Thick Scar and Ridge After Blepharoplasty

Hello! Thank you for the question! It is common for scars to fully mature for up to a year. In the meantime, there are a few things that may help to ameliorate your incision/scar. The most proven (as well as cheapest) modality is simple scar massage. Applying pressure and massaging the well-healed scar has been shown to improve the appearance as it breaks up the scar tissue, hopefully producing the finest scar as possible. Other things that have been shown to add some benefit, albeit controversial, are silicone sheets, hydration, and topical steroids. In addition, avoidance of direct sunlight to the incision will significantly help the appearance as they tend to discolor with UV light during the healing process. If unsightly scars are still present after approximately a year's time, other things that your surgeon may consider are intralesional steroid injections, laser, or just surgical revision of the scar itself.Hope that this helps! Best wishes!

Your surgeon did the right thing extending the scar beyond the corner of the eye.  If that is not done, there will still be a hood at the outer corner.  I do think you need a revision to remove that food of skin you mention.  It is not unusual to need this done and it is quite a simple revision.  I'm sure your surgeon will be able to do this for you.

Unfortunately, scarring is a part of any surgical procedure. Whenever possible, plastic surgeons place scars where they are well hidden by anatomic structures. When upper lid blepharoplasty is performed, every effort is made to hide the incisions. On the upper eyelids the incisions are hidden in the eyelid crease where they are extremely difficult to see. Unfortunately, in cases where there is lateral hooding and large amounts of excess skin, the incision needs to be extended beyond the crease. This is necessary to avoid a phenomenon known as a dog ear, where there is an abnormal pleat in the skin.

It appears that this maneuver was necessary in your case, to avoid gathering the skin at the corner of the eye. The scar is very red and noticeable at this point in time. Over the course of time, this should improve significantly. Scars generally take about 12 to 18 months to reach maximum improvement. In six months, the redness should be significantly improved.

In the meantime, the scars can be hidden with makeup. Occasionally, massage and steroid injections may be helpful. If scarring fails to improve with these steps, a scar revision or a skin re-surfacing procedure may be necessary.

It’s important to maintain good communication with your plastic surgeon. It’s still very early in the post-operative period and significant improvement will probably occur. Be patient, you may ultimately be very happy with your result.