One Month Mark

A lot has happened since I last posted.  My daughter got married and my brother died. In addition, I started back to school. That being said, I am a little late in posting the lastest picture.  I am now at the one-month-mark of the day of having had surgery.  The total healing process is supposed to take 4 months, so I will actually be my best on New Year's Eve.  What a way to start the new year!

 

 

One Month Mark

 

My eyes, just prior to the surgery one month ago!



I don't even look like the same person!  It would probably take one of those eye recognition things to even verify that I have the same eyes.  People keep saying to me, "Wow, you've lost a lot of weight!"  I smile and think, "Yep, I have---all around the eyes!"

I have to go get glasses in a couple of weeks.  My eyes are aging and I have reached that point.  I think I am going to go for some contact lenses.  I don't want to cover up all that work!

Compare my eyes to before surgery, 3 weeks ago

 

This picture was taken 3 weeks after the surgery

 

 This picture was taken just prior to the surgery

 

 

Wow! That is quite a difference--if I do say so myself!

It has been three weeks!

I started back to school this week so my time has become more limited to do the blog. It also has retricted the amount of ice packs and heat I can apply. I still try to do it once or twice a day because my eyes still get swollen a little.  However, the improvement has been dramatic in three weeks--and even dramatic in the last four days.  You can see that the bruising is gone except for an almost unnoticable blotch under one eye.  My eyes look "brighter" compared to 4 days ago.  I have continued to apply vitamin E, and the wrinkles are still minimal.

I have noticed that when I am out in the sunlight, I squint more because more light is coming in. I didn't wear sunglasses before, but I kind of like them now. I think the squinting was contributing to the wrinkling. 

By the end of the day, my eyes are still pretty tired and I look forward to icing them.
 

 

Today

Four days ago

3 weeks ago

 

I will be going back to the doctor next week and I will try to get the picture of my eyes prior to the surgery.  It would be a nice comparison!

Two Plus Four - Two Weeks plus four days

I went to see Dr. Kennedy yesterday afternoon. He took me right in the same day I called.  The eye twitching is normal while the muscles are trying to communicate during the healing process. The occasional stinging pain is also normal. I didn't have any infection and the stitches were mostly healed.

Dr. Kennedy suggested that I break open a vitamin E capsule and put a little of the oil on the places where the skin was still healing--which included the mass of skin where the wrinkles had suddenly appeared.  The first picture is a picture of the morning AFTER I put on the vitamin E oil.  (Who needs botox when you have vitamin E??!!)  The second picture is a comparison picture from the day before I put on the vitamin E.  There was a HUGE difference in the wrinkles.  I did get it too close to the eye when I applied the vitamine E, and because it is thick, it blurred my vision and made my eye sting.  That went away in a few hours.

Today

Yesterday

 

two plus two

It has now been two weeks plus two days. There are some interesting developments.
     1.  My eyes are twitching, especially my left eye. That is annoying.
     2.  For the first time, I have felt a tiny bit of pain, but it is only brief and it is more like a stinging
          sensation in the eyelids.
     3.  Once in a while, my left eye aches, but only  for a few seconds, and then it goes away.
     4.  The swelling has gone down, but it seems like I am going to be left with a cluster of wrinkles
          under the eye. That is annoying because I never had wrinkles before.

Perhaps all of these are normal.  Just in case they are not, I have called the doctor and asked that he return my phonecall. 

Within the stitches, there is more redness, but I think what I noticed the most today, is that  there are bumps in the area where the eye muscle was reduced under the eyelid. In the photo, you can see some of these indentations and another angle of the wrinkles under the eye.

One Week, One Day

Dr. Kennedy said the brusing would be gone in two weeks and a couple of days. Even if "coupole" means two, he is going to be pretty close in the prediction.

When I first get up in the morning, the space under the eye is very uneven in its puffiness. I can almost feel the ridges of where the muscle was cut away.  You can see what I mean by looking at the eye on the left.

Yesterday afternoon was I really freaked because as the day progressed, I seemed to be accumulating a large area of wrinkles. Prior to the surgery I had puffiness, but no wrinkles. I don't see them there this morning, so hopefully it was just that  with the reduction of puffiness, the skin was also adjusting.

Two weeks today!

The bruising is finally started to diminish.  The biggest thing that I have noticed is that my eyelashes took a beating. I normally have pretty long lashes, after the surgery, they seem to have gotten buried in the swelling.  Now that the swelling has gone done, I can tell that I will need to apply some type of eyelash stimulant to help revive them. With a little eyeliner, I can get by until I start using latisse or some other eyelash helper!

Today - two weeks since the surgery

 I didn't take a picture yesterday, so this is from two days ago. My eyes are much less swollen today, and, although still bruised, they are getting better every day.

