Surgery · Eye Rejuvenation

Upper Blepharoplasty

For a lid that has come down, and taken the fold with it

Gangnam, Seoul | Board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Jonghwan Choi
Skin, slack muscle and fat, through the fold's own line · KHIDI-registered for international patients

Upper Blepharoplasty Upper Blepharoplasty Upper Blepharoplasty Upper Blepharoplasty 
Define

Upper blepharoplasty

What does upper blepharoplasty remove, and what does it leave alone?

The operation, described plainly

Rewind's upper-lid operation starts by marking the creases of a lid that has already dropped. The incision follows the line of that fold; through it the surgeon removes the stretched lid skin and the fat sitting above the eye, then takes out the slack muscle as well, secures the septum firmly and closes. The aim the clinic states is a lid that no longer buries its own crease line and an eye that stops looking weighed down.

Every figure and step on this page comes from Rewind's Korean surgical page for the upper lid and from the clinic's post-operative sheet for incisional upper-lid surgery. The anaesthetic and the time in theatre are absent from both, so neither is stated here.

The distinguishing detail is where the line goes. Because the incision is placed inside the lid's existing fold, the scar has somewhere to disappear once the crease settles, and the operation can address three tissues at one pass. Skin alone would be the smaller operation; this one takes muscle and fat with it, and the clinic's stated reason for going past the skin is that slack muscle is part of what makes the lid heavy.

It is an operation for a lid that has changed, and the clinic files it accordingly: in its middle-age eye group, beside the lower lid. The question it answers is what has descended. The question a crease operation answers is where a fold should sit. Those are different problems with different candidates, and this page keeps them apart.

Dr. Jonghwan Choi operating with loupes and headlight at Rewind Plastic Surgery
Fig. 01 — Loupes and headlight; upper-lid work is measured in millimetres
Result

Before & After

Which upper-lid cases will fill these frames, and why they are still pending

The clinic holds upper-lid cases photographed in its own studio conditions, several of them operated together with under-eye work in a single session. None has been curated and cleared for this page yet, and a combined case published without naming both procedures would tell you the wrong thing about what changed. The four slots below therefore stay marked as pending, with the captions they will carry when the clinic releases them.

Rewind patients — upper lid and brow-to-lash distance

BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — awaiting release
Upper blepharoplasty, both lids
Individual results may vary. Clinic photographs of this operation are awaited.
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — awaiting release
Upper blepharoplasty with under-eye work, one session
Individual results may vary. Clinic photographs of this operation are awaited.
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — awaiting release
Lash line freed, lid margin uncovered
Individual results may vary. Clinic photographs of this operation are awaited.
BEFORE PHOTO
AFTER PHOTO
BEFOREAFTER
case — awaiting release
Healed incision, sitting inside the fold
Individual results may vary. Clinic photographs of this operation are awaited.

Rewind publishes only its own patients, with consent, unretouched and uncropped. Individual results may vary, and a case here would not predict yours. Bleeding, infection, swelling, a difference between the two lids, altered sensation and scarring are possible after any eyelid operation. An examination with the surgeon precedes every decision.

Tissue

What comes out

Which tissues does upper eyelid surgery take away, and what is fixed in place?

Rewind's description of this operation names four things, and reading them apart explains most of what patients find surprising afterwards: why the fold can look different, why the lid feels lighter, and why the result is expected to hold for years instead of months.

tissue 01
Stretched lid skin
The skin that has lengthened over the eye is excised along the marked fold. This is the part patients can see in the mirror, and it is the reason the distance between lash line and brow stops reading as empty space afterwards.
tissue 02
Muscle that has thickened
Rewind describes removing the slack muscle as well as the skin. The clinic's stated reason for addressing muscle is that a lid loaded with it stays heavy even after skin is taken, so taking only the surface would leave part of the weight behind.
tissue 03
Fat above the eye
Fat in the upper lid is removed at the same pass, through the same line. How much comes out is a judgement made in theatre, since an upper lid emptied too enthusiastically reads as hollow and aged in its own way.
step 04
The septum, secured
Rewind's third published step fixes the septum firmly before suturing. That fixation is what separates this operation from a simple skin excision, and it is the part of the technique the clinic chooses to publish.

