moved to Florida 7 years ago. I was 55 then, and looking somewhat tired, with bags under eyes. I went to my Dr. to improve my appearance and look somewhat younger again. I have always had pretty eyes, almond in shape and told I looked like Sophia Loren. My upper weren't that bad, but thought the removal of some fat, (never over 3 mil) wouldn't hurt. I remember stating to her the evening of my surgery, “please don't mess up my eyes, they are the window to your soul and my best feature.” She smiled with confidence. My oldest daughter picked me up from the surgery, and immediately knew something was wrong. My eyes were surely swollen, and bursed, more than any photos she had seen regarding upper and lower eyelid surgery. One week later my eyes were still swollen shut and bruised. The Dr. put me on Steroids and that reduced the effects. Weeks after the surgery, my eyes would not stay closed entire night during sleep. My daughter again was the one to notice, along with the altered appearance this surgery produced. My eyes were no longer almond, they were round and very wide. I looked like I was scared by something all the time. I have hollow eye sockets now and they still stay open when I sleep. My entire appearance was changed to a negative effect, and with every visit I made to my Dr.'s office, I heard the same thing, "GIVE IT TIME". It became apparent after the 4-5th visit, she did not know what to do for corrections, nor was she going to admit any error. After conferring with another surgeon, I found out that she cut access tissue from my eyes, leaving a hollow socket. Too much fat was taken out as well, and leaving little skin, or muscle strength, to close eyes for the entire night. I can blink, thank god. Since my eyes are wide and hollow, it has also changed my facial features. They are also hollowed in appearance, making face longer in appearance and my once high cheek bones adding to my skeleton look. My family back home did not recognize me when they first saw me. Only my voice indicated who I was. I have gone shopping in stores while visiting my hometown, running into old friends as they pass me by. I do not even resemble who I once looked like and too embarrassed and ashamed of what I look like now. I too, have looked in the mirror everyday and have a stranger looking back for the past 7 years. Although I seek for some reversion type of treatment, they are more expensive than the original, and I could ever afford. I did have my own collagen injected into my upper lid, but only 20% stays while the rest is absorbed, so lasting effect was temporary. I've looked at Strip fat grafting, again the cost is too great and no guarantee this would work. I've heard all the statements, “why was I so vain,” and “I should of left my appearance alone“. I remember over hearing my son say one day, “it must be hard for mom, she was once so beautiful and let that doctor butcher her face.” I've cried, thought what did I do to deserve this? Woman everyday have surgery done and it leaves a positive effect. I would not recommend this doctor for my dog. She maybe good at some work, but for eye lid surgery she ruined my life, and appearance. Little can be done legally with elective surgery, and unless your left horribly disfigured, juries don't feel for you, and attorneys even less. I may still go blind one day from my eyes not completely closing at night. I have scratched my cornea during sleep at night, and have had to receive medical treatment for it. DO YOUR HOMEWORK !!!! Do not assume because a doctor is Board Certified they know what they are doing. These postings are a great source of information. If I had pictures I'd up-load ,so everyone could see my “before and after“. I stopped taking pictures of myself 7 years ago. I rarely go out in public when visiting home. Not that I'll be recognized, but the mental and emotional effects are too difficult to deal with as time goes by, and little hope is left for any correction. Beware, of what this doctor performs on you. There are something’s in life, we may never recover from. For me this is one of them. Updated on 29 Jul 2009: The pro's were to improve my appearance. Con's, I did not do my homework. Just because a doctor is board certitfed, does not mean they are up and familar with all procedures. Mine was a very negative experience. Help and suggestions for revision surgery? Updated on 23 Jul 2010: I have searched for revision on first eye lid surgery for 8 years. On June 24th I went to my home town Plastic/Reconstruction Surgeon ,whom I should have gone too originally for this task. Dr. W has been in practice for many years and is a skilled, experienced Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeron. He performed a mid face lift with focus on the upper area of my temples to elonggate my eyes and try tto give back my almond appearance. He used Pearl Grafting in upper eye lids, for volume and also tried to recreate my lid crease that had been totally removed my first unskilled surgeron. It has been over one month and I see some fat absorbing in upper lids, I am still very pleased with outcome, and family can also see a positive change, and softer appearance. I may need additional fat grafting to upper lids which is normal,and expected. I have taken photos to show and hope this of help to others seeking help in this area. I found his costs absolutely resonable and I am pleased with results this far. Very first pic: how my eyes looked before original surgery. Almond and long. Photo 2 is how my eyes looked after eye lid surgery ..Hollwed,empty,doll eyes,with hardness and no lid crease,round and wide. 3 photo is a side veiw of original surgery showing the hollwed eye socket and how I could almost place my finger in