People who have had eyelid surgery should expect some temporary blurry vision after the procedure. This can occur in both eyes, and is usually self-limiting. Some patients may also experience double vision and/or amblyopia after ptosis surgery (aka lid ptosis correction surgery) and other procedures that cause a droopy eyelid.
In this post, we review the aspects of Blurry Vision After Eyelid Surgery, how long will my vision be blurry after ptosis surgery, double vision after eyelid surgery, and can blepharoplasty cause blindness.
Does Blepharoplasty Affect Vision?
Patients often experience blurred vision immediately after having blepharoplasty because of the work being done to the upper and lower eyelids. This is caused by eyelid swelling, which can affect the cornea and cause slight distortion. This problem will usually get better by itself within a few hours.
Swollen eyelids can also make your eyes feel drier than they usually would. Usually, this problem will only last between one and three days after surgery.
Post-operative swelling can also mean that you can’t close your eyelids fully for a few days, making them feel dry, as the eyelids cannot distribute the tear film evenly across the eye surface. However, this issue will also clear up on its own after a few days.
It is important to understand that blepharoplasty is not eye surgery and will not correct or improve your eyesight. If you are experiencing reduced peripheral vision due to sagging eyelids, this can be improved; however, this surgery does not impact the eyes themselves.
How Long Will It Take to Recover My Vision After Blepharoplasty?
Your vision will generally return to normal within a few days after having surgery, but you may need to allow yourself a couple of weeks to recover physically. Stitches are usually removed within a week of the surgery.
During the first week, it’s a good idea to ensure that you rest your eyes. Don’t spend too much time on a computer, reading, or doing close-up work — this may result in eye strain.
After having blepharoplasty, your eyelids and the surrounding area will look red and swollen.
These common side effects will fade with time.
During recovery, you may also find that your eyes are sensitive to light. Be sure to wear sunglasses whenever exposed to sunlight.
Blurry Vision After Eyelid Surgery
If you’ve recently undergone eyelid surgery and are experiencing blurry vision, it’s important to discuss this symptom with your cosmetic surgeon. It could be a normal postoperative complication, but there are many other potential causes of blurry vision after eyelid surgery that warrant further evaluation.
After undergoing eyelid surgery in order to address drooping eyelids, it is routine for patients to experience blurred vision for a few days after the procedure.
After undergoing eyelid surgery in order to address drooping eyelids, it is routine for patients to experience blurred vision for a few days after the procedure. This can be caused by swelling and bruising of the eye area, as well as pressure on your eyes from anesthesia used during surgery. The good news is that blurry vision should improve within one week or so after your procedure.
What you should do?
If you are having blurry vision after eyelid surgery, the first thing you should do is call your surgeon. They will be able to give you advice on how long it will take for the blurriness to go away and how much longer they think it will take before your eye has healed enough for them to operate again.
Do not rub or massage your eyes! Rubbing can cause further irritation and pain down the road, as well as prolonging recovery time. It’s also important not to use any drops or medications unless your doctor specifically tells you that it’s ok (and even then, only if he/she says so).
When should you be concerned?
If you experience any of the following symptoms, it’s worth speaking with your doctor:
- blurred vision that lasts more than a few days after surgery
- pain in or around your eyes
- discharge from the eye (watery or pus-like)
If you notice any of these symptoms, call us right away at [phone number].
Factors that can cause blurry vision after eyelid surgery include:
- Use of anesthesia
- Too much pressure on the eyes
- Modified alar-rim sutures (this is when the doctor uses stitches to close the edges of your eyelids)
- Too much bleeding
- Excessive swelling, which can cause blurry vision after eyelid surgery.
Anesthesia Use
Anesthesia is used during surgery to reduce discomfort and anxiety, and to allow you to be awake during the procedure. It can also cause blurred vision in some patients. If you experience blurry vision after anesthesia, speak with your doctor about what steps should be taken next.
If you are experiencing blurry vision after eyelid surgery, it is important to discuss this symptom with your cosmetic surgeon.
If you are experiencing blurry vision after eyelid surgery, it’s important to discuss this symptom with your cosmetic surgeon.
- Be sure to tell them if you are experiencing any other symptoms such as pain or swelling of the eye area.
- Your surgeon will be able to advise you on what to do next and whether or not further medical care is needed. If your vision remains blurry after several days or weeks after the procedure, contact your doctor immediately so that they can determine what is causing it and how best to treat it
how long will my vision be blurry after ptosis surgery
If you are planning to have eyelid surgery, you may be worried that your vision will be impaired after the procedure. While this is true in some cases, most patients find that their vision is only affected for a few days. In fact, most people who experience blurry vision following blepharoplasty report that they can see correctly within a few hours of surgery.
