Eyelid lift surgery is a great option for many people who are looking to improve the appearance of their eyes. It can help you look younger and more refreshed, and it can reduce the appearance of wrinkles around your eyes. As with any surgery, there are risks associated with having an eyelid lift. But if you choose a qualified surgeon who performs the procedure under sterile conditions in a hospital or outpatient surgical facility, these risks should be minimal.
After eyelid lift surgery, you’ll need to take it easy for a few days and avoid strenuous activities. Your surgeon will give you specific instructions about what’s safe and what isn’t after your procedure. If you follow those guidelines, you should be able to go back to enjoying life just as soon as possible after the operation.
We are here to help you in the following article, providing the best and updated information on how long is recovery after eyelid lift and is eyelid lift surgery painful.
What To Expect After Eyelid Lift
Speed up your recovery after eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty)
One day, you look in the mirror and suddenly realize that you look old way too soon because your eyelids droop, or little pads of fat make your eyes look puffy.
You decided to restore your youthful appearance with eyelid surgery and now that your surgery is done, you can’t wait to see the results. Here at Hooman Khorasani, MD, we understand that it’s hard to wait for your eyelids to heal. Here are our best tips for ensuring that your recovery goes as quickly as possible.
Prepare for your recovery time
Most people get back to their normal activities in about 10-14 days after eyelid surgery, but you should be prepared to take time off to let your eyelids heal. A good way to speed your recovery is to cover your primary responsibilities ahead of time.
Whether you need to stock the pantry with easy-to-prepare foods or ask a friend to take children to their activities, it’s important to clear your schedule so that you can focus on resting.
Visit our Before and After Gallery for more photos from past patients.
Diligently follow your self-care instructions
Talk with the team at Hooman Khorasani, MD before your surgery to learn what you’ll need for self-care after your eyelid procedure. That way, you can get what you need and have it on hand when you get home from surgery.
Some of the basics for eyelid care following surgery include cold compresses to reduce swelling, eye drops to prevent dry eyes, and an ointment to keep them lubricated. You’ll also need to have gauze in the house. If your incision oozes while it heals, you can dab it (don’t rub!) with a sterile gauze.
Keep your eyes on the prize
You’re not going to look great for a short time. Your eyelids will be puffy, your incisions will appear red, and the swelling and bruising may resemble a black eye. This is a hard time for most of our patients because they’re anxious to see results. Don’t let recovery time get you down.
The swelling goes away in about two weeks. Shortly after that, you’ll see the change — and what a difference it will make. You’ll look younger, your eyes will look brighter, and you’ll feel on top of the world.
Sun protection is essential
There’s no getting around it — you must protect your eyes from sunlight and other elements like the wind. Wear dark sunglasses with frames that cover your eyes from the sides. Add a hat for extra protection. And follow your post-surgery instructions about applying sunscreen.
Don’t stress your eyes
Don’t check email, read a book, or catch up on a full season of your favorite TV show for at least a week following eyelid surgery. These activities are notorious for causing dry eyes, and that’s something you need to avoid if you want to speed up your recovery.
Get plenty of rest
Getting rest applies to your body as well as your eyes. In fact, getting a good night’s sleep is one of the best ways to accelerate your recovery because lack of sleep slows down wound healing.
Healing demands a lot of energy, so you’ll probably feel more tired than usual. Plan to take naps when you feel tired. This is not the time to push yourself to keep moving — not if you want to heal as quickly as possible.
Skip strenuous activities
During the first two to four weeks after your eyelid surgery, it’s important to avoid activities that increase blood flow to your eyes. This means you’ll need to avoid the obvious culprits, like jogging, aerobics, sports, and intensive exercise.
You’ll also want to be mindful about everyday activities that increase pressure in your head and force more blood into your eyes, such as bending, lifting heavy items, and lying flat on your back.
Keep recovery relaxing
Another way to promote better wound healing and hasten your recovery is to avoid stress. You can do this during your recovery by stepping away from work (no phone calls or emails) and by planning for ways to pass the time that are uplifting and don’t require using your eyes. You may want to beef-up your playlist or stock-up on audiobooks — whatever you’ll enjoy while you relax your eyes and body.
Stop smoking
If you smoke, you should know that smoking affects healing. It slows down healing, which means your recovery drags on. Smoking also increases your risk of infection following surgery. You can avoid these problems if you stop smoking at least six weeks before surgery.
Any time you have a question or concern about your eyelids while you recover, we’re here to help — the team at Hooman Khorasani, MD, are only a phone call away.
Why choose Dr. Khorasani for your blepharoplasty?
