Asymmetric eyelid crease after upper eyelid surgery.
Do I need a revision?
Hello I had an upper eyelid bleph done 8 wk ago & the creases looks very different from
each other - like 2 different surgeons did each diff eyelid.
The loose skin hanging over my left inner eyelid looks dreadful.
Please advise if the extra skin can be removed as a touch up in 3 months or would I need
a complete revision to match it with the other eye?
I also had a lower eyelid fat removal at the same time.
The left eye looks very swollen like there are fat still left.
I am in despair.
Please Help!!!!
Thank you
Thank you for your question!
In your question, you stated you had eyelid surgery on the upper and lower eyelids 8 weeks
ago and that you have been analyzing how the creases look, that there's redundant skin
over the left inner canthus and you feel that there's some puffiness in the left eye as
well.
And you mentioned that it looks like two different surgeons did the surgery.
So I think that one part of your preoperative discussion and as well as probably your initial
post operative discussion should cover the maturation of surgery.
You see, for the type of surgery you had and this is for any eyelid surgery, I always tell
my patients that there is a really an initial impression that we can conclude that overall
the surgery was successful.
That means that the incision lines look like they're healing will, that naturally there's
going to be swelling but true surgical healing can take 6 months to a year.
Now, I follow my patients pretty closely so we try to keep that dialogue going and my
door's always open.
I think that you may be projecting too quickly about what your final result will be.
It is natural for there to be variability in swelling between the two eyes.
It is not unusual to have an appearance of asymmetry during the early phases of healing.
At two months is not that long after surgery.
I always distinguish to my patients that there is functional recovery which is basically
after one week, even after most of our eyelids and face lifting surgery, we can get people
back to work.
A little bit of make-up but swelling and healing will take 6 months to a year.
I think that it is important that you maintain some faith in your doctor and contact your
doctor, communicate with your doctor about your concerns.
I've been a practicing surgeon for 20 years and I can tell you that any doctor who's been
doing this type of work for any length of time has experienced and will probably be
able to tell you based on you physical examination.
A photo is good but it is not enough in comparison to doing a physical examination of a 3-dimensional
appearance.
So continue meeting with your doctor on regular visits and certainly, I suspect that your
doctor will be more than willing to do any type of enhancement if necessary.
Every cosmetic surgeon is generally comfortable and understands very well that the human body
is elastic and there is some stretch and variability in healing and enhancements may be necessary.
But I think it's too early at the two month point to draw such a conclusion such as you
have drawn right now.
I think that you just need to communicate with your doctor and hopefully, as time goes
on, your appearance will improve and you will have a result that you'll be satisfied with.
So I wish you the best of luck, I hope that was helpful and thank you for your question!