First Day after the surgery

Camouflaged for Sunday- 11th Day

Today is Sunday and I want to go to Church.  I found that regular camouflage concealer looks pasty--like I am half way to death.  However, mineral light makeup under regular makeup does a better, more natural job of camoflaging.  Here are my "make-up" version of the eyes after I got all ready to go to Church.  It is promising.

Today, with makeup

Yesterday without makeup

I still need to relearn how to apply makeup to my "new eyes" but there is hope for looking great again.  I'm really glad I went through this painless surgery. I think the results are going to be good!

Day 11 - Tiny steps

Today

 Yesterday

The first day I returned home from surgery

There is not much difference the pictures for today and yesterday, except the red brusing is getting less, the edges are turning more yellow, and the color in the rest of my face seems to be returning.  But if I throw in the picture from the first day as a comparison, there is an enormous difference. The thing that I am noticing the most is at the eyelash line, there is still quite a bit of swelling.  

I think, until the bruising is all gone, the steps will be tiny from now on.  Dr. Kennedy said it would take two weeks and a couple of days.  I am 3 days away from it being two weeks--which, if you add the couple of days, I am really almost a full week away from having the bruising gone.  I'm glad I don't have any big plans.

I have noticed that if I use concealer on the red spots, it only tones it down. It doesn't conceal the dark, dark red bruising and the next day, the progression of the bruising going down is the same as the day before.

Day 10 - Little by Little

Although the redness is still going down, my eyes are actually more swollen today. Yesterday I spent the entire day looking for a particular shirt color for my son-in-law for my daughter's upcoming wedding. By evening, I had a headache and I knew that I had overdone.  All of the stress and overtiredness shows in the picture today. My eyelids are more swollen because I didn't stay home and ice them and put heat on them.  My eyes also do not have much spark in them because they are still tired today. Learn from me.  Take the time to take care of yourself in the process.

Today's picture

 Yesterday's comparison

Day 9

Today's eye detail - less puffy eyes.

Today's Picture comparison

Yesterday's photo

Add some makeup

Day 8 with makeup

A makeup artist tried to cover the bruises.  It didn't work very well. Obviously, you can still see them!  However, adding the makeup to the eyes, even though they are still swollen, provides some promising results.

Day 8 without makeup

Dramatic differences each day

Today marks one week and one day.  Everyone will be a little different, but for me, I awakened to a dramatic difference. 

Yesterday I iced three times and put heat on three times.  During the day, little pieces of skin started falling off.  Because my eyes are still swollen, they would fall into my eye. That was annoying because they were hard to get out.  I did normal things all day. I shopped for my daughter's wedding. I went out to eat.  I held my granddaughter of 12 pounds, and I watched a movie with my son.  I am even better today.

I am leaving in just a few minutes to go to a "make-up" appointment for someone to show me how to apply makeup until the remainder of the bruises are gone. That will be nice.  I actually can't wait to ask about mascara. Since my eyelids are still puffy, the eyelashes are pointing downward, toward the eye and they get pieces of eyelash in it. If I could just apply a little mascara to turn them back upward, I think that I would have less fall into my eye and I would, of course, not have the eyelashes themselves poking me in the eye.

Here are the comparison pictures for today

TODAY - 8TH DAY

YESTERDAY - 7TH DAY

As mentioned before, the unprofessional camera work does not show the detail of the progress. My eyes are much better today and I am seeing gigantic improvement in the color of the bruises and the puffiness of the eyes.  The picture from yesterday is a little faded. You can see that if you compare the color of the eyes in both pictures. Because I am not a photographer, you have to use your imagination to understand how much darker the skin as well as the eyes would have been yesterday. It is dramatic!





One Week!

Today at Noon marks one week from the completion of the surgery--that "moment" is actually four hours away from now. My puffy eyes and blepharoplasty surgery has definitely been a success!

Since my daughter's wedding is coming, I actually spent the entire day yesterday shopping for clothes for family members who are participating in the ceremony. It was a bad day for soaking the wounds and icing the bruises.  It didn't seem to affect how the puffy eyes and bruises from the blepharoplasty surgery continued to heal. Obviously, from the picture, the puffy eye look has been reduced and the blepharoplasty surgery is starting to take affect.

I have found in seven days that the most difficult task for the  healing process from the blepharoplasty surgery is finding the time to slow down enough to let it all heal.

That being said, I have the updated pictures for the day below:

Today's picture of reduced puffy eyes

Yesterday's picture of reduced puffy eyes

In spite of no icing and heating, my eyes are much, much better today!  The puffy eyes are going down and the blepharoplasty surgery has started to take affect!

Day six

Tomorrow will be the first week anniversary of the surgery.  Today Dr. Diepenbrock removed the stitches. It is very nice to have them out. They were quite itchy. He also cleaned around the eyes with a little rubbing alcohol which removed a lot of the goo that was a result of the decomposing bandages. 

