Eyelid Surgery: Does it hurt?

Question

Are patients ever awake during surgery? How bad it the pain during recovery?

Suzanne Kim Doud Galli, MD, PhD, FACS · Answer

Eyelid surgery can be performed under local anesthesia. It is not a painful procedure. Most patients do not require pain medication postoperatively. Be sure to have your surgery performed by a board certified surgeon with expertise in eyelid surgery.

William Portuese, MD · Answer

In our practice, we place patients to sleep under a brief general anesthetic for patient safety and comfort.  The surgery is performed in a licensed and certified outpatient surgery center , and the anesthesia is administered by a board-certified physician anesthesiologist. The fatty deposits around the eyes in both the upper and lower lids,  have deep proprioceptive pain fibers that don't numb up well to local anesthetic. The fat pads when removed, can be quite painful during the surgery. After the surgery, there is usually very little pain associated with either upper or lower eye lid surgery. In our practice most patients take only a few pain pills for the first day or 2 after the procedure.

Eyelid Surgery: Does it hurt?

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Everything you need to know about Eyelid Surgery

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Eyelid Surgery: Does it hurt?

Answers (2)

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Recommended reading

Everything you need to know about Eyelid Surgery

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.