Will These Bags or Festoons Finally Leave or Will This Be the Results, 1 Week Post-Op Lower Eyelid Surgery?

Despite intense interest, we do not know what causes all lower eyelid festoons in all people.  It is fair to say that you need your one week old surgery to heal before you contemplate additional surgical options or decide that your surgeon did not get the job done.  Unfortunately, this area can have persistent swelling and a reasonable recovery time might be 4 to 6 months.  I do agree with Dr. Garcia that it might very well be that a little filler could help conceal a residual festoon if you become impatient waiting for things to resolve.  Just be aware that fillers can also cause their own swelling which could also contribute to the appearance of a festoon.

There may be alot of sweling after your blepharoplasty, and caution is always better than over resection. If there is residual skin once the swelling dissipates, it can always be conservatively treated.  Be patient and give it a few months for the swelling to subside.

You are talking about two different things: "bags" are caused by fat pockets and they are usually taken care of by lower lid surgery. Festoons are swellings over  the cheek bone and has nothing to do with the lower lid and may not be helped by the surgery at all. Sometimes a midface lift combined with the lower lid surgery can help. This should be discussed with your PC. But at any rate one week is way to early to assess your results. Be patient.

Typically I would recommend waiting 4-6 weeks to see the results from lower Bleph; however, persistent festoons after lower bleph may not just contract with time as these are excess or hypertrophic orbicularis muscle that need to be excised and suspended. The typical lower Bleph procedure does not adress those specific needs. I would wait for at least a month before discussing a revision with your surgeon. Although fillers are excellent for tear troughs and peri-orbital furrows, I do not recommend them for festoons as the injection will need to be more superficial and that will likely create visible and palpable irregularities. I would definitely recommend surgery over fillers. Consult a qualified and experienced Facial plastic, General plastic or Occuloplastic surgeon in your area.

Festoons always look worse in the first few weeks following eyelid surgery. That said, festoons that were there ahead of surgery are likely to improve but may not disappear 100%. Give youself up to 3 months before deciding whether the surgery was helpful. While healing you may find lymphatic drainage massage helps reduce the swelling. I also recommend trying to figure out which factors tend to make the festoons worse, such as certain foods, sleeping position, etc. Be very cautious about getting filler injections to camouflage the festoons. Fillers in the lower lids can look better in the flat reflection of a mirror, but in reality can make the puffiness worse.

I have performed lower eylid surgery (Blepharoplasty), for over 20 years and at 1 week post-op it's way to soon to make any judgement about the results.  The eyelids will continue to hewal for several months...just be patient would be my advice.