Lower eyelid surgery (transconjunctival blepharoplasty) - Dr. Michael Neimkin

I had my follow-up visit with Dr. Neimkin today. Typically the visit happens 1 month after surgery but I was out of town at that time. Long story short, I still wake up somewhat swollen most mornings and of course today of all days I woke up pretty heavily swollen on both eyes. He wants to see me again in another 6 weeks and has told me to use Preparation H under my eyes when I wake up in the morning until I go back for my next follow up. I still have on most days what looks like small bags under each eye but I've read that fat repositioning takes longer to heal, so we will see. I hope it flattens out totally and I get the nice rested appearance that I was going for. I am patient so I'll wait to see what happens. Wish me luck!

Over the holiday break, I went snowboarding as I usually do. The elevation is quite high and I forgot that edema becomes a big problem in higher elevations. Both of my eyes swole up every single day while I was out boarding. There was no pain, but they did puff up under each eye quite badly. I knew about this, but had totally forgotten.

I have been back a few days now and the swelling is going away. My undereye area is still discolored. I read that this happens often with people who have darker skin. It is slowly fading away though. The spots on my face where the bolsters were positioned had discoloration too and this is also slowly fading. I can easily cover it with makeup though, but I mostly have to color correct the under eye area so the dark circles don't show through. Though it seems totally healed I still wake up most days with swelling under each eye, but it's getting better each day.

What you see on social media where people are totally healed and looking perfect after a week or 2 is more the exception, not the rule. It takes time to totally heal and for swelling and discoloration to go away. With makeup, I look totally normal but the puffiness still gives the impression that I have small bags under my eyes still, though not nearly as bad as before. Within 3 or 4 months or so I hope to see a final result.

This is what I looked like first thing this morning. Wednesday will be 3 weeks and I should be able to start wearing my contacts again, though I will wear them sparingly and just use my glasses most of the time. I have bad vision so it's hard for me to see what I look like in the mirror without getting closer to the mirror or using my hand mirror. So it will be interesting to see myself as I'd normally view myself in the bathroom mirror. I am still discolored, and I expected this as well. The spots where the bolsters were are discolored too, but that will fade over time as well. I can still feel the "knots" under each eye where the fat was repositioned. The right eye is softening up faster than the left eye. I'm not sure if my left eye had a bigger fat pad or why that might be....I'll ask Dr. Neimkin when I text him on Wednesday. I was told I could start wearing makeup again, but I've only worn a tiny bit so far for less than a few hours. So basically, no real updates right now. I guess this is the slow going stage and now it's just about patience.