Blepharoplasty Recovery

Recovering from your blepharoplasty procedure

In almost every case, you will need a ride home after surgery. You way want to give the recovery nurse the cell phone number of the person driving you in case the nurses need to contact your driver.

After the blepharoplasty surgery is complete, your eyes will be lubricated with an ointment. Bandages may or may not be applied to the wounds, depending on whether or not they're needed.

Once the anesthesia wears off, you may feel a tightness around your eyelids and they may feel sore.  The tightness and soreness is not unusual, but if you feel severe pain, call your plastic surgeon immediately.

You will be given a prescription for pain medication. You should get the prescription filled prior to surgery, since you won't be running out to the pharmacy afterwards. The pain medication should be sufficient to control any discomfort you might have. Be sure you read the warnings on your pain medication so that you know what to avoid and what symptoms constitute an allergic reaction to the pain medication. If you have an allergic reaction to your pain medication, your plastic surgeon can prescribe something different.

Standard blepharoplasty post-operative instructions

You will probably receive a list of instructions to follow after your surgery. Read the list and ask about any instructions you don't understand. The list below is a general one meant for illustrative purposes. It is not meant to be a substitute for the one you receive from your plastic surgeon.  As always, advice from your plastic surgeon trumps our information.

• Keep your head elevated - You will likely be advised to keep your head elevated for several days after surgery. You may be instructed to prop your head up higher than normal while you sleep.
• Cold compresses - Your plastic surgeon may recommend that you use cold compresses or cold packs to help reduce swelling.
• Keeping your eyes clean - You will be given instructions on how to clean your eyes to remove the crusty, gummy build-up without hurting your stitches.
• Eyedrops - Many patients are given wetting drops to help keep the eyes moist. As your eyelids heal, they will probably feel dry and somewhat itchy.
• Blurriness, excessive tears & sensitivity to light - Temporary changes to your vision are not unusual, nor should you be alarmed if you seem to be tearing up more than normal.

Most people find that the bruising around their eyes reaches its peak during the first week after surgery. If you are normally prone to excessive bruising, you may find that your bruises linger for month or so. If you are less of a bruiser, you can expect the bruises to be greatly diminished within about two weeks.

Follow up visits with your plastic surgeon

Your plastic surgeon will closely monitor your progress in the days following surgery.  You will probably have one or more follow up appointments at your plastic surgeon's office so that he or she can assess your progress.  At one of the appointments, your sutures will be removed.  Once the stitches are out, you should notice some pretty fast improvement. As an added bonus, you'll feel better without the stitches, too.

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