I'm interested in upper eyelid surgery to correct slightly hooded eyes. I am 27 years old, and can only take 11 days off. Will I be able to hide my surgery when I go back to work??
March 31, 2017
Answer: Upper Eyelid Surgery Healing Time Hello,This depends on the surgeon's technique, skill level, and a bit of luck. The usual recovery for my patients is that the upper eyelids themselves swell and get purplish for a few days. The sutures are removed at 5 days at which point the swelling and bruising are nearly gone. What remains at that point generally is easily taken care of with a little makeup. You won't be perfect, but the healing issues at 5 days are typically not noticed by the general public. There will be a pink line where the incision was. Unfortunately, you can't really do much about that except put makeup on it. As a young person, that pink line will probably be more easily noticed and you will need to cover it with makeup until it resolves. This can take several months. Very rarely, a person may get a true black eye and that may take two weeks to go away. Avoiding a black eye is mostly accomplished by being very careful with the initial injection of local anesthetic (which is always used even if you have general anesthesia) and using special equipment to do the surgery that seals the blood vessels as you go.Best Regards,Dr. A
Helpful 1 person found this helpful
March 31, 2017
Answer: Upper Eyelid Surgery Healing Time Hello,This depends on the surgeon's technique, skill level, and a bit of luck. The usual recovery for my patients is that the upper eyelids themselves swell and get purplish for a few days. The sutures are removed at 5 days at which point the swelling and bruising are nearly gone. What remains at that point generally is easily taken care of with a little makeup. You won't be perfect, but the healing issues at 5 days are typically not noticed by the general public. There will be a pink line where the incision was. Unfortunately, you can't really do much about that except put makeup on it. As a young person, that pink line will probably be more easily noticed and you will need to cover it with makeup until it resolves. This can take several months. Very rarely, a person may get a true black eye and that may take two weeks to go away. Avoiding a black eye is mostly accomplished by being very careful with the initial injection of local anesthetic (which is always used even if you have general anesthesia) and using special equipment to do the surgery that seals the blood vessels as you go.Best Regards,Dr. A
Helpful 1 person found this helpful
April 3, 2017
Answer: Most likely, YES Nobody is going to give you a money-back-guarntee on this, but most of my patients can go back by 10 days and conceal the upper blepharoplasty incision, bruising and swelling. The incision is easy to hide with makeup. Even the swelling is usually pretty minimal by 10 days, though if you took pictures each day you would notice it improving over 14-20 days...something most people wouldn't notice without a series of pictures each day side by side. The bruising is the issue. Each person bruises a bit differently, but most young people do just fine. It does depend a bit on the luck of the injection during the surgery, but on average the bruising is subsided enough by day 10 that only a tiny bit of yellow is left and can be covered by makeup. In my hands, most people have brushing gone by day 7 because it's so minimal. Keep in mind, good results are more important than a promise of days off work. You'll have to be a bit flexible in case you are in the low percentage group of longer bruising. Best of luck. You'll love this surgery!
Helpful 1 person found this helpful
April 3, 2017
Answer: Most likely, YES Nobody is going to give you a money-back-guarntee on this, but most of my patients can go back by 10 days and conceal the upper blepharoplasty incision, bruising and swelling. The incision is easy to hide with makeup. Even the swelling is usually pretty minimal by 10 days, though if you took pictures each day you would notice it improving over 14-20 days...something most people wouldn't notice without a series of pictures each day side by side. The bruising is the issue. Each person bruises a bit differently, but most young people do just fine. It does depend a bit on the luck of the injection during the surgery, but on average the bruising is subsided enough by day 10 that only a tiny bit of yellow is left and can be covered by makeup. In my hands, most people have brushing gone by day 7 because it's so minimal. Keep in mind, good results are more important than a promise of days off work. You'll have to be a bit flexible in case you are in the low percentage group of longer bruising. Best of luck. You'll love this surgery!
Helpful 1 person found this helpful