Can Eyelid Surgery Cause Oil Bumps?

Question

I had eyelid surgery on both eyes ..oil bumps have formed..doctor recommended hot cloth and try o massage them away...one doctor that I was seeing for post opt said the surgery could of caused this..then when I went back to the surgery center they told me it was not caused by the surgery and I now have an added cost to have them removed. I've been trying to find on the internet that the surgery cause these oil bumps..one is very large looks like a cyst I tried the browse but it would not locate m

Kenneth D. Steinsapir, MD · Answer

Millia are occluded oil glands in the skin. This is most often caused by using vasoline on the skin after surgery. Along an incision line in the upper eyelid, this bumps can be millia but they can also be a small incision cyst. The millia go away. The inclusion cysts persist and slowly get larger. These can easily be dealt with in the office by opening the cyst.

Robert Brueck, MD · Answer

Im not sure what oil bumps are but it sounds like you have soem small inclusion cysts which is very common after an incision in the eyelid.Usually they can be easily removed by forceful rubbing or having your docor just unroof them with a sterile needle.tr

Francis R. Palmer, III, MD (retired) · Answer

These are called Millia and are from occluded, or blocked, oild glands within the skin. Vasoline or other topical ointments can cause these. Suture can cause similar small cysts but all of these are easilly treated by gently cleaning the skin or opening the cysts with a small needle. This is most likely related to your eyelid surgery and the plastic and cosmetic surgeon or his staff nurse should take care of this for you, IMHO.

Phillip C. Haeck, MD (retired) · Answer

Oil bumps or little pimple like white bumps are common after belpharoplasty.  They are called milia and they can happen to anyone after this surgery regardless of the suture or surgeon.  Small ones need not be treated.  The larger ones can be ruptured (by your surgeon please) and the material expressed.  Why shouldn't you do this at home?  If it is done in a on sterile fashion it can casue an infection and or a scar.

	Most patients get one or two.  A few get up to half a dozen or more.  In the long term they will stop forming and become just a memory.

	What causes them?  No one really knows.  I tell my patients they are formed in the thin eyelid skin ( the thinnest skin area in our bodies) becasue there is no dermis to absorb the oil.  There is only one way for the oil to go and that is out.   When dead skin traps the oil beneath it you get a milia.  After a blepharoplasty the dead layer of skin builds up and probaly doesn't shed as quickly, trapping the oils.

	Cleaning the skin regularly should be all that is necessary to prevent them after surgery.

Can Eyelid Surgery Cause Oil Bumps?

Answers (4)