Let’s look at the eyelid surgery recovery process and what to expect with your vision after blepharoplasty.
Does Blepharoplasty Affect Vision?
Patients often experience blurred vision immediately after having blepharoplasty because of the work being done to the upper and lower eyelids. This is caused by eyelid swelling, which can affect the cornea and cause slight distortion. This problem will usually get better by itself within a few hours.
Swollen eyelids can also make your eyes feel drier than they usually would. Usually, this problem will only last between one and three days after surgery.
Post-operative swelling can also mean that you can’t close your eyelids fully for a few days, making them feel dry, as the eyelids cannot distribute the tear film evenly across the eye surface. However, this issue will also clear up on its own after a few days.
It is important to understand that blepharoplasty is not eye surgery and will not correct or improve your eyesight. If you are experiencing reduced peripheral vision due to sagging eyelids, this can be improved; however, this surgery does not impact the eyes themselves.
How Long Will It Take to Recover My Vision After Blepharoplasty?
Your vision will generally return to normal within a few days after having surgery, but you may need to allow yourself a couple of weeks to recover physically. Stitches are usually removed within a week of the surgery.
During the first week, it’s a good idea to ensure that you rest your eyes. Don’t spend too much time on a computer, reading, or doing close-up work — this may result in eye strain.
After having blepharoplasty, your eyelids and the surrounding area will look red and swollen.
These common side effects will fade with time.
During recovery, you may also find that your eyes are sensitive to light. Be sure to wear sunglasses whenever exposed to sunlight.
Interested in Attaining More Youthful-Looking Eyes?
If you live in Florida and are thinking of undergoing eyelid surgery, contact PREMIERE Center for Cosmetic Surgery. Located in Tampa, our surgeons have a wide range of experience in cosmetic procedures.
double vision after eyelid surgery
Persistent diplopia following lower blepharoplasty surgery may be more common than suggested in the current literature, according to survey results published in the Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.
Because diplopia following lower blepharoplasty is rare, the exact incidence of postoperative diplopia has not been determined. To rectify this, a researcher conducted a survey study of members of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS) to assess diplopia incidence.
An internet-based survey was sent to 703 ASOPRS members. The survey included 13 questions about persistent diplopia (>1 week after lower blepharoplasty). Questions were focused on both provider experience — number of annual blepharoplasties performed, years of surgical experience, and number of cases with postoperative diplopia — and on patient and surgical details. Physicians who experienced more than 1 case of severe diplopia were instructed to focus on the most severe case.
Among those who received it, 371 completed the survey, for a 52.8% response rate.
In terms of provider experience, 24.3% of respondents performed fewer than 20 lower blepharoplasties on an annual basis; 35% performed 21 to 40, and 50.7% performed more than 40. In total, 23.2% reported experiencing at least 1 case of persistent postoperative diplopia, compared with 76.8% who experienced no cases. There was a statistically significant difference between groups in terms of persistent diplopia cases: 11%, 21% and 33% of physicians who performed 20 or fewer, 21 to 40, or more than 40 annual lower blepharoplasties experienced at least 1 case of persistent diplopia, respectively (P =.0005).
Patient experience data were available for 84 cases. Persistent diplopia was most common among patients 41 to 60 years of age (61.9%), followed by patients 60 years or older. The inferior oblique muscle was most commonly involved in cases (60.7%), while involvement of the inferior rectus muscle was found in only 8.3% of cases. Slightly greater than 26% of cases involved a muscle that was not identified.
Sixty-one patients (72.6%) experienced complete resolution of diplopia compared with 21.4% who experienced partial resolution and 6% who experienced no resolution. Most patients (37%) took >3 months to experience maximum improvement. Diplopia persisted in the primary position in 8.3% of patients and in other gaze positions in 19.1% of patients; however, 72.6% of patients experienced complete resolution. In terms of treatment, 8.3% underwent strabismus surgery, 4.8% underwent prism correction, and 86.9% required no treatment.
Study limitations include a potential voluntary response bias, due to the voluntary nature of the survey, as well as the possibility of increased reporting of postoperative diplopia due to the anonymous nature of the survey.
“Surgeons should be aware that persistent diplopia following lower blepharoplasty may be more common than is suggested by the relatively small number of reports in the literature,” the research says. “It is especially important for them to be mindful of this complication when performing a deep dissection in the medial or central fat pads.”
can blepharoplasty cause blindness.
