery, and I operate across our eye, body, breast and anti-aging centres. The patients who ask me about blepharoplasty are rarely asking for bigger eyes — they are asking why they look tired when they are not.

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Im Young Min

Chief Director · Board-certified in Plastic Surgery

• — Ph.D. in Medicine
• — Internship and residency, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital
• — Board-certified plastic surgeon, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital

What blepharoplasty is — and how it differs from a double eyelid

Blepharoplasty is the medical name for eyelid surgery. On the upper lid it means removing skin that has loosened and folded down, sometimes with a little fat. On the lower lid it means dealing with the bags, the hollow beneath them and any loose skin.

A double eyelid operation is a different goal: it creates or redesigns a crease on a lid that does not need tissue taken away. If that is what you are looking into, our double eyelid surgery guide compares the incisional and non-incisional methods in detail. This article stays with the ageing lid: the one that has started to hang, and the under-eye that has started to bulge.

In practice the two can overlap. When the upper lid is opened to remove skin, a crease can be set at the same time, and I plan that with you rather than leave it to chance.

Who it suits — and when I say wait

These are the reasons people most often come to me for an eyelid lift.

• Skin on the upper lid rests on the lashes, so the eye looks smaller and makeup smudges into the fold
• You lift your forehead and eyebrows to open your eyes, and the lines on your forehead have deepened
• Bags under the eyes, with a shadowed groove below them, make you look tired even after a full night's sleep
• A previous eyelid operation has healed in a way you are unhappy with, and you are considering revision

I also tell people when eyelid surgery is not the answer yet, or not the answer at all.

• Untreated dry eye or blepharitis — we ask you to see an ophthalmologist first
• Pregnancy, or an uncontrolled thyroid or bleeding disorder
• A travel schedule too short for stitch removal and the first follow-up in Korea
• The heaviness comes from a brow or forehead that has dropped, rather than from the lid itself

In both cases the skin hanging at the outer third of the lid was the main problem; once it was removed, the eyes read as open without being made larger. You can see this upper eyelid case in full, or browse every eye before-and-after photo by concern.

Upper blepharoplasty vs lower eyelid blepharoplasty: which problem you have

The upper and lower lids age in different ways, so the operations are planned separately even when they are done on the same day. The table sets out how I tell them apart.

Why the brow is checked first

When the forehead descends, the eyes read heavy — and that is a droop eyelid surgery does not reach. If I remove lid skin while the brow is the real cause, the brow can sit even lower afterwards. So before any upper blepharoplasty I ask you to relax your forehead completely and I look at where the brow falls.

Why under-eye fat is moved before it is removed

Under-eye bags are usually fat pushing forward, with a groove beneath that looks darker because of the shadow. Removing the fat alone can leave a hollow that looks older than the bag did. That is why, in lower eyelid blepharoplasty, I consider repositioning the fat into the groove first, and trim skin only where it is genuinely loose.

Surgery day and the recovery timeline

On the morning of surgery I draw the plan on your face and go through it with you, with the interpreter present. Nothing starts until you agree to what is drawn.

Eyelid surgery takes 30 minutes to 2 hours under sedation, and admission is usually not required. You can wash your hair from the day after surgery.

Our recovery data do not list upper blepharoplasty on a line of its own. The closest entry is incisional eyelid surgery, which also trims skin and fat through the lid, so that is the column I use as your guide.

• Eye makeup: 3–5 days after the stitches are out
• Contact lenses and light exercise: after 2 weeks
• Phone and screens: short periods from the next day
• Alcohol and smoking: after 4 weeks

Having eyelid surgery in Korea: days to stay, stitches and follow-up

For blepharoplasty in Korea, plan to stay at least 7 days. That covers stitch removal and the first follow-up before you fly, so you do not travel with stitches still in. It is not the same as being back to daily life, which is a longer, separate number.

1. Arrival day: pickup and the in-person consultation, or the next morning if you land late
2. Surgery day, with the design confirmed on your face that morning
3. Recovery at a partner hotel within walking distance of the clinic
4. Stitches out 5–7 days after surgery
5. A last follow-up before you fly, where we tell you what to send and when

Do not book your return flight for the day of your last appointment — appointments move. The day-by-day stay planner lays the week out against your own dates. If you are planning another operation on the same trip, the stay is set by the longer one; a Korean nose job, for example, can need 14 days.

After you fly home, follow-up continues for three months: we review photographs at week 1, month 1 and month 3, and the surgeon who operated answers in writing, asking for more photographs from set angles when the first ones are not enough.

What sets the cost of eyelid surgery

People often ask about eyelid surgery cost before they have sent a photo. I cannot give one honest figure, because an upper lid alone, a lower lid with fat repositioning, and both lids with a brow lift are three different operations.

• Which lids: upper, lower, or both in one session
• Technique: skin only, skin and fat, or fat repositioning under the eye
• Combined work: ptosis correction or a brow lift planned alongside
• Revision: previous scar tissue changes the operating time and sometimes the approach

What does not change the fee is your passport. International patients pay the same surgical fee as Korean patients, with no foreigner surcharge and no agency commission built in. Our pricing policy sets out what the itemised written quote covers, including anesthesia, interpretation and three months of remote follow-up.

What I check first in consultation

I measure eyelid thickness, fat and muscle strength first, then decide whether an incision is needed at all. If the lid opens weakly, a ptosis correction may belong in the plan; our eye surgery page explains each technique and our results by concern. My own training and memberships are on my profile page.

Risks, and how we reduce them

Every blepharoplasty carries risk: swelling and bruising that last longer than expected, a fine trace along the incision line, asymmetry while the tissue settles, and dryness or irritation of the eye. Recovery differs from person to person, and I would rather you hear that from me before surgery than after.

• Dry eye treated first: untreated dry eye or blepharitis is sent to an ophthalmologist before we operate
• Tissue kept, not over-removed: we avoid over-resecting skin or fat, which is what makes a lid look operated on
• Anesthesia: a board-certified anesthesiologist is resident, under a named-doctor system
• One surgeon throughout: the surgeon you consult with performs the whole operation, with no ghost doctors
• Revision timing: if a revision is needed, it should wait at least 6 months after the first surgery

After you are home, some signs should not wait for the next scheduled review: blurred or changed vision, bleeding that will not stop, pain that keeps getting worse, fever, or sudden swelling on one side only. Send a photo through messenger and you will have an answer the same day.