52 , Want to Rejuvenate my Eyes So I Can Look Like Myself Again. Upper and Lower Blepharoplasty - St. Petersburg, FL

Hi all,
I had an upper and lower blephaoplast on Monda, May 18th with Dr. Lawrence Kass in St. petersburg, FL. He is an oculo plastic surgeon and had many 5 star reviews here on real self.
I am now on Day 7, Memorial day. I have my first post op visit tomororw,Tuesday, and I am supposed to have the stiches taken out. I sure hope so! They dont hurt but I am very aware of them, feels like someone is grabbing my eyes.
It Still looks pretty bad here late on day 7, especially my left eye! Very puffy and many colors below. Has been very purple/red, now the puffy part is starting to turn yellow. I had yellow all the way down PAST my mouth on the left side yesterday.
No pain , just needing to take tylenol when I start feeling it cause a little headache, and then its fine. I am hoping some of the strange shape of my eyes will relax when the stiches are out.
I am posting photos before the procedure and for every day, I am sorry but I just could not post as it was happening , because I couldnt see very well, since I was putting on the over-the-counter ointment (generic ointment for brand name "refresh PM) in the morning and at night on my stiches for the first few days.
I was icing for the first 3-4 days for 30 minutes every hour. The best way for me was to buy frozen peas, and then transfer the peas to quart-size plastic ziploc bags. I made 3 of these bags so that I could rotate them. Sometimes I would put a washcloth or a napkin between the cold bag and my face. I set the timer on my iphone in case I fell asleep.
I bought an electric recliner from someone on craigslist for $45 and it has worked out fantastic! I was worried about sleeping in my bed because I always sleep on my stomach. Sure enough, one day I just laid down for a inute on my bed and woke up on my face! Luckily nothing happened and it was only for half an hour or so,

I set up the recliner in my kitchen/dining room and had all my chargers, etc set up and ready to go. Mary from Dr. kass' office picked me up the day of surgery and broguht me home, which was great. I didnt really want to tell people about my surgery and I dont have family in town. I had to take valium 4 hours before h procedure, then again 2 hours before , then 45 minutes before. The last thing I remeber was getting in her car to go to the office, and then being home! I dont know how they got me into the building, lol.
Anyway, my follow up appt is Tomorrow at 2:30 pm , so I hope he takes out the stiches and everything Looks like it should .
To help with bruising/ bleeding, I have been taking Hyland's arnica montana 30x ( got on Amazon) since a week before the surgery ( 4 pills under tongue 4x a day) also I stopped taking vit C, E, fish oil, ibruprofen, etc. 2 weeks before surgery. Also taking Best Naturals bromelain 500 mg tablets 2 x a day (Amazon).
Hard to tell if this stuff helped since the bruising looks so bad, but maybe it would have been worse? Had a lot of blood in the left eye and still do.
The..the ..thats all folks! For now....

Feel free to ask me anything!
Good luck everyone:)

still not much difference today, my follow up is this afternoon.

Dr Kass and the stafff, Mary, Kate, said it looked very normal and fine, which is great because I was thinking it was pretty bad, lol. Actually I have seen some photos on here of people with bright red and puffy upper eyelids, so I guess I dont have that at all.
He took out the stiches and feels much better. I cleaned with just a q-tip and water when I got home to get out all the little black pieces that I know now are pieces of dried blood, not stitches. He said to continue my steriod drops twice a day for 1 more week, but I have no infection and he said it looked great. He said thatThe abnormal shape of the eyes, pulling away from the pupil, is from swelling, so not to worry about it. Still no heavy exercise allowed, take it easy, etc. I forbot to ask but I assume I need to still sleep with my head up, Ive been sleeping in my "new" recliner, which is fine but I certainly dont sleep as good on my back at all. C'est la Vie! I will make a list of items needed, etc, for those of you gearing up for this procedure. I had stopped ice after 4 days, and in the office they seemed like I should have been doing it every day, but no one had ever told me that, and the instructions for post op just said to ice for 48 hours. Oh well...