1.   As of today, I can have a shower and can get my face wet. That will be nice.
2.  The very biggest difference the surgery has made is that it has made me feel enormously less tired. There is a name for that condition which I should have had Dr. Kennedy write down for me, but I feel like a new person.  I don't get nearly as sleepy during the day and I am still healing.
3.  Dr. Kennedy told me today that although I will feel (and look) better in a week, in four months I will see the maximum benefits from the surgery.  That was fascinating because I am already feeling the obvious differences.

Yesterday, I got on my hands and knees and wiped up my kitchen floor. That was a mistake.  I didn't feel good for most of the rest of the day. That is probably the hardest part to gauge.  Since there is no pain, it is easy to think you can still lift things and do things you did before when, in reality, the first couple of weeks are still a healing process.  When you think about it, five pounds is a very small amount to be lifting:  It is two pounds smaller than a bag of ice.  It is less than a gallon of milk. It is half of most newborn babies.  That makes it very LIMITING!

On Wednesday I have an appointment to get some facial products (from the same doctor's office) to help cover any bruises when I am out in public. By today's picture below, I'm not sure how much I will need.  In another couple of days, at the rate the bruises are going away, I might not need them at all.  In one month, for my daughter's wedding, I will be able to wear regular eye makeup as I did before. Here is today's and yesterday's comparison pictures.



TODAY (Day Six)

YESTERDAY

As I mentioned yesterday, the difference in the pictures do not show the significant difference in the eye healing.  My eyes are much, much better today! 

On the way home from the doctor's office I bought a different pair of sun glasses.  It is the knowledge of the little things that make this process better.  I mentioned before that the sun glasses I was wearing this weekened made the space under my eyes sweat and that seemed to draw the blood to the surface resulting in the bruises becoming worse instead of better. 

When I bought my new pair of sun glasses, I made sure that there was a full finger-space between my skin and the glasses. I intend to ONLY wear them when I have to not be scary, but I'm sure there will be those times in the next week.  Below is a picture of the sunglasses I found. They are big enough to cover all of the bruises, but "airy" enough, because of the extra space between the skin and the sunglasses, to not irritate the healing process.  This is just a little thing that is good to know about the process.

It is important to keep in mind, during your decision making process, that it is not abnormal to want to do things that will improve sight and well-being.  The improvement of looks is a bonus!  The reality is, it made a huge difference in my energy level. I am more alert (already) because I am not trying so hard to keep my eyes open--that has nothing to do with vanity or wanting to stay young looking!

The biggest problem with all of us women is that we spend our lives worrying about everyone else, and we feel that we do not have a "right" to spend money on ourselves. We do not allow ourselves to change things that are "optional" because it seems self-centered or vain.  Since insurance plans do not contribute to elective surgery, we don't feel we deserve the cost of having these optional things done. We consider those "optional" things as our crosses. 

I can tell you in hind-sight (and it has only been a week) that being able to improve the quality of the life you have is a matter of well-being!  If you feel good, you act good.  If you act good, you contribute.  If you contribute you live longer and care more about your health.  If you are trying to decide, it is important to take out any "emotional complex" of abnormality you may be feeling toward this surgery. If you do that, you will find yourself asking, "why wouldn't I have the surgery?"   

Now, after only a week, I am saying, "Why did I take so long to come to this decision!"   

My surgery was remarkably successful.  I must give credit where it is due:  Dr. Kennedy is amazingly talented, and when it is healed, I am not only going to look better, but I am going to feel enormously better as well!

Sometimes, you just have to DO SOMETHING, and stop vacilating in your decisions. That is what I decided to do, and I am glad I did!

Day five

It has almost been one week since the surgery. Yesterday I had to go to a wedding and do several errands. I noticed that whenever I wore sunglasses, it would make the bottom of the bruises sweat and as they were sweating they were turning darker and bigger--like it was pulling the blood to the surface.

After the wedding, I came home and iced for a full hour to see if I could take the dark bruises back down to where they were the day before.  They were much worse by wearing sunglasses most of the day.

I think it helped to ice it for a long time last night. Instead of being worse, by this morning, it actually appears to be a little better than yesterday.  Today is Sunday and I am not going to go to Church in sunglasses, so I will do a lot of icing and see where that takes me for tomorrow.  Here are the comparison pictures between yesterday and today:

TODAY

YESTERDAY

The area around the surgery is becoming quite oily (top) because of not being able to clean it thoroughly. That will go away after they take out the stitches.  Even though, in these photos, there does not seem to be a significant difference, there really is. The reddness is much lighter today and there is more yellow filling in where the dark purple was. My eyes feel much "brighter" today--not so swollen.  That is a nice feeling, too. 

