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Eyelid Surgery (Blepharoplasty)
SWELLING AND DISCOLORATION
As you were told before surgery, a varying amount of temporary swelling and discoloration follows this procedure, so try not to become anxious � it will pass. We try to keep these symptoms to a minimum by prescribing medications to be taken before your surgery and by using meticulous surgical techniques.
Eye Pain or visual changes need to be address by calling our office immediately:
It is common to have slightly blurry vision for the first 1-2 days
AFTER YOUR OPERATION:
You can help normal healing to occur several ways:
- 1. Sleep with your head elevated 30 to 40 degrees for one week; use an additional pillow or two under your mattress, if necessary.
- 2. Apply ice compresses made of face towels (not an ice bag) to your eyes. Change every fifteen minutes, so they remain cold, every two hours during the first three days after surgery.
- 3. STAY UP (sitting, standing, walking around) as much as possible after you return home �this is important! Of course, you should rest when you tire.
- 4. Avoid bending over or lifting heavy things for one week. In addition to aggravating swelling, this may raise the blood pressure and start bleeding.
- 5. Avoid straining at stool, which also raises the blood pressure. Stay hydrated and eat foods that keep you regular
- 6. Don�t tweeze your eyebrows for two weeks.
- 7. Tub bathing or showering can be resumed the day after surgery; do not use excessively hot water. The face may be gently cleansed with warm water avoid soap for the first few days.
- 8. Avoid the use of hairdryers for the first week.
- 9. Do not resume exercising, running, aerobics, or nautilus for 4-6 weeks after surgery.
- 10. Do not apply hair coloring until two weeks have elapsed following your operation.
- 11. You may begin wearing eyeglasses or sunglasses the day following surgery. Contact lenses may be worn one week after surgery.
- 12. Eye shadow or false eyelashes should not be applied until two weeks after surgery.
- 13. Do not apply makeup until seen at your first postoperative visit. Our Aesthetician will speak with you regarding camouflage makeup application at your first postoperative visit.
- 14. You should probably not plan to return to work until four or five days, or perhaps a week, after your surgery.
- 15. Swelling and discoloration can take 2-3 months to improve. Your final result is not achieved until one year after surgery.
- 16. Avoid sun exposure at all costs for one year after surgery as the scar could darken and remain discolored. Wearing sunglasses and sunscreen are imperative.
- 17. All scars go through a period of slight swelling and, perhaps, reddening usually around six weeks after surgery; later, this subsides, and they become virtually imperceptible. This is the way a normal scar matures. Thus, any unevenness of the edges of the incisions or lumpiness of the scar is usually temporary and will subside with the passage of time.
- 18. Occasionally small cysts, which resemble ordinary �whiteheads�, will appear beside the upper lid incisions; like whiteheads, they will disappear after their contents are expressed in the office. They may also occur in the lower lids, but less frequently than in the uppers.
- 19. Patients often experience some blurring of vision for two or three days after the operation. This is generally due to swelling and/or ointments that have been used during the operation and will clear spontaneously.
- 20. Leave steri-strips (Butterfly sutures, thin tape) on upper eyelid in place until postoperative visit. If they fall off on their own it is ok, leave them off.