Beside double eyelid surgery. A crease operation decides where a fold should sit and suits a lid with its elasticity intact; this one removes tissue that has descended and uses the existing fold as the route. Rewind lists them as separate operations with separate rates and separate candidacy lists. If a fold is genuinely wanted as well, double eyelid surgery is planned and quoted as its own item.

Beside a sub-brow lift. The sub-brow operation takes a strip of skin immediately under the brow and fixes it to the periosteum, leaving the existing crease line untouched; this operation works through the crease line itself. The trade is where the scar lives and what happens to the fold, and Rewind offers both, each recorded at more than five years of durability with individual variation. The sub-brow lift page carries that scar discussion in full.

Steps

In sequence

How is an upper eyelid operation performed at Rewind, step by step?

Rewind publishes three surgical steps for the upper lid. Set beside its own post-operative sheet they describe an operation with a strict order: mark what has fallen, open along the fold it made, clear three tissues, fix the septum, then close into a line that will hide.

01Mark

The creases of the dropped lid are read and designed

Before anything is opened, the wrinkles and folds the descent has created are identified and the line is designed on them. The design is taken from the lid you arrived with, so two patients with the same complaint leave with different amounts of skin removed.

02Open

The incision follows the crease line of that fold

Rewind incises along the fold's own line, which is the decision that gives the scar a hiding place. Working through it, the surgeon removes the lid skin that has stretched and the fat above the eye in the same pass.

03Clear

The slack muscle is taken out as well

The clinic's published step goes past skin and fat to the muscle that has slackened. This is where an upper-lid operation stops resembling a trim, and it is also why the lid feels lighter to patients who expected only a cosmetic change.

04Secure

The septum is fixed firmly, then the lid is sutured

Rewind's third step fixes the septum securely before closure. Fixation is what holds the corrected architecture while healing happens around it, and the clinic records the result as usually holding for more than five years, depending on individual tissue elasticity and on how much was done.

05Settle

Sutures out at about five to seven days, then the line softens

The clinic records suture removal at roughly five to seven days. Because the line sits inside the crease, Rewind describes it as becoming naturally concealed as the fold settles into place, with the pace of that varying between individuals.

Surgery underway in the operating room at Rewind Plastic Surgery
Fig. 02 — One operator, from the marking to the closure
Rewind

Why here

Why a heavy upper lid deserves a diagnosis before it gets an operation

Three separate problems produce the same sentence at the consultation desk: my eyes look tired. Descended lid skin, a brow that has dropped and a weak lift each have their own operation at this clinic, their own scar and their own price. The examination exists to say which one you have, and how much of the complaint it will actually answer.

01Diagnosis

Skin, brow and lift are told apart at the chair

The surgeon looks at the distance from lash line to brow, at how much of the iris each lid uncovers and at what the forehead is doing. Where two causes coexist he says which is dominant and what a single operation will leave untouched, before a date is discussed.

02Route

The fold is used as the road in, and as the place the scar hides

Rewind's line runs inside the crease, and the clinic states it becomes naturally concealed as that crease settles. A concealed scar is still a scar and still needs sun protection: the claim is about where the line sits, and never about whether there is one.

03One operator

The person who designed the line closes it

One board-certified plastic surgeon marks, operates and holds the follow-ups, so nobody inherits somebody else's design mid-operation. International patients are supported in their own language, and the clinic holds KHIDI registration as an institution for foreign patients.

Dr. Jonghwan Choi assessing a patient at consultation
Fig. 03 — What has descended is decided by hand, at the chair
Theatre

In the operating room

Where the upper lid is operated on, and who is in the room

Operating room at Rewind Plastic Surgery, Apgujeong

Fig. 04 — The theatre, set up for eyelid surgery

Consultation room at Rewind Plastic Surgery

Fig. 05 — The room where the lid is marked and the plan is agreed

Rewind occupies the fourth and fifth floors of the Richro Building in Apgujeong, Gangnam. The medical director holds the consultation, performs the operation and sees you at every review afterwards; surgical consultations are booked Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday until 19:00 and Saturday until 16:00, by appointment only. Two numbers you will not find below are the anaesthetic and the operating time, because the clinic publishes neither for this operation and this page does not fill gaps with guesses.