Pics from this morning, post op Day 9 Wed, May 27, 2015. Still have swelling on the left but getting slowly better. Also using Arnica gel on the bruises.
Still having to take tylenol for headaches as needed and taking steriod drops twice a day to prevent i flammation. I did ice for 10 min which felt good as well.
Losing my mind a bit sleeping on my back in the recliner, lol, but I can do it. I have been taking half an ambien sleeping pill a few times when I could just not fall asleep even though I was soooo tired. Sometimes those make me sleep lfor 3 hours and sometimes 6 or more hours, so weird, but they at least always get me to go to sleep, which is tough for me on my back.
I have lots of eye drops as well that i use as needed, just artificial tears, NOT Visine or Visine- type eye drops, make sure you dont use those.
If you have a BIG LOTS store in your area, I have always found artificial tears there for $1! They dont always have them but when they do I buy 3 or 4, becausse I like to have them in my purse and everywhere in the house since I wear contact lenses and I always need eye drops.

Yea a bit better but not there yet. Yesterday i may have iverdone it, running errands for about 5 hours, made my left eye feel like it was bloating even more, who knows. Still less red under it today.

Here some pis from today, so ready for this black left eye to be gone, glad I dont have to work yet. I have a hair color appt tomorrow and not sure. If I should cancel? I dont really like everyone knowing my business, darn it. But...Im having a breast lift on Monday, so then who know when I can get my hair colored and I want my hair to look good with my new boobs! Its gonna be like Christmas:)

Saw my PS today, Dr. Kass, to see what he thought about my lower left eyelid hematoma. He checked my vision, which was fine, then said that since my vision is perfect, he feels that it is better to just let the hematoma heal and drain on it's own, because if he drained it , it would cause even more bleeding and probably prolong the healing even longer. He said it was going to heal fine and not to worry. Unfortunatley it will take another 2 weeks or so.
Of course he was not thrilled about being second guessed by other doctors, etc, but that is just human nature, and he understood why that would have gotten me a bit scared. He said I should trust him, and he had seen many presentations and had performed over 10,000 eye surgeries. I think that does make me feel better. After all, his experience, specilaty, and good reviews are why I went to him in the first place.
He said he didnt know why I had more bleeding on the left side but Since I did, it was going tomtake a bit longer to heal, but it would heal perfectly. He gave me some massages to do for the upper lid scars and he said using silicone gel or cocoa butter was good. Also to use warm ( not hot) compresses on the hematoma.
I did say that I thought there should have been more follow up visits since I had all the bleeding in that eye, and he said that he would see me every week until its healed because his job is to make me happy.
Anyway, I feel much better about it.
Im Gonna have to figure out how to go back to work wearing sunglasses, which is not going to be easy.....

I feel like the hematoma uner my left eye is getting smaller, finally. Ive been doing some warm compresses for 10 minutes amd it seems to help, still usimg arnica gel and taking arnica tablets and bormelain tablets. Also, I am doing the massages on my outer right eye every hour (to I think coax that lower lid back up) and im using the NewGel Plus E silicone gel I got from Amazon too. And also jsimg the Mepitac silicone tape at night.

Swelling is going down under left eye. I am really trying to do less and relax and not be on computer all the time but it's very hard to do - I can tell my left eye stArts to hurt if I have been going and going for 4-5 hours.
I sm satisfied that the swelling will go away on the left Side , but Still not seeing the shape I want to see on the right eye. I'm doing "upwards" massages on the outside corner of the eye as my PS directed , so hoping that will help, but not yet. He said there is still swelling there which is causing the problem. Here's today's pics! Thanks everyone:)

