Eyelid surgery

So this is the blogpost that I wrote in China, but didn't get around to finishing XD

Wasn't gonna blog about it but then I thought what the heck, everyone's gonna notice when I go back to Auckland anyways so there's no point hiding it.

And I thought I'd share my experience, in case anyone reading my blog is/has been considering to get it too.

Mine was done on Wednesday morning 6th Feb at Shanghai's No 9 Hospital.

lol I don't actually know why it's called No 9, it has nothing to do with the hospital ranking, as it's actually the best hospital in Shanghai. My mum's best friend knew someone who worked at the hospital and she arranged an appointment for me with one of the cosmetic surgeons.

I met with the doctor first on Monday, and he suggested that I cut my inner corners too to make my eyes look wider, and the double eyelid to look more natural. He then went on and said I should consider jaw reduction surgery because my face looks big..............lol I was so offended when he said that! Like actually he was so blunt but meh whatever I knew that he was just trying to make more money (even though my face is kinda big TT). Anyways, we set the surgery date to be on Wednesday, to give me time to think about whether I wanted to cut my inner corners too.

So on Wednesday morning we headed back to the hospital.

I was soo scared, like totally freaking out. 

I was mainly scared about the anesthetic injections, since I read online that they hurt like a bitch. But luckily Brandon and my family friend were with me and kept calming me down and said that everything would be okay. When we arrived at the hospital, we went to pay first. It was $4000rmb to get double eyelids and inner corners, + $1000 hong bao since it was Chinese New Years.. so it was about $1000NZ in total. I think it's a bit on the expensive side, since some people I know got theirs for much cheaper but I trusted in this hospital and my doctor, plus my parents paid for it so money wasn't really an issue ^^

After we paid, I had to sign a bunch of forms, and then it was surgery time.

Everything felt really rushed. But I guess looking back now, that was a good thing, as it didn't give me any time to be scared or nervous. As I walked down the hall to my operating room, I passed several rooms that were all open and I could see other people getting surgery. I think that freaked me out the most; it felt like a scene from The Hostel, as in every room, there were only two people: the patient lying on the bed, and the doctor bent over cutting into them, and you could pretty much see everything.

I'm not even exaggerating, my legs felt numb. But somehow I made it to my room, and the doctor told me to lie on the bed, and as soon as I did, he started wiping antiseptic all over my face. In my head I was thinking err.. I hadn't even got a proper consultation with him, and he didn't even ask how high I wanted my crease, but by this time, I was already super scared, and all I could say to him was that I didn't want my crease too high, and that I wanted it to look natural. And he said okay, and went back to cleaning my face.

The entire surgery took around an hour. He cut my inner corners first and then did my crease. It wasn't too bad, but the 4 anesthetic injections did infact hurt like a bitch haha. I had one in my inner corner, and one on my upper eyelid in each eye so 4 in total. After that, I couldn't really feel much, just some pulling and tugging.  Every five minutes he would get me to open my eyes to see what it looks like, and then close it again. I was still pretty scared; the whole time, I was just clenching my fists thinking to myself that it'll all be over soon.

After the surgery, the doctor bandaged my eyes and told me that I should leave it on for 24 hours, and then bandage it every night when I go to sleep, until I get my stitches out which would be in a week's time. The nurse then helped me outside to the waiting room, where we waited for awhile and then left. I couldn't see anything since my eyes were bandaged, but Brandon said that there were 5 other girls who also got eyelid surgery at the same time as me. It just goes to show how common it is in China.

When we got home, the anesthetic wore off and the pain started to kick in. But it wasn't too bad.. kinda felt like I got stung by a big bee on both eyes so I took a Panadol and tried to sleep. The next day, I was able to take the bandages off and I was pretty nervous because I had no idea what my eyes would look like. When I looked in the mirror, it was actually pretty scary. My eyes were so swollen and bruised.. pretty much looked like I had two black eyes. It made me quite depressed too, I'm so glad that Brandon was with me because I probably wouldn't have been able to cope without him <3

The rest of the week went by SO slowly. I had read on soompi from other girls who had got eyelid surgery that the waiting part was the worst. And they were right. I had to ice my eyes everyday for the whole day, and I couldn't go out since it was snowing in Shanghai and I didn't want to risk getting an infection. But 5 or 6 days later, it was Chinese New Year so I put on some sunnies and we went out for dinner. It felt so good to finally get some fresh air after being stuck at home for so long.

A few days after that, I went back to the hospital to get my stitches out. And I had no idea that that experience would end up being worse than the actual surgery. We went quite early in the morning, so there wasn't that many people. But man, nurses in China are nowhere near as nice as ones here. I guess it's kind of understandable since they have to see so many patients a day and it must be pretty tiring but there was a little girl in front of me who was getting her stitches out from a cut in her hand, and she kept crying since she was only like 5 years old! But the nurses were so mean; they kept telling her to be quiet and to stop crying because it was giving them a headache. Felt so bad for her; she must've been terrified. But anyways, when it was my turn, I hopped onto the bed, and the nurse used some kind of tweezers and started plucking the stitches out from my eyelids. At first it wasn't too bad, but when she got to the inner corners, it was so damn painful. I always thought my pain tolerance is reasonably high; like I've never been that scared of injections or anything but man, I was literally crying from the pain. The nurse said it was more painful for me since my stitches were much thinner so it was harder to pull out, but afterwards when she got to my left eye, she accidentally tore my inner corner and it even started to bleed. I remember when I came out of the room, I couldn't stop crying (just from the pain) and it scared the shit out of my bf and my family friend haha, but I was all good after awhile.

So yeah.. that was pretty much my entire experience with eyelid surgery. It's been almost 2 months now and the swelling has gone down considerably. There is still some swelling, and scarring in my inner corners but hopefully that will disappear in the coming months. I've started using Bio-oil on my inner corner scars; hopefully it'll work! But yeah.. even though it was quite a scary experience for me, I have no regrets. A lot of people didn't seem to understand when I told them I was getting it, including my parents (but they have come around now) but it's really just a self-confidence thing. I feel more confident about myself now, and it feels so good not having to use eyelid tape anymore! And it's been fun experimenting with make-up too. So yeah, I would definitely recommend it to other girls.. the only thing is it's important to do your research. Try and do it at a big hospital in a big city, and find a credible doctor who has lots of experience.

So here are some photos.
This is what I looked like before surgery; taken around 2 years ago (the only photo I could find with no eyelid tape and make-up!)

And this is after surgery; taken last week with light eyeshadow and eyeliner.