lower blepharoplasty with dr. emir dogan
I'm currently on day 7 post op from a lower blepharoplasty (transconjunctival) with Dr. Emir Dogan. I wanted to detail my whole experience and include any tips I can think of since reading these helped me so much while I was still deciding. I'm not keen on posting pictures but I would say I put everything in the descriptions.
Overall I'm happy with my lower bleph, I'm still healing but I think it will settle well. I had bags and they are mostly flat now. The experience itself was smooth and I felt well taken care of the whole time. I would definitely recommend Dr. Dogan if you're down to travel.
Decision:
So if you've researched you already know, but I was initially drawn to Dr. Dogan because of the price. A transconjunctival lower blepharoplasty is 1800 euros (~$2100 USD) and it includes lodging for 5 nights and all transportation to and from the airport/surgery. I'm from Los Angeles and airfare around this time (early May) cost me around $1100. I know there are some slightly cheaper options in Korea and possibly Japan, but the ease of having everything set up already by the clinic for the cost was a huge factor for me. I was able to get in touch with Ercu (the coordinator/driver) on whatsapp through the person in this post:
I sent him some photos of my eyes in different lighting and confirmed a time to fly out. He needs at least 1 month notice so just be aware. Also you don't pay for the surgery until the day of. I took a week and a half off of work to give myself some time to heal and recover from jetlag.
Things I bought in prep:
- 2 ice eye masks to swap out when icing - The room only has a tiny fridge but the downstairs kitchen has a freezer that they can store them in. During the day you can walk downstairs to swap them out, and during the night the front desk is 24 hours and the attendant will come to you to swap them out. Dr. Dogan gives you a little ice mask afterwards too, but it didn't feel the sturdiest and mine busted open on day 2 so I wouldn't recommend relying on it.
- Active skin repair spray - helps keep the area clean/prep it for other products.
- Arnica cream - be super careful putting it around your eye, you should NOT get it in your eye so do this at your own risk. I used a q-tip to help apply it. You'll also be putting what they give you on your eye so just be aware.
- Bromelain pills - they sell them at the pharmacy across the street.
- An international credit/debit card - this is a no-brainer but I'm just leaving it here for good measure. I applied for a capital one venture credit card (the free one) a month in advance and it got me through virtually everything except 1 ceramics shop when I was out. The bus only accepts tap cards too (I think) unless you get an actual bus pass.
Day before:
Ercu picked me up from the airport and we chatted in the car. I was pretty tired but as everyone mentions, he's personable and easy to talk to. After checking into the hotel I went and bought some water for the room from the convenient store next door and went out walking before it got dark. The beach nearby is pretty and there are cats everywhere which I thought was lovely. I got some food at the pizza place a few doors down and it was good though a bit on the pricey side.
Surgery day:
Ercu instructed me to eat a light breakfast beforehand and picked me up in the late morning to go to the clinic. I don't eat meat so I actually thought the buffet was pretty good lol. An older couple who had also gotten blephs rode with me in the van for their post op check and it felt nice to talk a little to other people who had just gone through the operation. My experience once I was in the office is super similar to the post I linked to above. I had an exam, signed waivers and paid for the surgery and then they gave me 2 pills of diazepam for anxiety. Tbh I was so nervous I kind of still felt anxious through the drugs. They brought me upstairs and gave me a shot on my buttcheek and then I don't remember anything so possibly I passed out. I woke up close to the end of my surgery. I felt tugging on my right eye and I remember it hurting but not too unbearably. I was really out of it and was browning out until I got back to the hotel. I passed out until night and only woke up to eat a bit before passing out again.
*Helpful tip- Before leaving the breakfast buffet that morning I gathered a small plate of food and a fork and brought it up to my room to put in the fridge for nighttime. The fridge is super tiny and only the small plate will fit in it but it came in clutch at night.
Next day:
I spent most of the day icing my eyes on the hour after waking up. You are kind of tied to the room/bed this day, but honestly I was so tired and jetlagged and didn't really mind. I did skip 1 hour of icing in the late afternoon to take a little walk to the beach. I treated myself to a slice of cheesecake at a place called Cafe Mug nearby because it looked really cute and it was so good. I looked insane with my bruising and tape so I just wore sunglasses all day. The bruising on my left eye was much worse than on my right which wasn't bad at all.
After that/traveling around Antalya:
This was my first time in Turkey and I knew next to nothing about the culture. It's totally up to you whether or not to go out or stay in and rest, but the city is so beautiful and if you live across the world I feel like it's well worth it to go wandering at least bit. After 48 hours I felt up to it and I was so curious. Ercu had mentioned that people go out through the city after a bit, so I felt a bit emboldened to go explore. I think it's important to listen to your body and take breaks when you can though, it would not be great to rip your suture. Some tips:
- Get a bit of cash from the atm. If you dine out you will need to have cash on hand for tipping the staff.
- You can call taxis from Uber and they're super cheap compared to the US (~$5-12 to cross town)
- The bus is dirt cheap too and good for shorter rides
- The old town is beautiful and worth visiting. Since I still had to ice my eyes a few times during the day I got a cup of ice from the place I got food and wrapped then ice in some napkins and quietly iced my eyes in a corner a couple times so I could stay out. It felt kind of weird tbh but no one really cares and you will never see them again, gurl it doesn't matter.
- The lower duden waterfall/park is beautiful and 24 hours. I wanted to catch the upper waterfall but it closes early (5:30pm) and is an hour away by bus.
- Right outside old town there's a place called Gaziantep Seckin Baklava. The baklava is so so good and super affordable compared to pricey shops in the old town. I filled up a small box to take home and it was literally $10.
- Everything cosmetic is generally cheaper. A womens' haircut is $20 which is insane if you're from a big city. I got a keratin treatment and a haircut for less than $100 including tip which wasn't bad. If I had put a bit more forethought into it I would have done subcision or tca cross for acne scars instead since they are SO much cheaper
Outcome/current:
My right eye had virtually no bruising by the time the tape came off (day 3) except a slight yellow patch. So far it looks completely flat and I'm really happy with it. The left eye had a red line where the bag was and some bruising which is almost completely faded now. I had a bigger bag on the left, and it looks like he took a bit more out so it's slightly more depressed than the other side, but not too much. I'm curious to know what it will look like in a month.
My 1 qualm is that when I woke up from surgery my upper left eyelid had a dark purple bruise that has barely budged in the past week. It doesn't hurt but it's way darker/more noticeable than the bruising around where my bags were. I gave myself 10 days to heal before going back to work and I'm worried it will still kind of look like I got punched in just a specific part of my eye.
So far everything is pretty decent though and I'm excited to see how it all turns out : )