A Chinese woman suffered vision problems and subsequent depression following a botched double eyelid surgery in which her eyeball was accidentally sewn to the corner of her eye.

In 2021, Ms. Zhang, a woman from Weifang, in China’s Shandong Province, underwent a double eyelid surgery at the Weifang Kuiwen Lirendu Medical Beauty Clinic to correct an unevenness of the corners of her eyes. The woman claims that she felt discomfort during the actual surgery but pushed through it only to discover that her left eyeball and the corner of that eye had been stitched together. At first, the doctor who operated on her told her that everything was fine, but then Zhang started experiencing blurry vision and limited eye movement, and despite attempts to correct the damage, she is still struggling with physical and mental issues more than two years after the procedure.

“In November 2021, I underwent double eyelid surgery because the outer corners of my eyes were uneven. The doctor said he would make some adjustments, but when he was stitching, I felt discomfort in my eyeball,” Zhang recently told Sohu Video. “After the stitches were removed, I noticed a threadlike connection between my eyeball and the corner. The surgeon, hospital director Wang, assured me it was nothing serious and offered me another operation to separate them.”

Unfortunately, the follow-up operation was unsuccessful. Zhang’s left eye became inflamed, and a week after the procedure, her eyeball and the corner of her eye once again became fused together. Vision in her left eye has been blurred ever since and she can only move her eyes sideways by moving her head. She now hopes to get corrective surgery at a hospital in Shanghai, but lacks the necessary money. The situation has allegedly caused her to fall into a depression.

Zhang claims she paid the beauty clinic 30,000 yuan ($4,200) for the surgery, which she asked to be repaid following the botched procedure. However, the doctor who operated on her refused, offering her only $10,000, and reassuring her that her problem was minor and could be fixed locally with another surgery. The woman claims she came forward with her story so that others don’t make the same mistake.

“I asked for 30,000 yuan back, but he said that was too much. He only offered 10,000 yuan, which wouldn’t even cover my travel expenses to Shanghai. Also, he kept delaying the payment, and now it has been two years,” Zhang said.

 

Double eyelid surgery is a very popular cosmetic procedure in China, but one that can have disastrous consequences when performed incorrectly. Five years ago, we wrote about another Chinese woman who was left unable to fully close her eyes after a botched double eyelid surgery.