Feels like its getting slowly better. I'm using "NewGel Plus E Advanced silicone gel for Scars" (Amazon $53 for 30 gram tube) to massage on the lateral (outer) eye scars, and doing 10-20 "up" massages on my right lateral eye ( PS told me to do this and to use a silicone gel).
I am also using Mepitac Silicone Tape on my scars at night, which I think is helping to flatten the scars. I had originally bought it to use with my breast lift scars but someone mentioned that it was thin enough to use on your upper lids, so I tried it, and I really like it. It comes in a roll, so I just cut small pieces and yes, it is very thin. I had read a good review of this and glad I got it. It is very inexpensive too, compared to silicone pads or such recommended by doctors, which are hundreds of dollars, but it seems to be the exact same thing- silicone! It is only $19.05 now for a roll on Amazon (Mepitac Silicone Medical tape,1.5" x 1.6 yards, sold by Soymedical). I plan to use for breast scars as well.

Also- I am heating up my rice bag heating pad in the microwave so it is warm, not hot, and putting on my eyes for 10 minutes a few times a day to promote healing- PS said this would help. Still taking bromelain 2 x a day, and arnica montana 30x under tongue pills 4 x a day to help with bruising. I am also STILL sleeping in my recliner or on the couch on my back, so i stay at a 45 degree angle. Starting to lose my mind with that but I really really want these eyes to get better and dont want to risk waking up flat on my face, lol.
Ok thats my Saturday report, enjoy the day folks and thanks again for your input and encouragement.

Feels like I look a little more like myself today, thank goodness - so hopeful. Right eye is still too round and Marty Feldman- like , but I've been doing lots of upwards massage on the outer area sto soften the scar tissue that is pulling my eye down - seems like it's working a bit but still a problem. I know it's only 3 weeks post op, so again, trying to be patient. It's tough!

Left the real self tab amd it ereased the message i had spent 30 minutes writing
So sorry folks, im done for today, ugh.

Still trying to just chill out but as old problems resolve a little, new problems start- ugh. Scary. Looking a bit like an extra on the walking dead, lol, wish it was actually funny. Makes a big difference if I put on a ton of base make up under my eyes to hide the dark circles.
Hematoma is STILL there, I keep thinking it will go away TOMORROW....
Still hard to tell how that left eye will look when The hematoma is gone.
Right eye still the most worrisome to me as it still has an odd shape being pulled down and laterally. Some days it seems to be getting better. I am doing upwards massage for a few minutes every few hours, but sometimes it just seems to look the same. My eyes are both much rounder than before surgery, i look at my before pictures and want to cry.
I am sad to report that Dr. Kass has been pretty awful as far as making me feel better and giving me guidence and education on what is happening. I am very disappointed in his lack of empathy in this matter. Instead of helping me,He seems to take it as personally that I would suggest anything is wrong. Get over yourself Doc, these are MY Eyes, here, this is NOT about you!

Pretty strange. His staff are very nice but they are telling me how great it looks as if there are no problems, which actually makes me more nervous than if they acknowledged that I am having some issues due to the hematoma etc, but it will turn out great eventually. I am not sure any of the staff ladies are actual nurses or medical people at all, anyway. There is Just a basic lack of acknowledgement that anything is abnormal with my surgery or recovery coming down from the top, since that is the odd stance Dr. Kass seems to take as well.
I am pretty sure I was told that it would be fine in 2 weeks and
I could even travel and see someone in a month for sure (!) so I know it is not normal to take this long to heal. But Now I am hearing things from the Doctor and staff that oh yes, it takes 2 mos, 6 mos, 1 year to heal...Really? I never heard that before surgery! Yes i know that it takes up to a year to COMPLETELY HEAL AND SETTLE, but I was NEVER told that it might take that long for INITIAL healing. What is going on?

