Upper and Lower Blepharoplasty

I'm 34 years old, physically active, wife, and mom of 2 girls. I have ALWAYS had bags under my eyes and a permanent furrow between my eyebrows. Sometime around my early 30's I noticed they got significantly worse. I inherited my dad's eyes and like many others I have tried pretty much every cream out there. Sometimes they seemed to not be as bad but most days I was super self conscious of my eyes. I would be at work and feel like I felt rested. Someone would ask...'is everything ok? You look so tired!' or 'have you been crying?' or 'your eyes are really puffy'. Every single time someone said a comment like that I would say 'no I'm not tired, it's just my face.' You can imagine all the comments I have dreamed of snapping back with... 'is you waist always so thick?' or 'did you know your teeth aren't white?'
Many people in my life have said that my bags aren't that bad. To me they were allllll I saw when I looked in the mirror. I finally decided I was done looking way older than I was, and always feeling I looked drained and incredibly tired. I was doing this surgery for me and only me. I felt selfish at times and guilty. I was terrified. I can barely get the flu shot without feeling nauseous! I went to my first consult with a surgeon that specialized in neck/face/throat. His nurse was incredible, and he was direct and straight to the point. I prefer that rather than someone who beats around the bush. He explained that he recommended an upper/lower blepharoplasty. (and some botox for my perma furrow which I still we be going to get done.) I put a deposit down for the surgery as I knew if I didn't do it that day I would back out. The only problem was I had to wait 7 months to get the surgery as it lined up with some time off I had from work. 7 months though was good for me haha. I was able to come to terms with the fact that I reallllly wanted my bags gone and that I was truly ready for the surgery.
I can say I've never been so nervous in my life. My surgery was first thing in the morning and I was going under for the operation. Going in that morning is a bit of a blur. I was in the zone and ready! I was also freaked out. It took approximately 2 hrs. I have been under anesthesia one time prior for my wisdom teeth. I handled it well for my wisdom teeth...but not so well for this surgery. I was nauseous after but luckily I am the type of person that does ANYTHING to avoid puking. Maybe that's weird but it's how I am. The recovery nurse gave me anti nausea meds and they helped a bit. I got home and instantly felt relieved the surgery was done, as I felt for me that was the worst part. Now just for the recovery...
Day 1-4, I took the meds prescribed to me. I will have to find the name of them because they were awesome. I was not in pain but my eyes felt very tight and swollen and I would get a bit nauseous if I didn't take them. So I took them about every 5 hours. After about 15 minutes after taking one pill I was BOOM asleep for 2-3 hours. It was unreal. Almost like I was making up for all the sleepless nights with my two daughters when they were babies! (I was icing my eyes almost every hour for 10-20 min.) Also I didn't eat much for the first 4 days. The meds decreased my appetite. Typically I love food so this was different for me.
Around day 5, I was getting annoyed with how tight my eyes felt. My right eye wouldn't close completely and that was hard. The stitches were really itchy and I dreamed of getting the stitches out. I couldn't wait. I had mostly dissolvable stitches except for the outer parts of my eyes. I stopped the meds as they ere making me dizzy. (The dizziness for me lasted 2weeks. Felt kind of like I was on a boat....but clearly I wasn't.) I was still icing my eyes almost every hour for 15 fish minutes. I listened to a lot of TED talks. Oh and I did get constipated from the meds and from the anesthesia. That was painful. I highly recommend stool softener pills to be taken immediately just to try and prevent it if you can.
Day 7, I got the stitches removed! It didn't feel great (some pinching) but it was quick and felt amazing afterward! Down to icing 2 times a day. right eye is starting to close easier but still not normal feeling.
Day 8-14, bruises were almost completely gone by end of two weeks. One of my eyes is bigger than the other naturally. I find it is a bit more noticeable after the surgery. My eyes are still bit tight and the surgeon says things will continue to settle.
The funny part of this is that my mom and sister said I look like I'm a nicer person now. I don't disagree! Prior to my surgery I would frequently get asked if I was upset or angry. Again I liked to respond with 'no it's just my face'. But secretly inside I always was confused because I didn't feel angry. So I became aware that what I felt on the inside didn't necessarily get portrayed on my face properly. I am just feeling like my face now reflects how I'm feeling. Happiness :)

Things are going good. Even at 3 weeks I still feel a little swollen at times and eyes are still a little tight. The tightness is getting better though and I still ice 1-3 times a day. I'm at a lake and it's been very sunny and hot. I've been wearing sunglasses and a hat to keep my eyes out of the sun. Even if I was allowed to have my eyes in the sun I wouldn't want to as it's too bright. This week isn't as bad dealing with brightness but last week was still sensitive. I'm using gel drop in eyes at night and then normal drops 1-2 times during the day. We are out boating every day so I feel like my dryness is pretty normal considering the environment. Again I'm wearing big sunglasses that fit over my glasses so not a lot of wind can get in. Yesterday was the first day I put swim goggles on and went for a swim! FELT AMAZING to get my face in the water.
My right eye still is taking it's time healing and although I can shut it properly now it's not quite strong enough and I don't like to put my face directly in the shower stream as I get water in my eye.
I think I'm being pretty realistic in my expectations. I by no means have a symmetrical face, so I wasn't expecting complete symmetry. I am very happy my bags are gone. I do feel like I look completely different haha. I know it's because of the upper lids. Personally my upper lids never really bothered me before because my lower lids were all I focussed on. Looking back I feel a bit neutral on having the uppers done. Maybe I would have focussed more on them if I had only had my lowers done....and then I would have regretted not getting both done at the same time. Who knows.... Either way I don't regret anything and I know the final results won't show for a little longer.
BIGGEST piece of advice is have realistic expectations and a good surgeon.

Well it's certainly been a journey. Some people write their reviews and it seems like everything was a piece of cake for them. Maybe they just leave the details out, but I think back to when I was trying t decide whether or not to do this and I wanted to know alllll about peoples experiences so that if I encountered something similar I wouldn't think it was just me.
Some things that I currently still experience:
-the dry eyes have gotten MUCH better but now I have watery eyes. I find it odd as tears will actually wet my face in the night. Not all nights but some. Seems worse with makeup.
-I'm still sensitive to light. Not like in the beginning though.
-I still have some bumps at the incisions sites. Not many but a few. Seems to be worse at the outer part of my eyes. Like the last stitch or something... hoping it goes away.
-my lids in various places are numb, so putting on makeup is extremely odd
Like I've mentioned before my right eye has always been bigger, so my expectations were not for complete symmetry.
My biggest struggle has been that I don't recognize myself in the mirror. Slowly it's becoming more normal for me....but it's taking a while for this to sink in. My eyes have always been full of expression, but now I find the muscles/skin/everything is still healing and those things may take time to come back to a new normal. It's so weird.
In a few days I'll post some 6 week post op photos with no makeup.