Dr. Khorasani is quadruple board-certified in Dermatology, Cosmetic Surgery, Facial Cosmetic Surgery and Mohs micrographic surgery. Additionally he led lead the Division of Dermatologic and Cosmetic Surgery at Mount Sinai for over 10+ years. His dedication to clinical excellence and constant innovation has led to numerous accolades, publications in premier medical journals, and authorship of a widely-used thread lift manual. He is considered an international expert in minimally-invasive rejuvenation and has spent a majority of his career training the next generation of dermatologists and cosmetic surgeons.
Brow lift recovery headache
“Beauty is pain,” as the saying goes — but modern cosmetics experts are proving that beauty can relieve pain rather than causing it. Surgeons have found that brow lifts can alleviate migraines, thanks to a few key elements of the surgery. Migraine headaches affect millions of Americans each year, according to the Migraine Research Foundation, and up to 90% of migraine sufferers experience pain severe enough to affect normal functions like driving, working or conversing. In addition, migraines are a chronic illness; that is, they don’t simply strike once fleetingly, but those who struggle with migraines experience them on a recurring basis and even for days at a time. There is also no known cure for migraine headaches. While there are some preventive measures as well as medications that can help manage the pain of a migraine flare-up, many people struggle to find a solution to keep their headaches at bay.
WHAT IS BROW LIFT SURGERY?
Brow lifts, sometimes called forehead lifts or upper facelifts, focus on diminishing the appearance of wrinkles on the forehead and around the eyes. These surgeries can address horizontal forehead lines, worry lines between the brows and crow’s feet. They are also commonly combined with eyelid surgery, or blepharoplasty, to correct sagging or drooping eyelids. Depending on the extent of your lines and wrinkles, your surgeon can perform brow lift surgery using one of three techniques: an endoscopic brow lift, a temporal brow lift or a coronal brow lift.
Endoscopic brow lifts have become increasingly popular in recent years because they are the least invasive option. Your surgeon uses small incisions through which they insert a thin, flexible tool with a small camera attached — they can view and manipulate the tissues underlying the skin of your brow without lifting the skin completely.
Temporal brow lifts involve slightly larger incisions than endoscopic lifts, positioned at the edges of the temples. This type of lift is the current industry standard for clients who require more work than an endoscopic lift can accomplish, and is usually the type of brow lift performed when a client is interested in an eyelid surgery as well.
Coronal brow lifts are the most invasive, using an incision that spans the full length of the brow from temple to temple along the hairline. This technique is somewhat outmoded and is currently only used in special cases.
No matter which type of brow lift is right for you, there is one distinguishing factor — unlike full facelifts, which often focus on removing stretched or excess skin causing an aged appearance, brow lifts focus on facial muscles. The main cause of forehead wrinkles is overworked facial muscles; when you make a certain facial expression particularly often, your muscles will become somewhat stuck in their tensed position, leaving behind the furrows or crinkles of a worried look or squint. During a brow lift, your surgeon removes and repositions some of your brow muscles to release this tension and smooth your brow to a more youthful, relaxed position.
UNDERSTANDING MIGRAINES
Migraines aren’t like the headaches you get when you’re tired or dehydrated. They are characterized by intense, throbbing pain that often results in nausea; sensitivity to sounds, smells and light; dizziness and even temporary sight impairment. While the pulsing pain initially led doctors to believe that migraines were caused by dysfunctional blood vessels, today’s understanding is that migraines are primarily neurological. The sensory effects of migraine attacks suggest that the headaches stem from the brain and nerves, and indeed, the most common and often effective medications for migraines treat the headaches using this principle.
Brain scans of patients experiencing migraines show a burst of activity in parts of the brainstem, an area known for processing mood and pain. In addition, a network of neurons responsible for transmitting pain around the eyes, teeth, forehead and sinuses are particularly active during a migraine. Scientists also believe that this particular network of nerves releases inflammatory chemicals as a response to specific stimuli, which contributes to the throbbing and puts even more sensory pressure around areas already sensitive from a migraine.
HOW A BROW LIFT CAN HELP
The nerves associated with migraines are located in the same areas as the muscles that cause forehead wrinkles. The added tension in the forehead not only makes migraine pressure worse but can even start to pinch some of the facial nerves and trigger migraines more frequently. When your surgeon uses a brow lift to release or remove these tensed muscles and open up more space in the tissues of the forehead, the nerves in the area are also freed from constriction and are less likely to cause shooting migraine pain.
Research also shows that minor muscle tension in the brow can cause non-migraine headaches or generalized forehead and temple pain, only serving to worsen the symptoms of migraines. Restoring relaxation to your upper face with a brow lift can go a long way toward relieving that daily dull ache as well as the debilitating discomfort of a migraine. The brow lift’s effectiveness at smoothing unwanted lines and wrinkles combined with its tension-relief benefits gives this cosmetic surgery the ability to improve your life in more ways than one — the confidence of a reflection you love and the relief of reduced head pain and tension.