Anyway, it is just scary to have your eyes look abnormal to what they looked like before, and I am still hoping it will resolve fine, but since Dr. Kass had previously told me that he has done over 10,000 eye surgeries, so he knew the hematoma would heal, it seems reasonable for me to expect him to know what to tell me is going on with my issues now in SPECIFIC TERMS, , and to tell me what his experience is with these issues. ....and to not just give me a a generic answer to every inquiry, basically that EVERYTHING is due to swelling. ... and make an appt to see me in a month!
My issues:
*Eyes too round, dont look like myself at all
*When I smile. My face looks frozen, and scary, eyes dont move. I look
I am wearing a mask- this makes me really scared. I have no emotion in my face!
*On the sides, my eyelashes are now vertical, so I can no longer get them in a crimper! (Upper lid pulled down too tight?)
*scleral show, lower lid drooping (called retraction) on right eye (I asked, and the Dr. Said he did not do anything to support the lower lid during surgery, he did not elaborate, or tell me why he didnt, of course)
*hematoma still there under left eye, so it is hard to know if the lower lid will droop or not when it is gone or how the shape will be, right now the eye is a bit too big for my liking
* eye sockets very pronounced and hollowed out , skull-like, with dark circles under both eyes. Worse, of course, on the hematoma side, but it makes me nervous that it is on the right side too. Why would i have a depression there if everything is due to "swelling"? And Dr. Kass said "people get fillers for that" - What? I just had a lower bleph and he is saying I can get fillers ? I thought he just told me everything was due to swelling? Am I supposed to need fillers right AFTER getitng a lower bleph? That doesnt sound too positive to me....
* rounded lateral canthus- outer eye is not an acute angle causing a sad eye look

I sent a photo (with makeup on) to a frined of mine a few days ago just to get her opinion, and she is now freaking out! She thinks i look like a Meth addict! What does that tell you - that I look "refreshed" as the staff told me at Dr. Kass' office?

Again, SURE- this may all resolve in another 3 - 4 weeks, I hope to God it does, but on the basis of Dr Kass inability to acknowledge and help me through this annormally long recovery, I dont think I would recommend him to anyone. If I ever have another surgery, I will absolutely ask the surgeon what possible complicarions there are, and exactly how he would handle them if they occur. I would also ask what his rate of complications was. We all want to be so politie, but when it is our faces and surgery , it is NOT the time to be overly concerned with hurting the Dr's feelings by simply asking important questions. If a surgeon is uncomfortable answering those questions, then they will surely be uncomfortable handling any problems, so I would move on down the road. The best surgeon in the world can have complications, so it is something they should all know how to deal with.

Btw, those of you following my review know that I have done everything I can to facilitate a quick recovery., And lI have put my life on HOLD to take it extra easy, no exercise, no traveling, (put a big trip on hold already) no bending, etc, sleeping on my back on the couch and in a recliner for almost 5 weeks! ,thank God I haven' t had to work or I dont know what I would have done. Going back in 2 weeks. I have already had to tell many people about this surgery that I didnt want to tell because it was unavoidable. I wanted it to be a complete secret and even paid one of Dr. kass' staff to pick me up and take me home the day of surgery to avoid letting any friends or neighbors know. ( also feel she charged me an exhorbitant fee for that service which She did not tell about up front, ( I would NOT have done it if she had)so I just figured it wouldn't be too much - wrong. another disappointment.

I decided I need to get a second objective opinion.
Even if another PS can just tell me that they have seen my issues before, and it will resolve in time. Or at least tell me what is going on, so I understand it. I wish I could get that from my PS , but apparently not.
I have an appt Wednesday with an oculoplastic Surgeon who specializes in eye surgery complications, so am looking forward to finding SOMETHING out. Ill let you know how it goes. Ill post some pics, I wish I Could show my whole face because then you can see a lot more how the eyes just dont match my face, its truly sad.

Ok thats my story-Tell me your thoughts, thanks in advance.