The little black strings from the stitches are becoming more of a nuisance. The bandages that held them down have turned mushy and fallen off. My surgeon daughter told me that the bandages are designed to get gooy and mushy and then fall off, but that leaves the spaces around the eyes sticky and oily.  Without the bandages, the strings tend to flip in a variety of directions and sometimes land near the eye. When they land around the tear ducts, it makes the eye itch and I can't really rub it.  The tear ducts are itching almost contantly, anyway. That has been the most unpleasant part of the whole surgery process. I have not experienced pain.

My goal today is to do a lot of icing to see if I can get the redness to go away even more. As part of that process, I will try not to wear the sunglasses at all today. That really aggrivates the swelling and bruises.  However, my grandchildren will come over after church today and they have been afraid of looking at me without the sunglasses, so my sunglass avoidance may be foiled.  Until tomorrow....

Day Four

Day five, for me, is a Saturday.  Saturdays are always busy, but today I am bugged by not being able to pick up stuff off the floor. My grandkids come over and even though they are really good to pick up after themselves, there are always a few items left. I also would like to vacuum and bend over to load some dishes in my dishwasher. Those are all things that end up putting a little pressure on my head and giving me a slight headache if I do them.  You are not supposed to bend over, carry anything over five pounds or do any vacuuming this early. Most of those restrictions are supposed to go away in another 3 or 4 days. 

As far as my eyes are concerned, I think they are better. They certainly do not feel as puffy as they did yesterday and they are not as red. My daughter, who is a general surgeon, explained to me that the bruising is a process that just takes time. The body has to come up and remove the clusters of blood under the skin and absorb them back into the body. The icing and hot packs promotes the process, but there is a ceratin amount of healing that has to take place and it is different in everyone. From my discussions with others, the brusing lasts about 2 weeks and after that is gone.  Another daughter is getting married in 4 weeks from the day of the surgery, so I am counting on that being the case.

I think when they are all healed, there will be a big difference. I will try to get the original picture from my doctor and post it at the end. It is hard to tell the details of the from the pictures below, but here is the comparison:

Today

Yesterday

Day three - Am I looking better?

Yesterday turned out to be a very busy day. I had promised a friend to help her design and print some new business cards. That took me most of the morning. I ended up not being able to apply the cold and hot packs during that time. Then, unforseen in my plans, my husband had to go in for an emergency surgery to take care of root canal, so I ended up sitting in the waiting room for several hours. That left me with little time to ice my face until about 3:30 in the afternoon. The surgery also delayed my medications so I was not sure exactly how well I would look today. However, below are today's comparison pictures:

I think my eyes are more swollen today, but less red (top picture).  I just got up and the eyes are always most swollen when you first get up in the morning.  I was able to sleep in my own bed with one pillow last night, which was much more comfortable than sitting up--I actually slept!  I am annoyed by the little bandages that are holding the stitches in place. They are breaking down and getting itchy and sticky.  I also have not been able to have a really good face-wash for four days. I look forward to having a good cleaning.

Yesterday's comparison picture below.

Today I would like to talk about the surgery and the staff and all of my impressions of them. The surgery was done by Dr. Brent Kennedy at the Institute of Facial and Cosmetic Surgery in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was excellent--very meticulous and extremely skilled. There are "good surgeons" and there are "gifted" surgeons. Dr. Kennedy is a "gifted" surgeon.

Besides being an excellent physician, Dr. Kennedy has spoken to many audiences of doctors, nationwide, explaining the best procedures for doing what was done to my eyes.  He is a seasoned physician who has done hundreds and hundreds of procedures, which was very comforting to me. 

My first impressions of Dr. Brent D. Kennedy were: His hair is graying. He is humble, yet confident. He put me at ease. He has a good bedside manner.Skill and bedside manner are two of the most important factors that you should be considering.

The anesthesiologist was Dr. Ryan Diepenbrock  He is quite a bit younger, and has practiced in other cities  as well as here in Salt Lake City.  Besides anesthesiology, he also is a licensed dentist.  That is an unusual, but very nice combination.  I liked him very much. My own son-in-law is an anesthesiologist, so I am somewhat familar with the challenges of keeping people out of pain and helping them forget any unpleasant procedures. Dr. Ryan Diepenbrock called me the day before the surgery and chatted about everything from the type of medications I was currently taking to how he would proceed.  He was very personal and I felt like I was in good hands when I walked in for the surgery.

The day after the surgery, I called the office and Dr. Diepenbrock happened to be there as well. He took the time to explain some tips for applying the hot and cold packs and told me to take a little break from them for a couple of hours.

I loved the nurse who helped with the proceedure. She was very patient and helpful and made me feel at ease. She took her time and told me that she was saving up for Dr. Kennedy to do the same proceedure on her.  That built my confidence because of her confidence in him. 

