Botox Eyelid Droop - My plastic surgeon recommended Naphcon-A by Alcon. Is this the best product or are there better products?

A rare side effect is temporary drooping of one eyelid. This is short lived. Eyelid droop may also be corrected with a prescription eye drop (Iopidine 0.5%) that you can get from a physician. This can help alleviate the droop within a few weeks to a month. You can also wait a couple of months for the effects of the Botox to wear off, at which point the droopiness will also go away.

The complete effect of the Botox may not be seen for up to 7-10 days.  So your eyelid may potentially get worse before it gets better with the drops.  Since you are only 6 days post-injection, I would recommend continuing with the eye-drops as long as you can tolerate them.  Be sure your injecting physician has discussed all potential side-effects of the drops including "adrenaline-like" symptoms such as anxiety, heart-pounding, and heart-racing as well as eye irritation, eye dryness, and eye pain.  If you experience these symptoms, you will likely need to switched to a different type of eye-drop.On average, the drops may raise your eyelid about 2mm.You have two pieces of good news:#1 -- The eyelid droop rarely lasts as long as the full duration of the Botox.  Botox typically lasts 3-4 months, while the eyelid droop rarely lasts longer than 1-2 months.#2 -- The eyelid droop is likely 100% reversible.Good luck. 

There are many other eyedrops which stimulate the muscles which lift the eyelid and may cause a partial correction. This will likely need to be repeated for 2-3 months and include the meds discussed here such as lopidine, aproclonidine, alphagan, naphcan-A, etc.

The Naphcon does help but the Apraclonidine is thought to be better.  However, here is the story.  I have studied the effect of these drops in individuals in your situation.  The effect of the drops in the first week of treatment predicts the longevity of the side effect.  When the drop is effective,  this suggests that the droppy lid will resolve in 4 to 6 weeks.  However, if the drops are not initially effective, then the ptosis can persist for 3 to 6 months and sometimes longer.

If your eyelid droop is from the effect on the levator of the upper eyelid from botox being placed close to the eyebrow above the pupil, then Iopidine is the best prescription. The side effect is not permanent and may take up to 12 weeks to fade completely, possibly slightly more but this is doubtful.

I am so sorry that you are having this rare complication from Botox. I have seen it in my own practice less than 0.1% of all cases, but when it happens, it upsets both patient and doctor. Iopidine usually gives several hours of relief. Usually the droop lasts about one month. Interestingly, I have never seen it in first time cases, but rather in patients who had Botox before. And even more interesting is that the ones who bravely tried Botox again, they did not have the droop on subsequent treatments. Good luck!

If you truly have eyelid ptosis in which you can not open your eye much, then drops such as the ones you were prescribed or iopidine can help. They are all temporary but the good thing is that the Botox affects will wear off in a few months.

Iopidine (generic is clonidine) eye drops is the treatment of choice for ptosis. The improvement is so drastic and occurs in minutes from application. It doesn't last long and requires about 4 times application a day. The good thing about ptosis is that the effect does not last as long the effect of the Botox itself, so you will see improvement within weeks rather than months.

Ptosis or eyelid drooping is reported to occur 3-4 % of the time after Botox treatment. Iopidine is an effective treatment for ptosis however you should discuss this with your surgeon or eye doctor.