socket.Photo 4, day of revisio suregry.Photo 5,after surgery.Next photo showing third day out. Next photo of side, face appears fuller. Updated on 10 Aug 2010: Eight years ago I have aggressive upper/lower eye lid surgery. She changed my face and life to a negative for emotional greiving and loss of my genetic indentity. A good plastic surgeon will never change the shape or appearance of your eyes. Only enhaonce them. This is not a skilled or good Plastic Surgeon, and I highly recommend "NO ONE" have this butcher cut on them.She never took responabiltiy for her aggressive and negative outcome, and hurried me through her office so ohter potential patiences could not see her work. She is cold hearted, and shouldn't be allowed to preform surgery until she learns how to do it correctly. On June 24, 2010. I traveled to my home town of Rockofrd ,Illinois where a skilled and experienced Plastic/Reconstruction Suregon , performed revision upper /lower eye lid surgery. I have extreme hollwed sockets, and sunken eyes from the original surgery performed. Dr. W gave me pearl fat grafting to upper lids, and a mid face life with focus on the temporal vertigal pull to help re-create my onve almond eyes, raped from me by the original doctor.This drastic change made my entire face look gaunt, hollwed and changed my genetic identiy. I no longer looked like my family. Dr. W helped give me my old appearance back and recreate the natural crease that was cut entirely away.leaving skeleton sockets for eyes.She turned me into a freak that for many years mourned the loss of my face and the emotional roller coaster this type of unskilled work can leave the consumer. They say photos speak 1000 words, and my photos say much today on how I look and feel. Thereis hope out here and never give up. Just be careful whom you choice to do any P.S. and look at there record. If they are a bad P.S. the web will have them on here with compliants. If it had been around for me 9 years ago, I'd of saved myself allot of heartache, money and pain. First photo is how I once appeared before original surgery. Second photo,how I appeared after the first surgery for enhancment of upper/lower eye lid sugery. Many years of sorrow and depression followed. Updated on 18 Feb 2011: Updated on 30 Apr 2014: It has now been 4 years since eye surgery revision by Dr. J. Weiskopf , Rockford, Il.. I am still very pleased with the outcome He is a very skilled Plastic/Reconstruction Surgeon. My original surgery by Victoria Vitale- Lewis , of Melbourne, Florida, devastated me and created severe, Emotional, Mental Health issues. Deep depression and raped my genetic identiy. But I found the light and strength, pursued revision and founda GREAT doctor, that helped change what Vitale /Lewis created, into something soft, and recognizable and pleasing. Please beware of whom you allow to cut into your face. It can change your life. Updated on 13 Nov 2015: It has been 5 years since upper lid revision, that included lateral mid facelift. I have been very fortunate that some fat as remained in upper lids, and facelift helped so much as well. Pulling it lateral helped recreate the almond eyes, but not to the extreme they look pulled and too cat like. I am also fortunate to have good tone, skin and a younger appearance. I always have and why the original surgery was to devastating. It raped all of that and getting it back to a point of acceptance is more than words can express. My advise is the same, do not give up, and with new techniques evolving annually, there is hope for all.
About me: I am 25 years old and 5'9". Before surgery I joined weight watchers (I highly recommend the program) and lost 30lbs. I started at 220 and pre surgery I was 190lbs. I wanted to lose 40 before the surgery so further loss will not deflate my new boobs but -30lbs is still a victory, can't complain. My goal is to be around 140lbs within the next 2 years and my huge boobs have been holding me back from exercising for too long. After having big boobs for years I decided to end my back pain, shoulder grooves, and activity restriction with a reduction. I went from a 36H to a 36 ? I'm not sure what size I'll be until the swelling goes down. I'm most excited to begin exercising again. Hopefully it will be easier to just go and work out without having to spend 15 minutes pulling on super tight sports bras that pinched and bulged and left red lines on my band line. I ran a half marathon a few years ago at 180lbs and it chafed the hell out of me. I played soccer tennis and swam competitively through out high school and college and have dealt with this problem, looking back I don't know how I tolerated them for so long. I really believe that I'll be able to throw on a sports bra and go run with ease. Some pros: No more unsightly bulging, $50 bras in only 3 colors (tan, white, or black), giant cups that are bigger than my head. No more people gawking or making jokes about them. No more wearing deodorant under my boobs because they sweat like extra arm pits. Before surgery I refused to go bra less due to the weight of my boobs pulling on the skin of my chest being so uncomfortable. I don't hit my legs with my boobs when trying to shave. I look 10-15lbs lighter and all my jackets and button ups fit so much better. No more special ordering bras and swimsuits from Europe. No more boobs sticking together in the summer or chafing. No jumbo bras peeking out from under shirts, dresses, thin strapped tanks, etc. Recovery: The best part about recovery is that I get to wear regular (from a normal store!!!) sports bras that don't kill my shoulders like my old bras. Although I did buy the genie bra and still had to get a 2x, which is still a bit too small. Not amused by that bit