When I started searching for doctors, I looked at many websites and reviewed several types of procedures. The website for Dr. Kennedy is http://ifcsutah.com/html/contact.html and their phone number is 801-261-3637. 

I liked Dr. Kennedy's website.  It made me feel like the procedure that was going to be done was normal. I did not sense that my interest in the change was a result of having some type of disturbing complex about my physical or sexual appearance. Some of the other websites definitely suggested that, and interestingly, the websearch made me put off the surgery because I didn't want to seem disturbed. 

The office of Dr. Kennedy is decorated much like their website. It is done in a vintage style. Whether or not you like the decor, might affect your decision about surgery, so you should be prepared to put aside any negativity based on the decor.  I only mention this because the decor of an office should not affect the how skill of the staff, but interestingly, when someone is going to be messing with your face, you want to know that they have an artistic sense--so the decor of the office does come into play a bit. Be sure to based your decision on valid reasons not the mood that is created by the decor of the office.

I checked the all of the surgeons in my city thoroughly before I chose Dr. Kennedy. I also spoke with two people who had been his patients for the same procedure. (My daughter, who is a general surgeon herself, suggested that I talk to other patients who had used Dr. Kennedy and ask them about their experience so that I was not just taking Dr. Kennedy's perspective.) If you end up choosing Dr. Kennedy, you will join the ranks of myself and others who are very pleased with his skill and artistry. 

The things I would do differently as of today would be:

     1. Don't get too busy on the third day in.  I did too much yesterday and today my eyes

         are more swollen.

     2. The best thing I did for myself on day 2 and 3 was take a walk. My husband and I

         walked a mile in Liberty Park in Salt Lake (that is equivalent to one time around the

         park.)  After sitting and hot-packing and cold packing, it was a welcome change.  We

         waited until after dark so that I didn't have children staring at me, but I also brought my

         pair of sunglasses to cover my own self-consiousness.

    3.  I am a little more "antsy" today as I begin my day. I am tired of sitting around and

         anxious to do something productive. Last night I had my first headache, which was

         very minor. One tylenol took care of it.  I think it was from not icing the eyes during the

         day. But today I will probably still go with my daughter to get her little girl's first grade

         school supplies.  Sunglasses are the best for allowing me to continue to do what I

         want to do!



Day Two

It has been 48 hours since the beginning of the blepharoplasty surgery.  The blepharoplasty surgery, itself, took about 3 hours.  They said they wanted to keep me awake for the blepharoplasty surgery, so that I could sit up, but the anesthesia made it so that I was totally clueless and did not remember anything during the surgery and only a slight stinging feeling on my eyes as I was coming out of the anesthia. The stinging was not from the pain of the surgery, but from the cold of the ice cubes they had applied to the puffy eyes.

I felt good, but a little tipsy. The anesthesia makes you feel that way.  It was important to have a driver to get me home, though physically, I was not impaired. Mentally, I'm pretty sure I would not have made good decisions for several hours, due to the anesthesia.

This is my picture at the 48 hour mark after the blepharoplasty surgery.  You can see from the comparison below it that the deep, dark purple in the swelling has decreased to a deep red and the swelling has gone down. The puffy eyes are also going down.  The pores on my skin are larger because I have not been able to wash my face. Today I will be able to add hot packs to the ice packs and that will feel better.

TODAY (above)                    -             YESTERDAY (below)



In some ways it looks worse today,  but if you look carefully, it really is much better. The swelling is not so intense around the eyes and eyelashes are not swallowed up in the swelling.

I found myself looking forward to the warm packs.  The warm packs can be done one of four ways:

    1.  Warm wet washcloths put in the microwave. (The warmth lasts about 1.5 minutes)
    2.  Rice packs made from sewing rice into a washcloth and then warmed in a microwave.
         (The warmth lasts much longer, making rice packs an advantage.)
    3.  Using the same gel packs from the N.A.P. and warming them under hot water. (This is
         least affective.)
    4.  Using wet paper towels.  I found this to be the most effective. The wet paper towels,
         warmed in the microwave last about 1.5 minutes--the same as the washcloths.  The
         difference is that I can prepare three plates of five paper towels, microwaving them
         one at a time and the warm towels will last about 15 minutes, then the towels are
         tossable.  The warm paper towels help draw out any fluid from the wounds, so not
         having to launder them is a plus.

Folded wet paper towels are microwaved for

about 45 seconds to 1 minute in the microwave.



It is still to early to get my eyes wet, but I really wanted to wash my hair. We have in all of our showers in the house a flex hose for a shower head. We changed them years ago because they are so nice. You can get flex hoses at Home Deport or Lowes for around $75 and you just take off the shower head on your shower and replace it with the flex hose. You can have a plumber do it for you or do it yourself with a little instruction from the Home Deport or Lowes crew.  It came in very handy because I was able to use the hose to wash my hair without getting my face wet. Then I could stand with my back to the shower and rinse the back without it coming over into my face.  Below is a picture of the type of shower head that we purchased. They come in much more fancy--with pulsating changes in the water.

