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Tear Trough Implants

ORIGINAL POST

Tear Trough Implants

Spicemustflow
$6,000
It's so hard to find tear trough implant information since everything is filler-geared so hopefully this will help. I was born with deep hollows that really intensified in my 30's. The tear trough line was actually one of the most defining features of my face.
By the time I was 40 no amount of concealer would help. (Fillers were great but I have a high metabolism so my body would eat through it in a few weeks.) I did the math and figured that keeping my tear troughs maintained with filler would cost me at least 3000 per year, when I could have a permanent solution done for a one time roug estimate of 6000.

I looked into surgery and found one of the most highly regarded experts in this lived in Austin (Dr. Apostolakis.) I met with him and he gave me confidence that he knew what he was doing - he's pretty direct in a wry way which I appreciated. So, I had the procedure done in May of 2019. Swelling, bruising was as expected, no complications though it took 3 months to really see the long-term results. Here's what I discovered:

The Pros:
1. That deep crease that I spackled daily with concealer was -poof- gone like magic.
2. Cheekbones: This was not expected but I have more definition to the mid-plane of my face which is a nice side effect.
3. Dark circles are greatly minimized.
4. Beside the surgery, I should also point out that the Dr.is a filler wizard. He did my filler/botox combo on the glabellar frown line between my eyebrows which has lasted for over a year and is still going strong. Nobody has ever done this on me correctly. Seriously, most doctor's don't inject but he's brilliant with this.

The Cons: (deep breath)
1. Nerve pain: 1 year later parts of my face near my sinuses are still numb or painful in other areas.
2. Swelling is still evident a year later. Worse on some days. I don't know if this is a mild infection or if my body is just rejecting a foreign body.
2. This is the scary part: My vision has changed. I have always been far sighted but almost instantly my close up vision became blurry. I mentioned this to the Dr but he said it was unrelated. However, apparently injections/surgery can irritate or damage the ocular nerve.

Jesus - How am I even supposed to know if my ocular nerve is damaged? Is there even a procedure to test for this? Who do you talk to? The dearth of information regarding this procedure makes it very hard to get straight info. (Especially when most Doctors will simply chastise you for getting the procedure in the first place.)

Look, I have no issues with Dr. Apostolakis - he's a great surgeon and the procedure did what it promised to do. My concern is that my particular anatomy isn't handling this procedure well and I don't know how to proceed. Did I just blow 6000? If I have to have the implants removed will my vision even improve? Will the swelling ever go down? Will my hollows be even worse because of all the manipulation to the soft tissue?

Spicemustflow's provider

Louis W. Apostolakis, MD

Louis W. Apostolakis, MD

Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon

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Replies (10)

April 23, 2020
I had a brow lift five years ago and the nerve damage still bothers me. I wasn’t aware that nerve damage could be such a problem. People should really be careful about any surgery that damages the nerves. I wish I had never had the surgery.
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May 4, 2020
I had a rhinoplasty done and a year later still have issues with sinuses, stuffy nose, inner eye near bridge feeling of burning like nerve pain, a bump there and just doesn’t feel right . I felt like I had a low grade infection from the start and have contacted the dr numerous times only to be brushed off. I really regret having the surgery. Maybe you should seek another opinion from an eye surgeon.
May 7, 2020
Did he provide informed consent to you? In other words, did any of the paperwork you reviewed and signed specified a vision change as a side effect?
May 7, 2020
BTW you have beautiful eyes.
June 11, 2020
Any issues from the surgery?