I saw Dr. Michael Patipa in South Florida Wednesday morning, and I feel so much better now.
He listened to my concerns, examined me ( actually touched my eyelids, which Dr. k
Kass has never done post op), and then explained in detail the anatomy of what was going on ( No Virginia, it IS NOT due to mysterious "swelling"), and told me what I could do to help the issue, as well as what options I would have if it did not resolve to my liking after 6 months.
Why couldn't my PS explain this to me?
Did Dr. Kass actually not know what was going on with my eyes? Or did he just not think I deserved to know? Neither answer is good. bizarre.
Another odd issue that came up:
I had 15 units of BOTOX placed in my crows feet by Dr. Kass about a month before my blephoroplasty. Dr. Patipa said he would not do eye lid surgery with Botox on board because it is paralyzing muscles, which makes a lot of sense to me! BOTOX LASTS 3-4 months so it was obviously still paralyzing my muscles at the time of surgery.
I was wondering about that too, whether Dr Kass forgot that I had just had BOTOX done by him? So this is yet another issue, that I will really have to explore. Dr P would not make a judgement on my PS about this, except to say he would not do it. I suppose that, on a positive note, some of my issues may get better as the botox
wears off. Although then i will have my crows feet back.

Dr. Patipa was a very nice, friendly older man, very kind, and very good at explaining the eye structures. He specializes in fixing cosmetic eye surgery complications. He ONLY deals with the outer eye. that is it.
He gave me a copy of a paper he wrote specifically about lower lid complications after eye surgery. Very impressive and exactly what I wanted to know.
He also gave me a drawing of the eye lid structures.

Essentially, almost every one of my issues stem from two things:
1. My lower lid incision scar has fused with my orbital septum in the middle ( the firm structure attached to bone) he said a certain percent of people have this happen (lucky me- 2 complications/ hematoma AND Fusion! - I always was an over achiever!)
and therefore is extremely tight, especially under the left eye where I had the hematoma, which only recently resolved.
2. I have lower lid tendon laxity ("hammock" tendon - it is loose) plus I dont have muscles due to botox. He said it is not the norm to have such laxity at age 52.

He said he did not think that too much skin or fat was removed,
so that was good to hear. He said it was still very early post op at 5-6 weeks, so the lower lid scars would soften up a lot, especially with massage. He really believes in massage, not injecting anything. But he said they were very tight.

* The fusion and subsequent tightness is the reason my lower lids are not moving or "dynamic" when I smile, causing me to look like I am wearing an eye mask and my eyes are "frozen"! - Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! This is what has really been scaring me. I knew there was a rational explanation and this was not "normal", nor due to some generic swelling.
He said I was very observant to have noticed that, but I don't see how anyone would not notice that freaky frozen look, (except apparently Dr Kass and the ladies in his office.) Again, it may well look normal in another month or two, but why the charade at my PS office?

Dr. Patipa showed me the finger massages I need to do 4 times a day, 25 repetitions, really pushing the lid up in the middle, it hurts on the left side, but I will get that sucker to move, believe me. I have been massaging the right lid already, so it is already much easier to move.

* He said because it is so tight - it is causing the under eye fat to be pushed backwards, creating the hollows and darkness under my eyes.

* He said the tightness combined with my lower lid laxity (loose "hamock" tendon under lower lid) - is causing my eye to be pulled down, making the eyes too round and/or odd shaped.

* He said the lateral (outer) canthus of the eye should be 2 mm higher than the inner canthus, so that the tears can drain properly, which is not the case right now either.

I will do my massaging and hope that I see improvement week by week, but I feel a lot better finally knowing what is going on. I am experimenting with makeup to cover the dark circles in the meantime, and I will be going back to see him again in 3 mos. He told me the options if I am not satisfied with my results at 6 mos post-op, which will be at the end of November, such as tightening the hammock tendon. (I feel like I will want this done in 6 mos because I really want my almond- shaped eyes back).
I am Very happy that I was pro-active and got a second opinion. Very happy with Dr. Patipa's consultation, information and education.
I would recommend anyone with post-op complications to see him before deciding what to do.