Physically, I feel fine today. I am going put on some sunglasses and meet a friend at Office Max in an hour and help her pick out some stock for her business cards.  I still cannot bend over and pick up things so my house is getting a bit cluttered, and I still have not had my grandchildren come over because I don't want to scare them and I can't pick up the baby.  Other than those small things, I am doing fine on day two.



24 hours

I had a million questions about eye surgery.  All of my life I dealt with puffy eyes.  I inherited puffy eyes under the eye from my mother and puffy eyes over the eyes from my dad. I was a perfect candidate for blepharoplasty surgery.  I tried every cosmetic product available from cheap to expensive to get rid of puffy eyes. Even the Oz products did not help. Although some would minimize the problem for a few hours, the problem was never eliminated.  The problem of my puffy eyes, both top and bottom, was that I was born with a glob of extra muscle on the top and a glob of extra muscle on the bottom. As I aged, the muscles started to relax and the puffy eye effect intensified.  The only way you can get rid of extra muscle around the eye is to have it removed. The swelling of the eyes may make the puffyness larger and products may make take out the inflamation, but there is a hard fact about puffy eyes:  They do no go away without the blepharoplasty surgery, not matter what you do.  That is due to the mass of muscles around the eye that you are born with!  That leads everyone to the list of reasons for having blepharoplasty surgery to reduce the puffy eyes.

I thought about the blepharoplasty surgery for years.  I went through the entire list of reasons why I should NOT do it:

     1.  It might be painful  to have blepharoplasty surgery to reduce puffy eyes. (It was not
          one bit painful. I didn't even need tylenol)
     2.  Insurance does not participate in paying for the blepharoplasty surgery even if the
          puffy eyes are creating a visual impairment. It is hard to justify getting rid of puffy eyes
          when it cost $2,000 for each eye.
     3.  It was "vain" of me to want to improve my looks by having blepharoplasty surgery to
          remove the puffy eye look.
     4.  The amount of money it would cost for blepharoplasty surgery tthe puffy eye look
          could be put to better use---
          I could think of many "needy" causes to contribute to or I could spend the
          money helping some of my own married children with school loans or
          getting into a house. 
      4. It seemed so selfish to spend that amount of money of elective blepharoplasty
          surgery.  Reducing the puffy eye look seemed like a surgery designed just to make
          me "look" better. I am sixty years old and very happily married.  Why am I worried
          about my "looks"?

As I aged, in addition to the puffy eyes on bottom, I eyelids started to show huge signs of the puffy eye syndrome as well.  I started to do a little research and found that the weight of the puffy eyes on the top was actually quite tiring for the eye to hold in the "open" position. I also learned that some people could not pass the driver's test because their peripheral vision was being impaired by the extra skin that blocked a portion of their vision due to the puffy eye syndrome. This gave me a different perspective about having the surgery done. It was more than cosmetic. It affected my well-being.  It was then that I started to look into blepharoplasty surgery to reduce the puffy eyes.

Because I had so many questions about my surgery, I decided, once I had to blepharoplasty surgery to remove the puffy eye look, to do a blog of my experience to help others who are considering the same surgery.

I am not a doctor and I have no monetary reason for sharing my experience of blepharoplasty surgery other than to help others with tips on whether to make the decision to do the blepharoplasty surgery or not.  If you decide to do the blepharoplasty surgery to remove your own puffy eye problem, this blog will help you to know how to better prepare. I have also included pictures of the healing process from the blepharoplasty surgery and the daily reduction of the puffy eyes so that you know what to expect along the way.

GETTING READY

You will need to purchase 6 items prior to the blepharoplasty surgery.
     1.  A new bottle of hydrogen peroxide (used in half-strength to clean off blood in the
          stitches). The blepharoplasty surgery is close to the eyes. You need to keep it
          clean and germ free.
     2.  A large container of Q-tips (you will use many of these every day, several times a
          day). The Q-Tips are used to apply the hydrogen peroxide to the stitches created
          by the blepharoplasty surgery.  Being able to treat each part of the puffy eye during
          the healing process is important. 
     3.  A tube of "bacitraycin plus."  This is available over the counter, near the neoposporin
          and anti-bacterial ointments. This ointment will be used to keep the stitches from the
          helps with keeping the stitches from leaving a scar along the puffy eye incision, so it is
          important NOT to choose a substitute for the "bacitraycin plus ointment".  It is
          important to note that this ointment should only be used for a maximum of 10 days
          after the blepharoplasty surgery. If you use it longer, it begins to compromise the skin.
    4.  You should buy many rolls of Plenty of paper towels. You can use these to cover the
          ice wraps after the blepharoplasty surgery. You will need something to buffer the
          ice cubes you are putting on the puffy eyes and the paper towels are disposable and
          cheap. This gives them an advantage over washcloths because you will use so many
          after the blespharoplasty surgery while you are trying to reduce the puffy eyes. You   
          can just toss paper towels in the garbage after each use.
    4. You will also need two days worth of clear liquids after you have the blepharoplasty
         surgery. While you are icing your puffy eyes, you can't really eat for a couple of
         days. I chose unsalted chicken and beef broth because I didn't want to gain added
         weight or feel thirsty. I also found an unsalted vegetarian broth that I liked as well.
  

