Am I Crazy? Booked for Eyelid/Brow Surgery

I am booked for a brow lift, upper and lower blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery). The brow lift is an endoscopic lift and the lower eyelid is a transconjunctival blepharoplasty.

Am I crazy? It will make me feel better about my aging face and I can afford it, but am having second thoughts. I had a TT and lower facelift almost a year ago and have been thrilled with the results, so this seemed like a next logical step (to finish up the face).

I am scheduled for it on December 14 as that is really the only time I have available in the next 6 months. If anyone has had one, do you think I'll look okay with dermablend by Christmas Day? I used dermablend after my facelift and it did well in covering my bruises but obviously it doesn't help with swelling.

Thank you for any input you can provide!

I have not done this! However, one of my fitness class friends recently did the blepharoplasty and she said she couldn't leave the house for a while because it looked like she'd gotten in a brawl. So.. maybe ask your surgeon?

Yeah, he says a week, but he said 2 weeks with my facelift. Though I did go out at that point, the dermablend was critical and I was still swollen (a stranger might not notice but a friend would). At 3 weeks I did travel to Florida (still using dermablend) and no one seemed to notice. So hopefully this will be even less time?

I've been looking at pictures online and they are all over the place. My PS thought that I had minimal swelling and bruising with my facelift so hopefully I'll be in that category again. I will be taking arnica and bromelain before and after as I did last time (as recommended by PS).

I'm just feeling nervous because I can't hide my face!!!

Dress as a Handmaid from The Handmaid's Tale? ;)

I totally get it though - I'd be nervous too! I always say that we can plan as much as possible, but all bets are off once we actually get to recovery. It's a challenge.

You have been pleased with your results from prior plastic surgery, so based on your experience, no of course you are not crazy. I had the whole face lift at one time so that it all matched (and I needed it) and PS said most people come back to compete the face lift.

My advice - the brow lift can be very painful - I mean EXCRUTIATING. Because you muscles are really being stretched permanently and there is no way to escape the PAIN for about a week. It's not like other surgeries where you can find a neutral position and can be painfree for awhile. My Asshole of a plastic surgeon sent me home after surgery in pain( I had over 7 hours of facial plastics), I was in agony by the time I arrived home and refused to give me anything more than percosets, even the next day when I was about the jump out of the window from pain. I needed diladid -- which is what real doctors give people who get this much done at one time. I should have gone to the emergency room and told him he could meet me there.

Drs lie about how painful the browlift can be - remember they are drilling holes in your scull and inserting clips (like little picture hangers) and then stretching your forehead muscles up and put them on the hangers to shorten the muscles to acheive the lit. It took me a wee****il the muscles relaxed enough for me not to feel as though a steel band was tightening around my head and going to squish my head and have it explode. I sobbed for hours - puny little percosets only dented the pain for 30 min then I was in agony for 6 more hours. My PS said he was going to 'clip' the muscles - I thought he meant 'snip' them, in realty the brow lift was much more invasion that he led me to believe. Just talk about pain and make sure that your PS is not an asshole who says - "in 6 months you will be so happy with the results that you will not remember the pain." I was crying in pain and the asshole really said that to me as he refused to give my a pain shot that would get the pain under control. He was such a hack that he offered me MORE PERCOSETS. I refused saying that they did not work so why would I want more of them. That should have been his clue that I was in real agony and not a junkie.

Make sure you have a doctor that will treat your pain-I mean why ruin the PS by sobbing for hours and hours after the surgery. It was all so unnecessary - I could have had one shot of a real painkiller and then the percosets might have helped.

Look at my photos and you can see the alien potato head I looked like and you will get a semblance of the pain in was in.

Get the surgery you want and need and can afford - just have very complete conversations and make sure you know exactly what is bing done.

Thanks for the information! I really appreciate it! PS was good with the pain meds last time - I took less than he provided. I also had a really bad headache for several days with my lower facelift (which stretched up to my eyes), so I expect I will have one again. Coffee and ibuprofen helped (Bariatric surgeon said the ibuprofen was ok to take for a short period with food).

Just looked at your picture. You sure were swollen! What day was that taken?

That was day 4. The percosets were just beginning to work. it was horendous. if you were getting your surgery in NJ, i would warn you more.

PLUS, I was just barely conscious and I told them I was in PAIN. I thought they would give me something for the trip home - LIKE THEY TOLD ME WOULD HAPPEN during my pre-surg consult. Somehow they got my into my friend's car without me semi-conscious and never gave me anything. 50 miles of rush-hour NJ traffic later I was sobbing and it took days to get the pain under control. i still can't believe that when I went back for the 24 hours post surg visit I got no help with the pain.

It might have cost $$$, but I should have gone to Emer Room for pain treatment. Since you have some ex with this PS, it might be OK, but you want to discuss what options you have if the percosets (or whatever the his normal protocsl is) dont work.

Boy that stunk for you! Thank you for the warning! My PS has me come in 2 days before for the pain scripts so they are filled beforehand. I'm lucky to be close to the office as well. He was really terrific for my first surgery so I hope he will be just as good for this one. But I will ask the questions you have suggested!