Upper blepharoplasty scars? (Photos)

Thank you for your question. You submitted several photos, asking how long does it take for upper eyelid scars after blepharoplasty to fade. You state you’re putting Kelocote on your upper eyelid twice a day, and you’re looking for guidance on what the timeline is from where you are currently.
I can give you my impression based on the photos you submitted, without the benefit of any history and physical examination. A little background: I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon. I have been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years. Upper eyelid cosmetic and reconstructive surgery have been a significant part of my practice. I have a lot of experience in this area, and published an article about the best ways to handle different skin types when it comes to eyelid surgery healing and scarring.
When I look at your photos, I noticed you have some bruising and some yellow discolorations, which makes me think the eyelid surgery was relatively recent, maybe in the past few weeks. This is a discussion that you definitely should have with your doctor.
When I talk to my patients, coming from decades of experience and knowing what people do, I often have to dissuade them from trying to prevent keloid formation. One of the fears everyone has is the scars would look thick and obvious, so part of this is understanding what is going on. Wound healing is a very important concept. When you are within the first month of your wound healing process, it is normal for the skin of the eyelid incision point to be elevated and thick. Often, many people want to do something to interfere with that. What unfortunately happens is by placing their fingers and whatever they’re placing on there, they often inflame it further.
The phase you’re going through is called the proliferative phase of wound healing. During this phase, the body is generating collagen, and that collagen is relatively disorganized,  kind of like throwing spackle. It’s repairing, and all the fibers of collagen are disorganized. After one month, they start going through a remodeling phase where those disorganized fibers become parallel and flat. Often, the fear of the scar becoming a keloid occurs during the proliferative phase when things look a little thick.
I follow my patients pretty closely. I see them at one week, sometimes at 2 weeks. After that first week timeframe when they had sutures removed, then at 1 month then 3 months, 6 months, then a year. The first few weeks are very important, so what I tell my patients is to do proper hand hygiene, avoid touching the areas as much as possible, and try not to put any kind of anti-scar cream or anything like that.
I’ve written lots of articles about this like, “Ethnic Considerations in Eyelid Surgery”. People with darker skin who have this tendency to form keloids, whether it’s behind the ear, ear piercing or hypertrophic or thick scars where they show incisions in their abdomen or other areas, our skin is remarkably forgiving. When there is good technique and good closure, even in keloid prone skin, our skin can heal very nicely.
I think you should remember your timeframe is not in the first few weeks, but actually over several months where you will see this remodeling process. Follow-up with your doctor, and you should have a much better understanding, especially if your doctor shows you progression of your improvement with time. This is something you should always ask your doctor about before you go and place things on your own. I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck, and thank you for your question.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.

Upper blepharoplasty incisions generally heal quite nicely, but like any surgery it takes time, usually months for the scar to fade.  Some people get more redness than others and this sometimes takes quite a while to fade.