    6.  Following the blepharoplasty surgery, you will need to apply some sort of ice packs,
         to promote the healing and to reduce the puffy eyes that are created from the surgery.
         You will apply ice packs, only, for two days at intervals of one-half hour on and
         half-hour off. This helps with a different cause of puffy eyes. After two days of icing,
         you will add heat every other time. The process of icing and heating makes the  eyes
         remain puffy for a few days, but you will immediately see that, even with the swelling,
         your eyes will be less puffy than they were before the blepharoplasty surgery. There
         are a couple of options that are better than the drippy ice packs. One is to purchase a
         N.A.P. kit from Brookstone. I have given you a picture below. Two N.A.P. kits make t
         it even more convenient to apply ice packs or heat packs to the puffy eyes after the
         blepharoplasty surgery.  Having N.A.P. kits will allow you to have one in the freezer
         you are using the other one to apply cold to the puffy eyes. Each N.A.P. kit is under
         $25.
         
         The N.A.P.  kit is made up of a terry cover and a gel-pack inside. The gel pack can be
         taken out and frozen to make the "ice" affect. As you can see from my picture below,
         that I actually separated the gel in the pack prior to freezing it so that I could
         maximize the coolness on the puffy eyes and make it more bendable over the nose.

         I did not use the terry covering while I was icing the puffy eyes. The blepharoplasty
         surgery drains a little and I found using paper towels to be more sanitary.  I could just
         toss them after I had used them to ice the puffy eyes and I didn't have to worry about
         laundry.
        
          When I started to ice the puffy eyes, I found it was better to wrap  the gel pack from
          the N.A.P. kit  right in a paper towel. This tossable way of dealing with the liquid that
          was secreating from the stitches created from the blepharoplasty surgery was easy. I
          tried the terry  covering at first. It absorbed too much of the cold from the ice pack.
          The cost of the N.A.P. was under $25 and it eimilated the "wet" of ice packs while
          I was dealing with the swelling and puffy eyes right after the blepharoplasty surgery.

    7.  After blepharoplasty surgery, the doctor's office also provided five  little plastic water
         pouches that were about 1 inch by 2 inches long.  These turned out out to be the best
         thing to put on specific areas where the puffy eyes were still swollen.  I am so glad I
         did not toss them when I came home from the blepharoplasty surgery. Instead, I put
         them in the freezer as soon as I arrived home.  I found I could freeze and refreeze
         these over and over to use on the puffy eyes following the blepharoplasty surgery.
          I would have loved the option of buying a full box of about a dozen or so of these to
         use following the blepharoplasty surgery. The combination of the N.A.P. gel and the
         individual ice packs made it possible to target every part of the puffy eyes and reduce
         points that were more bruised. Since they are not a "cube shape", as they thaw, they
         conform to the section of the eyes that are puffy.  Having them contained in plastic
         keeps them from dripping.  These are a winner!  Someone should be marketing them!

8. You will need a driver to take you from the blepharoplasty surgery and someone to stay with you for the first 24 hours following the blepharoplasty surgery.  Although the blepharoplasty surgery seems minor, at first you will need a little help. My husband drove me, and my son, who is working toward becoming a doctor and still living at home, helped me with cleaning the stitches left from the blepharoplasty surgery. They also got me the things to keep my puffy eyes iced, since that is pretty much constant if you do it one eye at a time.
9.  I also found it very helpful to have my eyebrows shaped and plucked prior to the blepharoplasty surgery so there was no extra hair around the area to deal with.  I found out later that this was a really smart decision. You can wax your eyebrows or do the string-thing or pluck each hair out one by one.  I had the string thing done. There was a cart at the mall and it cost me $10 and about 10 minutes. There was some swelling for two days around the area, so if you do the string thing, do it a week in advance.


ABOUT THE SURGERY

Lower eyelid blepharoplasty is performed to reduce puffiness and wrinkles in the lower eyelids. In my case, there was a hereditary factor.  In the case of my family genes--the puffy eye trait was abundant and present from my mid-thirties. This produced an aesthetically unpleasing fullness to the lower eyelids. Fatty tissue is normally present in the space behind the eye and probably evolved to help cushion the eye in minor impacts. The barrier which keeps fat behind the eye can weaken, allowing fat to come forward into the lower eyelids. I can only refer to it as puffy eyes!