of irony... The worst part is the itching and sleeping only on your back. I am a stomach/side sleeper and sitting/sleeping on my back for so long actually made my butt and tailbone hurt for the first few days. Also, when the tape and bandages are taken off for the first time they look terrible. Like so terrible that it freaked me out and I had to sit down for a minute. Pain management: After the first two days I switched from taking norco to extra strength Tylenol and sometimes Aleve for swelling. The norco made me very nauseous and I didn't eat from the night before surgery, 12/19 at 11pm, until 12/21 in the morning. I couldn't walk to the toilet without seeing black spots. However I did drink a minimum of 2 liters of water everyday which helped a lot. I was seriously constipated from the meds and didn't have a decent BM until Christmas Eve. The doctors need to inform patients of this side effect because I didn't know that this could happen until I read some reviews here!! I ate a bunch of fiber one bars which helped my digestion get back to normal. I only iced occasionally when under my arms hurt. That part has swelled the most, around the bottom of the anchor incision line under my arms. My incision lines and around the nipple are still puckered and sore to the touch. This bothers me and I can't wait for the scars to flatten out. Today is 12/30 and I haven't needed to take anything daily for pain for a few days. Usually I take some Tylenol as needed if I've done a lot of walking/light activity that day. I get some "zings" of pain sometimes, usually in my nipple area, but I've read that is normal and means the nerves are healing. Also, sometimes my nipples are really sensitive to the point that it is a bit painful. It's not terrible pain but it is uncomfortable. I'm just happy that they have feeling in them at this point. Showering: I got to shower on Christmas Eve which is a cumbersome process but felt amazing after so long. I usually point the shower head towards the wall and guide the water where I want it to go with my hands since I don't have a handheld shower head. I use the standard recommended procedure: wash above your boobs/on your upper chest and then let the soap run down, repeat with water to rinse. My doctor didn't tell me not to lift my arms and a lot of reviews said that I shouldn't but I was able to lift them over my head from day one. (I try not to do it too often though) I didn't have any pain washing my hair. Actually the entire showering process was pain free which surprised me. I was expecting the water and soap to sting on my stitches. Healing: I posted some after photos that show my healing after 9-ish days. The doctor told me that the dark spot on my medial right breast is normal and should go away soon. My stitches are still intact, I have the dissolving kind. I have one good nipple that is healing brilliantly and one "bad" nipple that is a little dark and crusty but still healing well. The pictures show that I am still yellow from the bruises but it is decreasing by the day. Healing is slow and tedious since I feel good enough to do everything as normal but I still have to restrict myself which is frustrating at times. My doctor told me not to get my heart rate over 100bpm until I'm cleared to exercise so I've been feeling pretty lazy. I don't take my age for granted, I know that my recovery is easier than many others due to the fact that I'm younger than the the average BR candidate (most are 30-45 yrs old). I'm used to healing in a few days, not a few months! Overall, I think that surgery is really worth it. Even while I have sore stitch lines, bruises, swelling, and nipple zingers, I am already more comfortable in my day-to-day life than I was before the procedure. The first few days are a bit rough but once you tune into your body and your healing process, it is actually quite easy. (Plus everyone else has to shovel the snow because I can't lift anything for a while. Heheheh) 9/10 would recommend Updated on 1 Jan 2014: -My insurance, BCBS, is covering 80% of the cost. - During surgery 800cc was taken out of the right side and 808cc was taken out of the left. - My doctor prefers to not use drains. I'm glad he doesn't like using them because I'm sure that I would be too fidgety to tolerate them for very long. - I was sent home in just bandages, not a surgical bra. I'm not sure how common this is but I had non stick gauze directly over the incisions, regular gauze wrapped around like a bandeau and around my neck like a halter top, and then an ace bandage over the top. The nurse cut them off at my first visit post op. - The surgical bra I was given at my first post op visit, 10/23/13, was so so awful! It was a weird shiny fabric which wasn't so bad itself but the straps had Velcro on the part that sits on top of your shoulders and it was so itchy and scratched my skin. I threw it out the day after I got it...so if you're having surgery stock up on comfy bras ahead of time just in case. That's all I could remember for now, if I think of anything else I'll have to post is later. Updated on 1 Jan 2014: It's weird posting photos of your boobs on the internet, Hahah! :-P So some parts of my incisions are scabbing over and getting tighter feeling. Like they pull more if I overreach or move the wrong way. I think this is normal plus the weather here is really cold and winter is pretty dry in general. Updated on 7 Jan 2014: My stitches have been coming out at different rates since about a week and a half after surgery. Especially at the T, aka underneath my boobs where the anchor stitches come together. I have some loops sticking out on the left side but now I have a gooey, yellow patch where one of the long stitches fell out a few days