Incision placed in the line of the lid's own fold
Stretched lid skin and upper-lid fat removed
Slack muscle removed in the same pass
Septum secured firmly before suturing
Sutures removed at about five to seven days
Operated by Dr. Jonghwan Choi
Dr. Jonghwan Choi, board-certified plastic surgeon

Board-certified plastic surgeon

Korean specialist certification in Plastic Surgery, ten peer-reviewed publications, and every operation in this clinic performed by him. The clinic is registered with KHIDI to receive international patients under Reg. M-2025-01-08-09288.

Cost

Pricing

What does upper eyelid surgery cost in Seoul, and what sits beside it on the list?

Rewind prices the upper lid as one operation, and prices the neighbouring answers to a heavy eye separately. The three lines under it exist so that a comparison is possible with the clinic's own figures in front of you, since the operation that suits your finding is not always the one you arrived intending to book.

Upper blepharoplastyDescended skin, slack muscle and upper-lid fat, through the fold's own line
₩3,900,000
Sub-brow lift — the alternative routeSkin taken under the brow and fixed to the periosteum; listed here for comparison, with its own page
₩2,900,000
Full-incision double eyelid — a different intentionWhere the request is a fold on a lid that has not descended
₩2,900,000
Lower blepharoplastyThe lid below, frequently discussed in the same consultation and operated in the same session
₩3,900,000

Listed rates, VAT excluded; the anaesthetic fee is already inside each figure. Correction of eye opening, where the examination finds a weak lift, is a separately listed addition and is quoted as its own line. Nothing is combined into a single number at this clinic without being itemised for you first.

Fit

Suitability

Who does Rewind list for upper eyelid surgery?

On the clinic's own list

  • A lid that has dropped far enough to block the field of view
  • Pronounced skin sagging around the eye area
  • A long distance between the lash line and the brow, so the lid space reads as empty
  • Lashes pushed down onto the eye by the overhanging lid
  • Skin chafing where lid skin folds onto lid skin
  • A crease line that has been buried by the skin above it

What sends the plan somewhere else

  • A lid with its elasticity intact, where the wish is a fold: that is crease surgery, listed and priced on its own
  • A brow that has descended and is now sitting on the lid, where the sub-brow and forehead operations are discussed first
  • An eye that opens weakly from the muscle, where correction of eye opening is a separate listed addition
  • Eyes already dry or easily irritated, which are raised before any skin is planned for removal
  • Bleeding, clotting or wound-healing conditions, and any medication affecting them
  • Pregnancy, breastfeeding, or inflammation and infection around the eye at the time
After

Recovery

What does recovery after upper eyelid surgery ask of you?

Rewind publishes both a timeline and a restriction list for this operation, and the restrictions run a good deal longer than the visible recovery does. The clinic records durability of more than five years, with individual tissue elasticity and the extent of surgery as the stated conditions on that figure.

Five to seven days
Sutures come out
Rewind puts suture removal at about five to seven days. Until then the clinic's sheet asks for the area to be kept clean against infection, with no rubbing and no forced eye movements.
One to two weeks
Bruising and swelling settle
Bruising and swelling usually stabilise within one to two weeks, with individual variation. The fold often sits higher and fuller through this window than it will once the tissue relaxes into place.
About one month
Nothing that pulls
For roughly a month the clinic asks you to avoid anything that pulls hard on the operated area. Alcohol, smoking and saunas belong in the same period, since all of them slow the healing the line depends on.
Then
Sun, and a line that softens
Sunscreen is asked for against pigmentation settling into a healing line. Rewind describes the scar as becoming naturally concealed as the crease settles, and how quickly that happens differs from person to person.

Any eyelid operation can involve bleeding, infection, swelling, a difference in height or shape between the two lids, altered sensation, dryness or irritation while the lid closes less completely, and scarring along the incision. Removing too much skin is corrected far less easily than removing too little, which is the reason the amount is decided in theatre on the lid in front of the surgeon. Tell him about every previous eye operation, about dry-eye treatment and about any medication you take before a date is agreed.

Doctor

Professional

At Rewind, one board-certified plastic surgeon carries every case — from the first consultation to the final follow-up. Because a face is a story, and a story deserves a single author.