One of the biggest worries that patients tend to have before going through with a blepharoplasty surgery is described in medical literature as blindness. Going blind from blepharoplasty surgery is one of the most severe complications you can gain and is a common question that’s asked during consultations for the surgery.
Is it common for patients to go blind from blepharoplasty surgery?
Here at UK Aesthetic we can assure you that this isn’t something that our surgical team has witnessed in their several years of conducting blepharoplasty surgery. We can also confirm that this isn’t an incident that has occurred with any of the patients that have undergone the surgery with UK Aesthetic.
Whilst this is the case, it is still a requirement that patients are consented for this and prepared for any complications that may occur with the surgery. It is believed that blindness occurs more commonly with lower lid blepharoplasty procedures or when a large amount of local anaesthetic has been used for the surgery.
Discussing the risks involved with blepharoplasty surgery
As with any surgery, our patients’ safety is what is considered most important to us and we’ll discuss the risk involved with the surgery during your consultations. This is to make you well aware of the complications involved and to help you make an informed decision before going ahead.
We must reiterate, however, that although you will be informed about the possibility of going blind from blepharoplasty surgery or any other procedure involving your eye, this is an extremely rare occurrence and very unlikely to happen.
If you have any questions or concerns about this, please do not hesitate to contact us to book a consultation and we can run you through the pros and cons of the surgery beforehand. Many of our blepharoplasty case studies provide examples of previous patients that have undergone the surgery and you can also find more details about the surgery on our blepharoplasty page.
Permanent blindness can occur after many aesthetic procedures by different mechanisms. This article will discuss various ways that visual loss can happen after aesthetic surgery, so providers offering these services can take precautions to avoid this dire complication.
Blindness post cosmetic surgery is most likely to occur after periorbital procedures, such as a blepharoplasty. There are many vessels in the orbit that course through the fat that is removed during an upper or lower lid blepharoplasty. If these vessels are not adequately cauterized before release back into the orbit, an orbital hemorrhage can ensue, leading to and expanding hematoma, interruption of ocular perfusion and visual loss from compressive optic neuropathy. An orbital hemorrhage is likely to occur within the first 12 to 24 hours and the patient will likely present with pain, proptosis and ecchymosis.
Careful measures must be taken to avoid an orbital hemorrhage. Pre-operatively, discontinue blood thinners. Intraoperatively, meticulous hemostasis is paramount. Avoid excessive traction on the orbital fat and control the blood pressure with the anesthetist. Post-operatively, use ice packs to constrict the blood vessels. Instruct the patient to avoid heaving lifting, bending or straining.
If an orbital hemorrhage should occur, start by opening the wound. Intraocular pressure lowering drugs can be used. It will sometimes be necessary to perform a lateral canthotomy with inferior cantholysis to all expansion of the orbital volume. In rare cases, a surgical exploration or orbital decompression is necessary.
Besides orbital hemorrhage, a patient can suffer from permanent visual loss if care is not taken to preserve the function of the eyelids, which is to protect the globe, and especially the cornea. If patients suffer from lagophthalmos post-operatively, this may lead to exposure keratopathy, ulceration, and in worst-case scenario, corneal perforation.
During blepharoplasty surgery, measurements should be taken in order to preserve enough skin and tissue to maintain eyelid closure. Smooth forceps can be used to gently pinch up the excess skin until the eyelashes are just everted. Leaving at least 10 – 13 mm of skin between the lower brow hairs and the upper incision will help to avoid brow ptosis and lagophthalmos.
If patients do end up with lagophthalmos post-operatively, sometimes massage can help loosen and soften the skin on the upper lids. A lateral canthal tendon plication in the face of dehiscence can help improve closure. In some cases a skin graft is required.
For eyelid surgery in general, care must be taken to direct needles and sharp instruments away from the globe. There have been reports of accidental penetration of the globe by needles during local anesthetic injections. This can lead to permanent damage to the endothelial cells from the solution injected.
As far as non-ocular aesthetic surgery, direct damage to ocular structures can happen during intubation, from instrumentation and from cleaning liquids. Pressure on the globe can lead to interruption of ocular perfusion and ischemic optic neuropathy. The risk of ischemic optic neuropathy is higher with prolonged prone position (duration > 6 hours), excessive blood loss (> 1L), long procedure duration, co-morbid conditions, intraoperative hypotension and excessive volume resuscitation.