To eliminate this condition permanently, there are two options. Lower eyelid blepharoplasty may be performed through an incision under the eyelashes or an incision on the inside of the eyelid. Excess fat can be removed to reduce the puffy eye effect from either type of incision. However, if the blepharoplasty surgery is performed through an external incision, excess skin can also be removed, reducing lower eyelid wrinkles.

When the fattiness was removed, if I had chosen the incision on the inside of the eyelid, they would not have been able to remove the excess skin that would be left after removing the fatty portions, so my surgery was done by making an incisison just under the eyelash.

I will share a day by day account of my experience of blepharoplasty surgery and my own reduction of puffy eyes!

In addition to the over-the counter products, my doctor prescribed a pain-killer which I did not need. The blepharoplasty procedure is totally painless even though it looks like it in not. I mentioned to him that I probably did not need to pain killer but he said that some people do not use the pain killers for pain, they just like the feeling of being able to escape the unpleasantry of the blepharoplasty surgery. Honestly, from my perspective and from the perspective of other patients I had talked to, who had the surgery as well, no pain medication is necessary. 

In addition to the pain killer, my doctor prescribed an antibiotic as a precautionary procedure and an anti-inflamatory pill to help reduce swelling in the first three days.

WHEN YOU FIRST GET HOME FROM THE BLEPHAROPLASTY SURGERY.....

You should take the anti-inflamatory pill, the antibiotic, clean the stitches with the hydrogen peroxide and put on the ointment and then start the ice packs. Don't plan to go anywhere for the first two days.


AFTER THE  BLEPHAROPLASTY SURGERY

The first day after the blepharoplasty surgery, your eyes will be puffy and bruised. Although the eyes appear to be very painful, they are not. I did not even take tylenol after the blepharoplasty surgery. For everyone, the level of bruising is different.  Things that will help are: Don't take fish oil, vitamins, or aspirin for at least 2 weeks prior to blepharoplasty surgery.  They cause more bleeding, therefore more bruising.  I did not take any of these products prior to surgery for three weeks, but bruising occurs automatically as part of the procedure. Although the brusing looks bad, but it is painless.

The most annoying part of the blepharoplasty surgery is that the stitch line is held with weith pieces of surgical tape. If you look closely, you will see little black hair-like lines under the tape that is on the side of my nose and eyes. These are itchy. Also because the tear ducts are swollen, they tend to be itchy to itchy, too. Other than those two factors, blepharoplasty surgery is a cake walk.  You just have to deal with the icing of the puffy eyes and not do too much.  Because you don't feel "bad" is is easy to over-do.  You must decide before you do the blepharoplasty surgery that you will pamper yourself for at least a week.

The pictures above and below provide a closer looks at the stitches and the tape that is used to hold the stitch line in place after the bleparoplasty surgery. The stitiches will be removed by pulling on the thread that is being held under the tape. This will be done six days after the blepharoplasty surgery if everything heals properly in that time. If not, don't panic. You want the blepharoplasty surgery to be successful, so be patient with the process.

You will need to plan to stay awake as long as possible on the day of the blepharoplasty surgery so that you can keep the ice packs going on the puffy eyes. I set midnight as my limit because sleep is also good for healing.  You will also need to plan to sleep sitting as near upright as possible. This can be done in a recliner, a mechanical bed (if you are lucky enough to have one) or with several pillows to prop you up.

Not even a full 24 hours later, but after a night's sleep--which I can't claim to have been good---

The swelling and bruising from the blepharoplasty surgery are about the same as the first day. I have noticed a tiny headache today, otherwise no other pain.  The biggest annoyance is trying to not bend down for a couple of days. Have you ever thought of how many times you bend over in a day?  My surgeon daughter said that it is very important to not bend over because it puts pressure on the stitches from the blepharoplasty surgery. Too much pressure can actually rupture them.

The second day after the blepharoplasty surgery has been filled with putting ice packs on the puffy eyes, one half hour on followed by one half hour off.  Lucky for me, I could just listen to the Olympics while they were on. 

There are two options to icing the puffy eyes following the blepharoplasty surgery. You can do constant icing by covering only one eye at a time, or you can ice both at once. I did both methods depending on what else I wanted to do.   Icing one puffy eye at a time allows you to watch TV all day.

In the doctor's instructions, it said that it was good to walk, not just sit, and by evening, it was a good idea not to ice for a couple of hours after 24 hours had elapsed since the surgery.  My husband and I walked around the park and a normal walking pace. We normally walk around it twice (2.9 miles) but this evening, we only walked around it once.  I noticed that the walking was overall very comforting.