Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 11/24/2009
Your surgeon may or may not place sterile bandages and/or light patches over your eyes after the surgery. The covering itself is not the most important issue but rather that the eyes themselves stay moist and free of dust and debris. For the...
first ten days after surgery, you will need to keep the entire area clean. Occasionally doctors prescribe an antibiotic ointment to be placed on the surgical site. Since the major function of eyelids is to protect the eye, when they are healing, certain steps need to be taken to keep the eye safe. Proper moistness/hydration can usually be achieved through the use of ointment and jelly. If the eye is at risk of drying overnight, the eyelid may be taped closed at night or a moisture chamber may be used along with copious amounts of moisturizing ointment. Often eye drops will be prescribed or recommended.
first ten days after surgery, you will need to keep the entire area clean. Occasionally doctors prescribe an antibiotic ointment to be placed on the surgical site. Since the major function of eyelids is to protect the eye, when they are healing, certain steps need to be taken to keep the eye safe. Proper moistness/hydration can usually be achieved through the use of ointment and jelly. If the eye is at risk of drying overnight, the eyelid may be taped closed at night or a moisture chamber may be used along with copious amounts of moisturizing ointment. Often eye drops will be prescribed or recommended.
Expect a good deal of swelling and bruising after the procedure. The area has many, many small blood vessels that get disrupted during the procedure. This leads to blood pooling under the skin and the formation of bruises. Cold compresses are usually recommended to control the swelling. If you had self-absorbing stitches they will go away on their own otherwise you will need to return to the surgeon’s office to have the sutures removed about five days after the surgery.
Your physician may restrict certain activities that result in rapid changes in blood pressure such as heavy lifting, swimming, strenuous activities and extreme or abrupt head movements. These restrictions may be in place for up to ten days after the procedure. Many surgeons recommend that the head remain elevated even when sleeping.
Regardless of suture type, you should have a least one follow-up appointment so that the surgeon can inspect the area and determine if the surgery achieved the desired result. It is also a time in which the doctor will ask about and determine whether any complications of the surgery occurred.
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A graphic animation of what causes fat and sagging eyelids. The video describes what takes place during eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty).
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Blepharoplasty can be both a functional and cosmetic surgical procedure intended to reshape the upper eyelid or lower eyelid by the removal or repositioning of excess tissue as well as by reinforcement of surrounding muscles and tendons. When an advanced amount of upper eyelid skin is present, the skin may hang over the eyelashes and cause a loss of peripheral vision. The outer and upper parts of the visual field are most commonly affected and the condition may cause difficulty with activities such as driving or reading. In this circumstance, upper eyelid blepharoplasty is performed to improve peripheral vision. Patients with a less severe amount of excess skin may have a similar procedure performed for cosmetic reasons. Lower eyelid blepharoplasty is almost always done for cosmetic reasons, to improve puffy lower eyelid "bags" and reduce the wrinkling of skin.
Blepharoplasty is performed through external incisions made along the natural skin lines of the eyelids, such as the creases of the upper lids and below the lashes of the lower lids, or from the inside surface of the lower eyelid. Initial swelling and bruising take one to two weeks to resolve but at least several months are needed until the final result becomes stable. Depending upon the scope of the procedure, the operation takes one to three hours to complete.
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