ago. It looks gross but doesn't hurt as there's not much feeling on the underside of my boobs since there's still a lot of swelling there. It popped up between Sunday night and Monday evening, probably because Monday was my first day back at work and it was exhausting! I was not expecting to feel so tired. Luckily I see my doctor tomorrow for another post op check up so I can ask him what to do and if it's infected or not. I don't have a fever so I think i should be ok for now. It's a bit upsetting since I was healing so well with literally no complications or incisions popping open. I've been rinsing the gross area with some Band-aid wound rinse stuff, dabbing neosporing on and around the area, then covering it in sterile gauze so it doesn't get fuzzy from my bra/clothes. Other than that I haven't used neosporin for any other areas, but I did dab some coconut oil on my nips because they're so dry and flakey! It looks so gross and I don't want them to get itchy because having itchy nipples in public is the worst! Updated on 7 Jan 2014: - I had to run out and buy a New Year's Eve dress last minute so I went to Target and grabbed anything I could find. The good part is that usually I would have to get an XXL or larger just to fit my boobs but I got an XL, tried it on, and it fit perfectly! Victory! - I used to have a mole on my left boob that was about the size of a nickel. I completely forgot about it until a few days ago but it's gone! I'm not sad about it, it's just something random Ive had my whole life and completely forgot about. - In case anyone is waiting for surgery and wondering about their stretch marks, yes, they're still there and visible after surgery. There's a lot fewer of them and you can't see them as much because my boobs stand up on their own now. When they were larger they were saggy and the skin pulled downward makes a depression where the stretch mark is. But now they're not saggy anymore so voila, less visible marks :) - The worst thing about surgery, probably the only con, is that making your boobs smaller makes your stomach look larger from the side. I was looking in the mirror post surgery like, "wow I look 10lbs lighter!" But then I turned sideways and was like, "whooooaaaaaa! Wtf!" So I'd like others to mentally prepare for that...because I wasn't ready! Haha! Updated on 16 Jan 2014: Days 14-22 were definitely more painful than initial post op recovery and the week after. More sore, not as many zingers but soooo achy. Now I'm sleeping on my side more. I woke myself up a few nights ago bc I tried to roll onto my stomach while asleep. Ouch... Over stretched my scar tissue and it woke me up from pain. But overall I probably take Tylenol for boob pain 1-2 days a week. I got some Victoria's Secret sports bras and bandeaus this past week and they fit! Updated on 16 Jan 2014: Am I the only one who just wants to be 100% healed and completely back to normal like RIGHT NOW!!! It creeps me out how I don't have feeling in the scar tissue, I'm sick of my one overly sensitive nipple (the other one is fine), and I've gained weight from the holidays and lack of exercise!!! Rant over. Sorry guys... On a happier note here's a pic of me wearing my first bandeau EVER! Updated on 21 Jan 2014: I'm waiting at the ps office for a post op visit so why not update my review, right? I had to put on one of those awful paper vests for the first time since before surgery and what a difference! Also, an updated front shot. Updated on 21 Jan 2014: Bought a spinning bike on amazon last week so I need to test this bad boy out! Updated on 25 Jan 2014: Today was a random sore day of epic proportions! I couldn't even put my hands over my head bc everything was achey. I think I've been rolling all the way onto my stomach at night and then I wake up feeling like a human punching bag. Otherwise everything is pretty normal. I've noticed that the nipple on the side that had a harder time healing is a bit numb unfortunately, while the other side is super sensitive. I've been massaging everything so here's to hoping I have normal sensation and appearance within the next few months. Updated on 11 Feb 2014: I haven't been on this website much mostly because I don't think about my boobs 24/7 anymore like I did pre-op. It's funny how much they dictated my actions and behavior as silly as that sounds. I like how they're settling and filling out into their tear drop shape. I will have to go bra shopping again soon because the 2 vs bras I got in size 38DD are both gaping in the cup and they feel too big around even though they are fastened on the smallest hooks. Hope everyone is having a good new year so far since we're already into February (!! Can you believe it?!) Updated on 11 Feb 2014: Updated on 11 Feb 2014: Updated on 22 Feb 2014: I'm getting ready to move out of my parents house again after moving home for 8 months to save up for my reduction. I moved a handful of boxes up and down the stairs and didn't wear a bra!!! Victory! Also my scars are more red than usual these past 2 weeks which seems to be a trend this far along. I've been using bio-oil and Mederma alternating days and haven't noticed anything yet. (It's too soon to see changes anyway) Most of the sports bras I bought the week after surgery are now too big around so I'm planning a trip to the store after all this moving chaos is over. Even after my reduction I've found that I'm not a huge fan of Victoria's Secret bras but I sill have $100+ of gift cards from Xmas to spend!! Good thing they also sell clothes and undies ;) Like I said in an earlier update, I used to spend a ridiculous amount of time thinking about my boobs and now it's like they're a normal part of me that don't require constant accommodating. Love it!
