60th Birthday Present To Me - Upper Bleph - Gainesville, FL

After seeing another review on RealSelf for Dr. Sadove in Gainesville, Florida, I went for a consultation and booked my appointment for Thursday. Dr. Sandove is running a RealSelf special for upper eye Blepharoplasty for $1950. I'm posting a photo showing two images of myself. The one on the left is from 2014 very relaxed. The one on the right is a month ago and if you will notice that I have raised my eyebrows to minimize the hooded look. A surprise look and a smile is the cheapest cosmetic trick out there! I'm hoping with my upcoming surgery, I can just be myself (lol) and not have to appear "surprised" all the time. Hoping that my final results will look comparable to the second photo. Wish me luck!

Dr. Sadove recommended no aspirin or blood thinning supplements, etc. for three weeks before hand. I also started Arnica x6 today to see if it will help to minimize swelling and bruising after surgery. Getting a bit nervous, but comfortable in my choice of doctors.

Went in for surgery yesterday. All in all a really good experience. A valium and numbing gel before the lidocaine injections. (ask for the numbing gel...some doctors don't generally use it, but I found it very, very helpful to ease the injections).

The doctor had me sit on the side of the bed and he very carefully marked my eyes, after much evaluating. When I said please take as much as you can, Dr. Sadove said, "not too much, not too little". I really liked that. Looking at the marked up areas in the mirror it looked like it was a big area he was planning to excise. I was surprised -- and glad. =)

There were probably 4-5 pricks with the needle on each eyelid. Barely noticeable, maybe two that stung a bit, but the numbing gel really helped. The surgery did not last that long, maybe an hour or less. Could not feel anything. Afterwards, when I looked in the mirror I was pleasantly surprised. Adding two photos. The close up of the lids closed is about three hours after surgery. The other pic is this morning, the morning after. The lids are red and swollen. No pain to speak of. Pleasantly surprised. No pain relief needed this morning, but I need to slow down as I feel so good that I'm afraid I'm not resting enough. I was reprimanded by my sister and another friend. Okay. Will take it easier after this post.

Looking forward to having the stitches removed. I'm sure there will be a lot of itching coming in the next few days, more bruising, but it will be SO worth it. More photos later. =)

I had the upper bleph done last Thursday. Been applying ice cold washrag four or so times a day. No pain meds needed. The nurse said I didn't need an antiobiotic cream and that I shouldn't put anything on my eyes, but I did use a little coconut oil every so often to try and keep the area around the eye moisturized. Yesterday (Tuesday) the stiches were removed by Dr. Sandove. Ouch. I think the worst part of the whole procedure. Pick a surgeon who does continuous stitching with minimal knots. The few knots I had were pretty uncomfortable coming out. Dr. Sandove's stitches were very uniform and even. Which I liked! I've seen a few on here where the stitching could have been much better.

All in all, I'm very happy with the results, but expect the swelling to go down since it's only been six days since surgery. So the lid area should be smaller, but I will be happy regardless, I don't think I had any bruising since the surgery. The lid was very red and swollen and below my eyes I've had puffiness. But I push myself more than I should and I don't know if it's from that or just general puffiness from the trauma. I am in excellent shape and eat well so maybe that's why everything went so smoothly. Just thinking aloud. Two weeks and Dr. Sandove wants to see me again. I'm sure he will want a photo for his portfolio! =)

Took two more photos today to show the difference a day after stitch removal. Yesterday it was hard to smile and today feeling much better and a very bright outlook on the future. More inclined to wear my hair up for the summer!