Korean Eyelid Surgery Before and After: How to Read the Photos

I am Hong Dae Won, a board-certified plastic surgeon at VG Plastic Surgery in Seoul, trained at Asan Medical Center and a full member of the Eyelid Surgery Research Group of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. Most of my work is eye and nose surgery. Patients abroad often send me a screenshot of Korean eyelid surgery before and after photos and ask, "Can I get this?" — so this is how I teach them to read those photos in consultation.

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Hong Dae Won

Director · Board-certified in Plastic Surgery

• — Board-certified plastic surgeon, Asan Medical Center, Seoul
• — Plastic surgery fellowship, Florence University Hospital, Italy
• — International Confederation for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (IPRAS)

Why the same result can look different in two photos

A before-and-after pair is two separate photographs, taken months apart. Anything that changed between them — light, camera height, how the patient held the brows, makeup — ends up looking like part of the result. The eye itself is only one of the variables.

So before you decide whether a result is good, check whether the two photos are fair to each other. Then look at what was actually done. Only then compare it with your own eyes.

Step one: when was the after photo taken?

The eye cases in our archive are photographed at three months, and the template labels each one with that time. Three months is a fair checkpoint, not the finish line. Here is how swelling usually runs for the operations you will see most often.

This changes how you read a photo. An incisional crease at one month can still sit higher and look thicker than it will at six months. If a clinic shows a photo taken a week after surgery, you are mostly looking at swelling. If you see a crease at three months that looks slightly heavy, it usually still has room to soften.

Step two: light, angle and makeup

Look at the two cases below. Both are natural adhesion double eyelid cases — a crease made without an incision. The surgical change is real in both, but notice how much of the impression comes from things around the eye.

In the first case, the after photo is warmer and the brows look more defined. Cover the brows with your thumb and look only at the lid: the change is a thin, low crease that now shows along the whole eye. That is the part surgery did.

In the second case, the lashes are darker in the after photo — ignore them. Look at how much of the coloured part of the eye the upper lid covers: before, the lid sits over the top of the iris; after, more of it shows. That change comes from the non-incisional ptosis correction added to the crease, not from the lashes.

Step three: crease height and ptosis correction

Two things decide most of what you see in Korean eyelid surgery before and after photos: how high the crease was set, and whether the muscle that lifts the eye was adjusted.

Crease height and line style

We choose the line with each patient from four styles. An in line tucks inward at the front, close to the inner fold, and reads calm. An in-out line is tucked at the front and opens toward the tail — the line most of our patients choose. A semi-out line shows a little more at the front, and an out line shows from the front onward for a defined, open look.

When you look at a photo you like, ask which of these it is, not just whether it is "big" or "natural". Which line suits you depends on lid thickness and eye shape, so we decide it in person.

With or without ptosis correction

If you raise your forehead to open your eyes, or people tell you that you look sleepy, a crease alone will not change that. Ptosis correction adjusts the lifting force itself. Non-incisional correction uses sutures and recovers faster, but it has a limit; for heavier droop we suggest the incisional route.

Both men started with lids that covered much of the iris. After surgery the crease is visible and the eyes open further, which is the ptosis correction at work. In the second case the lid edges are still slightly pink at three months — a reminder that an incisional result keeps settling until about six months.

Step four: compare the before photo with your own eyes

The most useful photo in a before-and-after pair is the before. If the starting eye is not like yours, the after photo cannot tell you much about your result. Before I plan surgery I look at facial proportion, eye shape, eye length and spacing, the height of the eye tail, whether ptosis is present, and skin thickness and muscle.

1. Take your own photo in daylight, camera at eye level, no eye makeup, brows relaxed.
2. Find cases whose before photo matches yours: similar lid thickness, similar amount of iris covered, similar fold or no fold.
3. Check what was done in those cases — crease only, or crease plus ptosis correction or corner surgery.
4. Compare the after photo only with that starting point. A thin-lidded eye with a crease is not a preview of a thick, heavy lid with the same crease.

You can filter our eye surgery before and after archive by concern and by procedure, so you can look only at cases that started where you are. If you want to see the non-incisional case above on its own page, it is natural adhesion crease with ptosis correction, case 613.

What a before-and-after photo cannot show you

A photo shows a result at one moment. It does not show who was a poor candidate and was told so. We do not operate on untreated dry eye or blepharitis — we ask you to see an ophthalmologist first. We also say no when a travel schedule is too short for stitch removal and the first follow-up, or during pregnancy or with an uncontrolled thyroid or bleeding disorder.

It also cannot give you someone else's eyes. If you bring a celebrity photo, a different eyelid structure will not produce the same shape. And a photo does not show what can go wrong: a crease that fades, two sides that settle at different heights, a line set too high. These are the problems we see in revision, which is planned at least 6 months after the first operation.

If you come to Seoul for eye surgery

Eye surgery takes 30 minutes to 2 hours under sedation, and you usually go back to your hotel the same day. Plan to stay in Korea at least 7 days — that covers stitch removal and the first follow-up before you fly. Do not book your return for the day of your last appointment, because appointments move.

After you fly home, we keep reviewing your photos: at week 1 for swelling and the incision, at month 1 as the line settles, and at month 3. The surgeon who operated answers in writing. In other words, you will be taking your own before-and-after photos — and the same rules apply: same light, eye level, no makeup.

International patients pay the same surgical fee as Korean patients, confirmed in one itemised written quote; our pricing policy explains how that works. Interpretation is free through consultation, the design check on the morning of surgery and every follow-up — see what international patients receive.

Where to go next

If you are still choosing between methods, read incisional vs non-incisional double eyelid surgery in Korea. If your concern is extra skin rather than a missing crease, blepharoplasty in Korea covers upper and lower lid surgery. For photos across nose, contouring and body surgery, see Korean plastic surgery before and after. The full picture of our eye centre is on the eye surgery page, and you can read my background on my profile.