Dr. Jonghwan Choi, board-certified plastic surgeonRewind,
Dr. Jonghwan Choi presenting at an academic session
Fig. 06 — Academic presentation, thread-lifting session

Rewind's Doctor

Dr. Jonghwan Choi Medical Director

One surgeon, from the first
consultation to the last follow-up.

A board-certified plastic surgeon devoted to anti-aging lifting — with the precision and restraint built through years of craniofacial practice.

Board-certified plastic surgeon (Plastic Surgery)
10 peer-reviewed publications
Medical Director, Rewind Plastic Surgery
Korean Society of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeons
Former chief director, Apgujeong Y&T Plastic Surgery
Korean Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
J Craniofac Surg · JKMS · Arch Craniofac Surg
Korean Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association
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Ask

Questions

Upper eyelid surgery in Seoul — the questions that come first

What is actually removed in an upper blepharoplasty?
Three tissues, through one line. Rewind removes the lid skin that has stretched and the fat above the eye, then takes out the slack muscle as well, secures the septum firmly and sutures. The incision follows the crease line of the fold the descent created.
Is this the same thing as double eyelid surgery?
No. A crease operation decides where a fold sits, usually on a lid that has not descended. This operation removes tissue that has come down and uses the existing fold as its route. Rewind lists them separately, with separate rates and separate candidacy lists.
How does it differ from a sub-brow lift?
By where the skin is taken from. The sub-brow operation removes a strip just under the brow and fixes it to the periosteum, leaving the crease line untouched. This operation works through the crease line itself. Both are listed at Rewind, and the choice turns on where you would rather carry the scar.
Where does the scar go, and how visible is it afterwards?
Inside the line of the fold. Rewind states that because the incision sits within the crease, it becomes naturally concealed as the crease settles. It remains a surgical scar: sunscreen and scar care are part of the clinic's own instructions, and healing speed differs between people.
How long does the result hold?
Rewind records more than five years for this operation, and attaches two conditions to that figure: individual tissue elasticity and how extensive the surgery was. Ageing continues afterwards, so the number describes the working life of the correction and not a pause on time.
When do the sutures come out?
At about five to seven days, on the clinic's own figure. Until then the post-operative sheet asks for the area to be kept clean, with no rubbing and no forced eye movements, since infection prevention is the priority in that first stretch.
What does securing the septum mean?
It is Rewind's third published step: after the skin, fat and slack muscle are removed, the septum is fixed firmly before the lid is sutured. That fixation is the part of the technique the clinic publishes, and it is what distinguishes the operation from a straightforward skin excision.
My lashes are touching my eye. Will this operation help?
Lashes pushed down onto the eye by an overhanging lid are on Rewind's own candidacy list for this operation, together with skin that chafes where lid folds onto lid. Whether the lash position is caused by the overhang or by the lid margin itself is settled at the examination.
Will my forehead stop working so hard?
That is the clinic's stated expectation once the lid no longer needs help to stay up, and many patients notice it first as less strain by the evening. It is not offered here as a treatment for forehead lines, and a brow that has itself descended is a separate finding with a separate operation.
Do I need eye-opening correction as well?
Only if the examination finds that the muscle lifting the lid is weak, which is a different finding from descended skin. Rewind lists that correction as a separately priced addition, so it appears as its own line in the quotation and is explained before anything is agreed.
What are the restrictions in the first month?
Nothing that pulls hard on the operated area for roughly a month, and alcohol, smoking and saunas kept out of the same window. Sunscreen is asked for while the line heals, and the eye is not rubbed while the tissue is still settling.
Why does this page give no operating time or anaesthetic?
Because Rewind publishes neither for this operation. Both are confirmed by the surgeon once the scope is agreed at the examination, and this page would sooner leave a blank than print a figure the clinic has never stated.
Booking

Reservation

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Scientific evidence

Published research on upper eyelid surgery, the sub-brow route and eyelid complications

These papers cover upper-lid surgery as a class: what the outcome literature measures, why an unrecognised weak lift changes the plan for a cosmetic upper-lid operation, and what the sub-brow route reports in Asian patients, including cases where hooding and a hollow lid are corrected together. The complication paper is listed because prevention is the part of eyelid surgery worth reading before booking. None of these studies concerns this clinic, and none predicts an individual outcome.