Please stay far away from Dr. Lawrence Kass, he is practicing 1970's style eye lid surgery - God I wish I had done more research before getting my surgery. I cant beleive I let this man take away my features and my expressions and changed the shape of my eyes and my entire face. Just praying it can be fixed by a surgeon who knows what makes. Womans face look beautiful.
It is 2 months since my surgery and I keep hoping it is getting better, but it may actually be getting worse.
as it heals and the skin pulls tighter below my eyes, the lower lid layers that have fused together by scarring. Are making me look like I am a skeleton because the hollows are so deep under my eyes, giving me dark circles that cant be completely hidden with makeup. Everywhere i go I am having to be concerned with the lighting so
At least I dont look startling to my coworkers.
Still not much dynamic movement of my lower lids, due to the scarring.
Still rounded eyes , the right eye is pulled out showing too much sclera and if I Open my eyes wide I hear a "pop" sound and ther is a little hole on the lateral part of the eye that im pretty sure shouldn't be there.
My eyes hurt, like they have rubber bands around the lids. Not sure if this is "healing", most things i e read say healing should be done by now and there may be suble changes, not major changes.
Please please watch all the eye surgery videos by Michael Law, MD on his website , I wish I had. He tells you what to look for in a surgeon.
How are we to know as consumers that there are some Or even, many
BOARD- CERTIFIED OCULOPLASTIC SURGEONS, like my surgeon, Lawrence Kass, that have NO IDEA WHAT MAKES A WOMAN'S EYES LOOK YOUTHFUL?
How can this be reality? But it is. It is my nightmare.

This Dr. Has ZERO empathy for his patients. Zero. He still will. Not admit that anythig. Is wrong with my outcome.
And when I went to look at his answers to realself questions, he is arrogant and tells the people asking questions to stop their whining and "give it time" on almost every answer. Why didnt I see it? I just thought an experienced board scertified eye specialty surgeon would,know what he was doing. It still blows my mind that he literally gouged the sexy and the personality out of my eyes .

I got my medical records from him, and his office does not even use an Electronic Medical Record, No surpirise, he is in the dark ages with all his methods apparently.
The girl on the phone said " he doesnt use an EMR, hes old school" yes, indeed.
using old methods of cutting out every bit of skin and fat I had above or below my eyes.
I never authorized him to do a cutaneous incision, which he did on my lower lid and caused all the lower lid complications. When I asked him why he did it, when I had said I wanted the interconjunctival incision, he said " I didnt think you'd be happy if I didnt take the extra skin". But he never asked me or told me about the risks. I never knew there was the possibility of what has happened to me.

Also, The "medical record" they gave me, is simply a completely generic template of a quad bleph operation, WITHOUT ONE WORD SPECIFIC TO ME. No mention of how much skin was taken, from anywhere, which I know is listed on other medical records of bleph surgery. It has the "conservative" written all over it, a "conservative" amount of skin was excised, etc. Tell me this:How can it be a "conservative" amount of skin excised, when I have NO FOLD in my right lid, and I can see to the back of the bony orbits on both upper lids, ugly as sin.
Dr Kass was even trying to explain to me how I guess I should feel lucky becasue some of his patients can't close their eyes at night for several months! Oh my Lord! He thinks that is normal too! Holy God. That is an extremely bad complication casued by a surgeon who doesnt know what he's doing.
And are not up on the newest methods.

Please do your research.and learn from my mistake.
I will have to have revision surgery in another 4-5 mos, one, to add fat back to my upper lids and lower lids, to bring some of the feminine softness back to my face, and also another revision to un-fuse the lower lid layers, so my eyelids can move again. I am trying to not think too much about it, but in the meantime my life has been put on hold. I had to cancel two trips to see friends and a personal relationship may have been lost forever due to this timing. I had done the surgery to look better for that meeting, which now has never happened. I dont even want to see strangers becasue I cant smile without looking like a surgery freak.
Ok enough crying for one session of therapy, back to caking on the concealer!
Lord help us all in thsi terrible predicament.