Eye irritation in outer corner/4 weeks post lower Bleph

By ChrisN on 01 Nov 2010

Hello I had a lower Bleph one month ago. The first 2 weeks were easy. Week 3 I began to have irritation INSIDE my left eye in the outside corner like sand is in there. PS says he may need to remove internal suture. Does this sound right? Would an internal suture cause irritation inside the eye?

Comments (10)

Verona1734 14 Feb 2011

Hi There,

I had a lower bleph done seven weeks ago with fat injections around the eyes. The swelling has gone down, the incision scars are healing BUT the internal dissolvable stitches at each corner haven't budged. I have nubs and a pinched pleat of skin at each corner. It looks freakish. I am still wearing tinted glasses. When will these corners come down? They are also tight and uncomfortable and my eyes look really strange when I laugh. Would massage help? Any suggestions. Thank you.

Roger A. Dailey, MD 16 Nov 2010

You are welcome. Thanks for the follow up. Enjoy your new look.

Roger Dailey, MD, FACS
Oculofacial Plastic Surgeon

View answers from Roger A. Dailey, MD

Downers Doll 15 Apr 2013

Dear Dr. Dailey - I too - recently had both and upper and lower bleph performed..everything has healed very well - except I also have large swellings/pinched pleats of skin - outside BOTH of my eyes - outer .... My Dr. told me to massage this area daily. It has been 3 weeks now exactly today. They are still there - very little change. Should I call my Dr. and have him remove the dissolvable sutures? Should I be patient and wait? Will these large outer eye lumps go down/dissolve on their own with massage? How long do you think I should wait? I am very self-conscious with this swelling and hard/uncomfortable nubs. Thank you! Downers Doll

Roger A. Dailey, MD 15 Apr 2013

Hi, I think it would be reasonable to call your doctor's office to see if they would want to see you. If there are dissovable suture's out there below the skin, removing them can sometimes speed up the healing process. In the typical scenario, these bumps almost always go away without further intervention. Best, Roger Dailey, MD, FACS Oculofacial Plastic Surgeon

View answers from Roger A. Dailey, MD

Downers Doll 15 Apr 2013

Thank you very much Dr. Daily. I am definitely calling them tomorrow morning. I appreciate your reply! Downers Doll

Sharon at RealSelf (Community Manager) 11 Nov 2010

That's great news, Chris. I'm so glad to hear you're doing better.

ChrisN 11 Nov 2010

Just wanted to come back and update this topic! It will be six weeks tomorrow since my lower bleph and I tell you this I could not be happier!! The issues I was having resolved themselves and I am left with NO bags under my eyes anymore!!! I look better than I dared imagine. It's amazing what medicine/surgeons can do sometimes. I've also decided not to get anymore plastic surgery. Growing old gracefully from here on out! That pain in my eye showed me that there are indeed risks and I don't want to push my luck...so I'm going to enjoy what I have and leave it at that.

Thank you again Dr. Dailey for your time!

Best

Chris

Downers Doll 15 Apr 2013

Dear Chris - I realize it's been over two years since you had your eye work done - I am suffering from the exact same problem. I had upper and lower bleph done exactly 3 weeks ago today. I have large swollen outer eye nubs - outside both my eyes - obviously I am having major reaction to the dissolvable stitches too? Did you have the dissolvable sutures removed?? OR did you wait and they went down on their own? Did you massage them a lot? What do you think I should do? I too am very self conscious about the swelling... everything else looks great and I can hide my upper eyelid scars easily with makeup. Thank you ! Downers Doll

Roger A. Dailey, MD 3 Nov 2010

Hi ChrisN,

The picture that you show suggests that one of the sutures (stitches) place beneath the skin at the outside corner of your right eye has developed some inflammation around it. This is a similar reaction (foreign body granuloma) to what might happen if you had a retained wood splinter in your finger. Removal of the suture should resolve the problem.

These deep sutures are often placed in this area to suspend the muscle surrounding your eye. This tends to vertically shorten the lower eyelid and give it a more youthful appearance.

Roger Dailey, MD FACS
Oculofacial Plastic Surgeon

View answers from Roger A. Dailey, MD

ChrisN 3 Nov 2010

Hi Dr. Daily!

As luck would have it I just returned from an ophthalmologist visit and he basically confirmed what you said. He says that the interior corner of my eye has dogeared slightly from the PS having "pinned up the eye" with an internal suture. He said it's inflammation and it should smooth out given more time and that removing the internal suture may also help. The spot on the outside has greatly improved in the 24 hours since I posted that picture, so I hope the internal inflammation will resolve soon as well. Thank you again for your time!!!

Best, Chris