How long should I wait for double eyelid revision?

Thank you for your question. You state you had Asian eyelid surgery a week ago, but you’re not happy with the appearance of the crease. You’d like to know if you can have revision surgery as soon as the second week, stating that even if you were to wait three months, you would still want the revision surgery.To give you a bit about my background — I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, practicing in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years. Asian eyelid surgery is one of my areas of expertise — both primary and revision surgery for incisional and non-incisional techniques —so I can certainly give you some perspective on that matter.When evaluating a patient, the first decision to make is whether to do an incisional or non-incisional approach. After that has been decided, a lot of time is spent planning, drawing, and communicating to the patient what the possible outcome will look like.I make sure to explain to my patients that swelling will occur. In fact, it is normal for the area of the eyelid margin to the crease to become so swollen that the crease looks very high and the shape looks undesirable. It will take time for the eyelid incision and crease definition to settle and develop over the course of several months.I also tell my patients that there’s always the possibility of needing revision surgery, because that’s the very nature of cosmetic surgery — you’re working with millimeters of soft tissue, therefore timing is very important. That being said, I think that using swollen eyelids as a basis of whether you will need a revision would be difficult. I would advise against having revision surgery on the second week, because little can be accomplished by operating on swollen tissue.Ultimately, I think that if you carefully discussed and planned everything with your doctor, and you saw this was what you wanted to do, then I am confident an experienced cosmetic surgeon who performs Asian eyelid surgery with some consistency, will likely be able to deliver the type of results that you are expecting. Meet with your doctor and learn what is going on with healing, what to expect, and ask them what things are going to look like as time goes on. I think you’ll see that as the swelling comes down, chances are you’ll get closer to what you had expected and you’ll feel more confident in the final outcome.I hope that was helpful and I wish you the best of luck!This personalized video answer to your question is posted on RealSelf and on YouTube. To provide you with a personal and expert response, we use the image(s) you submitted on RealSelf in the video, but with respect to your privacy, we only show the body feature in question so you are not personally identifiable. If you prefer not to have your video question visible on YouTube, please contact us.

Thank you for sharing your question. It is premature to judge results following your eyelid surgery. Please be patient and wait 4 months, because you will continue to improve. Good luck. 

Hello, thank you for your question.  I understand that the swelling and unevenness in the early post-operative phase is distressing to a lot of patients.  However, more likely than not, the shape of your eyelids will improve significantly over the next 4 to 6 weeks.  Early revision at this stage is risky and inadvisable. Continue ice pack, try taking bromelain and/or arnica supplements to help decrease swelling, and follow up with your surgeon.  Good luck!