Eyelid surgery recovery by day: experience + photos
Sanne is 38 years old and lives in Buchten (Limburg) and was suffering a lot from her drooping eyelids. She frequently suffered from headaches, tired eyes and (according to others) often looked as if she had not slept well. Her young age initially held her back against eyelid surgery, but she finally, because of all the symptoms, gave in and scheduled an intake. This took place with Dr. An Deliaert. Sanne tracked her eyelid surgery recovery from day to day. She is happy to share her experience + photos each day and, of course, the beautiful results.
About the operation
“During my consultation with Dr. An Deliaert, I immediately felt at ease and taken seriously. And, not to be able to back down just yet, I then immediately scheduled the date for the surgery: Friday, March 18, 2022.
On the day of the upper eyelid surgery, I was obviously a little nervous before the appointment, however, I was “lucky” to have also been stitched under local anesthesia on top of my head the week before (thanks to a branch falling down while hiking; 9 stitches). Somehow this gave me some “peace of mind” because I did have some sense of what was in store for me.
From the anesthesia, I didn’t feel much. It was the idea of having a needle near your eye that I myself found the most unpleasant; fortunately, this was over pretty quickly. The anesthesia worked smoothly and my eyelids, to my mind, were no longer doing at all what I wanted them to do. To my mind, they needed to be closer (because I saw light) but Dr. Deliaert said they were closed. That was a strange sensation. During the treatment, Dr. Deliaert and the assistant kept talking to me continuously and asking questions about my work so I was distracted, which I found very pleasant. At some point, the excess fat at the corner of the eye (inside) was removed.
I don’t know exactly how long the surgery took, but to me it felt like about 20-25 minutes and it was 100 percent not too bad for me! I did not experience any pain.
Back home for recovery and to cool down
I remember well that the assistant asked if I wanted to look in the mirror, but I politely declined at that moment. This was because my eyes felt as if I had participated in a boxing match: not in terms of pain but they felt very thick and I was genuinely afraid of my reflection. I was given a coldpack from the MOOI clinic to take home on the way, which I was very happy about. Once home so then anyway I took a look in the mirror, and it did indeed look the way it felt. Fortunately at home that feeling of the thick eyes slowly subsided, I suspect that was the anesthesia. And then the resting and cooling began. I had frozen all small bags of frozen peas the week before surgery, on Dr. Deliaert’s advice. This was easier than coldpacks because the peas fall right into the crease of the eyelid and thus can cool well locally (though of course with bandages in between). I did this every hour for at least 10-15 minutes for the first few days (Friday through Monday), also because it relieved and stopped the itching.
Thanks to the incident the week before the eyelid surgery, I was already sleeping upright in bed (I couldn’t lie on the back of my head). I put 1 pillow half against the headboard and lay on the top of a second pillow, so your head is a lot higher than the rest of your body. Unlike the week before, I did put my glasses on at night the nights after the eyelid surgery. I know I can rub my eyes a lot (especially in half-sleep) and so, to prevent it, I put on glasses every night for the first 2 weeks. Of course, the nights are not super comfortable, however, they are not very bad either. I slept well and didn’t rub my eyes.
Photos of the days after eyelid surgery
Day 1
The first morning after the operation you do get a shock. It’s all very red and swollen and for a moment you’re like, what did I get myself into? Keeping my end goal in mind, I quickly pushed this question aside. The photos I took were taken after the first cooling session in the morning. It didn’t hurt. It pulled, occasional blurred vision but it was a matter of resting well and cooling sufficiently. Personally, I felt more comfortable putting my glasses on during the day as well, so you can’t accidentally rub your eyes.
Day 2
The second morning already looked different. The swelling started to go down well and the redness seemed to go down as well, it still felt a little sore but didn’t really hurt.
Day 3
By the third morning, my eyelids looked really good! The red and swelling were pretty much gone, some bruising began to form but I felt good! I did take it very easy that whole weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) and chilled a lot.
Day 4 to 7
The Monday after surgery I slowly started working again. I am lucky; I can work from home at the PC without much physical exertion. Frozen peas on hand and if things got a little out of hand, I could cool down or lie down for a while. I also received a call the Monday afternoon from the MOOI clinic about recovery and how the weekend had gone. I liked this very much! It went very fine, thankfully, and I had no complaints or trouble with anything. The patches itched a bit, but this was otherwise fine. Washing hair was tricky, though. I got into the shower and lowered my head back so that only my hair was wet and could be washed, then first drying my hair a bit again before washing the rest.
In the second half of the week after surgery, things really improved visibly. Every morning you could see such a huge difference in the mirror from the night before and see exactly why you did this! The result was already easy to see, the red had gone away and I myself suffered very little (large) bruising.
After 1 week: removing sutures
That same week, the stitches were also removed from my head. I did not feel anything from this so I also stepped into MOOI Clinic again with a good feeling on March 25, exactly one week after the surgery. The assistant removed the patches and I must honestly admit that this was the most disappointing thing for me in terms of pain because I really felt this. I did not feel anything from the removal of the stitches (thread) itself (probably because my mind was still on removing the plasters). All in all, this took a total of about 10 minutes and you also forget the pain very quickly because the result is great!
Read more about aftercare and living rules after eyelid surgery here
Very glad I did it
I was actually very happy with the result right away. The droopy eyelids were (and are) gone, to my mind I no longer look through a slide and my field of vision seems larger.
Now after 4 months, I can also truly say that the headaches have really subsided, I no longer have tired eyes and have never been told that I look tired.
I am extremely happy with it and would do it again in a heartbeat!”
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