So Happy with my Lower Bleph and Endoscopic Brow Lift! - Toronto, ON

Ok, this pic gives an idea of what I looked like pre-surgery. I can't believe I didn't delete it. Sorry the colour is all wonky and the res. is bad... I zoomed in on a far away shot.

I'm sure like most people, the thought of facial surgery terrified me; it's the last place you want any type of error and after reading through people's horror stories I was determined to find the best doctor to perform my surgeries. I researched for months, asked around, researched some more, and finally made some apts. I knew within my first meeting with Dr Ford that he would be my surgeon.

My results are amazing. I had no complications and it was worth every penny.

I'm not going to lie, the first 3 days are rough; I was medicating myself every 4 hours, I slept all the time, I had stitches under, in, and on the outside of my eyes; in addition to the staples and stitches in my forehead. I felt super needy and I would recommend DEFINITELY having support around you. Ideally, you don't want any stress and you'll need help cleaning your sutures and staples and putting in eye drops. I was also icing my eyes for 20mins every 45mins-1hr for the first 3 days and then sporadically after (it doesn't reduce swelling after 3 days but it feels nice). I actually wasn't icing, I was using cold compresses. I had a tupperware in the fridge with gauze strips in it filled with bottled water and I'd put in ice cubes from bottled water to make it super cold without being freezing. Day 4 seemed to be the magic day for me. I was up and moving and feeling pretty good about life (despite joking that I looked like Frankenstein and not leaving the house).

I forgot to mention that I was sleeping in a recliner lazy boy chair. We've got a super comfortable chair so it was actually alright, better than alright, I surprisingly slept really well in it. I knew that I was going to spend at least a week in it, and it ended up being two after I tried to sleep in bed and woke myself up sleeping on my side with my face pushed into the pillow. You want to keep your head elevated for weeks (to keep the swelling down) so it's up to you if you can master sleeping in bed on your back with pillows keeping your head elevated, or like me, you're used to sleeping on your side and you happen to have a ridiculously comfortable reclining chair.

You won't be reading, watching tv, or playing on your phone those first days (at least I wasn't). Everything is bright on your eyes (oh, bring big, dark sunnies to leave surgery with... you're super sensitive to light). Audio books or having someone read to you is how I got through the in-between stage (not sleeping all the time but still can't look at bright screens). I also played tv series for the background sound while I was icing my eyes and to keep myself entertained.

Ok, so day 7, I got my stitches and sutures out. It was the first day that I left the house and was a catalyst to rejoining the world. You don't have stitches impairing your vision and you don't have staples in your head so you really feel liberated. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't doing anything other than seeing close friends, and I still felt a bit fragile and protective of my face and head, but I was definitely on the mend and super happy with how I looked. It changes daily by the way. Some days swelling leaves, then comes back; sometimes you're swollen in one area and the next day in another area. The first few weeks your in constant flux with swelling but for me, the worst of it was over after the first week.

I took everything to extremes and I'm not telling anyone else to do what I did, I'm just sharing what I think contributed to good healing. I quit drinking coffee for two weeks post surgery; I only started going for small, super slow walks once I hit the two week mark; I sat on the recumbent bike and pedaled really slowly starting around 3 weeks; I started fast walking at 4 weeks, and only now at 5 weeks, have I started to do a bit of light jogging mixed in with fast walking. I'm so happy with how things went that I don't want to jeopardize my recovery. For me, playing it safe and really giving my body time to heal before I go back to doing intense sport is a small price to pay for ensuring a successful surgery and recovery. I'd rather have a perfect face and a few extra pounds to work off then be responsible for a mishap because I was too impatient to give it time.... but that's just me.

Pre-surgery I took initiative for doing everything that I could to help promote healing. 3 weeks before surgery I started:
1. 2000mg vit c/day
2. Vit A
3. Vit B
4. Zinc
and I started Bromelain and Arnica tablets a few days before surgery.

I exercised a lot, drank lots of water, and ate healthy.

I had dinners that were prepared before and put in the freezer- this saved me because there was no way I felt like cooking anything for the first week.

It's winter here and people were coughing everywhere I went so I started wearing a mask in public places as soon as someone coughed lol The last thing I wanted was to be sick AND be in recovery at the same time. Not sure if it was the mask or just that I was strong and healthy, but I never got the cold that everyone else did.

My biggest advice pre surgery is to stay calm. I woke up maybe a month before surgery in a full panic over all the negative outcomes that could happen. It took me a few hours to calm myself down. I chose my surgeon because I believed that he was the best, and I was in the process of doing everything that I could on my end to assist in the healing process. Believing these two vital necissities for a positive outcome kept me calm the rest of the time.