Despite the apparent benefits, opinions are mixed amongst plastic surgeons, as well as The American Board of Plastic Surgery. For those reasons, we do not perform brow lifts to help treat migraines, but your primary physician can provide you with more comprehensive information about if this procedure has the potential to help you.
Endoscopic brow lift complications
A brow lift is usually performed by a plastic surgeon.
A brow lift is an aesthetic surgical procedure to correct the loss of soft tissue elasticity in the upper third of the face. Excess sagging skin around the forehead causing drooping (ptosis) of the brows and wrinkling of the forehead is removed by repositioning the underlying muscle and tissue. It creates a more refreshed, youthful appearance in the upper third area of the face. It can also be combined with a facelift. A brow lift is usually performed by a plastic surgeon.
Endoscopy is the insertion through a surgical incision of a flexible tube with a lighted camera and surgical instruments. The endoscope is now used in a variety of reconstructive and cosmetic surgical procedures. Endoscopic brow lift surgery has gained widespread acceptance, is minimally invasive, and heals faster than traditional brow lift surgery.
Why do people seek endoscopic brow lift surgery?
Aesthetically, the face is divided into three equal parts, of which the forehead (from the top of the eyebrow to the anterior hairline) occupies the upper third. In males this area averages 7 cm and in females it averages 5 cm.
The male eyebrow is less arched than the female eyebrow. The top of the eyebrow lies approximately 2.5 cm from the mid pupil. With aging, these parameters may shift. A lesser distance denotes eyebrow drooping (ptosis).
Loss of forehead skin elasticity from genetics, sun damage, and gravity causes eyebrow drooping, with resultant upper eyelid drooping and dissatisfaction with the appearance.
Aging causes depletion of the subcutaneous fat. This leads to forehead wrinkling, the direction of which depends upon the underlying muscle.
Why is endoscopic brow lift surgery done?
- Aged appearance: Patients may worry they have a tired, surprised, worried, or an annoyed look, appearing older than their actual age
- Eyebrow drooping: Patients may feel an uncomfortable weight of tissue on their eyes
- Forehead wrinkling
- Eyebrow elevation
- Improve eyebrow symmetry
- Change eyebrow shape
- Decrease the function of muscles causing brow wrinkling
When should endoscopic brow lift surgery be avoided?
Endoscopic brow lift surgery should be avoided with:
- Conditions causing dry eyes
- Excessive brow elevation after upper eyelid surgery
- A tendency for keloids or thick scarring
- Psychological instability
- Unrealistic cosmetic expectations
- Poor general health and systemic conditions
What happens during the endoscopic brow lift procedure?
Before the procedure
- Routine blood and radiological investigations will be done.
- Patients may be advised to shampoo their hair with antibacterial soap/shampoo the night before or morning of surgery.
- Hair does not need to be shaved.
During the procedure
- An endoscopic brow lift is performed under general anesthesia or with intravenous (IV) sedation and local anesthesia.
- Multiple small incisions are made just behind the hairline (most surgeons make 3- to 5-cm incisions), through which the endoscope and instruments are inserted.
- Brow tissue is gently released and elevated.
- Excess tissue is removed.
- The muscles are elevated, pulled up and anchored to the bone using anchors made of titanium which look like small screws of 2 mm width. They may be temporary or permanent and do not cause permanent damage.
- The incisions are sutured and dressed.
- A small surgical drain may be inserted — a clear tube is inserted through a small incision below the main incision.
After the procedure
- Post-operative pain can be managed with painkillers.
- Antibiotics may be necessary.
- Patients are advised to rest with their head elevated for two weeks.
- Patients are usually discharged the same day or 24 hours after surgery.
- The drain may be removed after 24 hours.
- The dressing may be removed after 48 hours.
- Patients can shower and wash their hair after 48 hours, using mild shampoos prescribed by the surgeon.
- The surgeon may prescribe medicated ointments to apply to the wounds.
- Patients should not use any hair products for at least seven days.
- Depending on the type of suture used, the surg
How Long Is Recovery After Eyelid Lift
For one to three weeks following surgery, your eyelid may be puffy and bruised. Your eye’s appearance could become better for another one to three months.
In between 10 and 14 days, most people are prepared to return to work and the general public.
Is Eyelid Lift Surgery Painful
Because an upper lid blepharoplasty is often a very minor treatment, patients can usually have it done without experiencing any pain and only need a small dose of post-operative pain medication. The eyelid itself is not especially painful, and it feels nearly like a skin excision.
