Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Asian double eyelid surgery: Indentation above stitches?
I had asian double eyelid surgery and got my stitches out today. I understand I need
to be patient, but I'm very concerned about the multiple creases. In particular, I'm afraid
too much fat was extracted and that is the cause for the indentation above my stitches.
My surgeon told me it was the surgical tape combined with the swelling. Grateful for your
advice.
Thank you for your question!
You submitted a question and after having your sutures removed. After double eyelid
surgery and you're concerned that you have multiple folds on the left side and that there's
a possibility of too much fat being removed.
Well, understanding that, I'm sure your doctor has discussed with you then normal phases
of healing after eyelid surgery that swelling and wound healing is a process that takes
some time. I perform both incisional and non-incisional eyelid surgery and I can tell you that swelling
is certainly a factor that isn't always easy to predict.
When you first do a surgery and intraoperatively, where I even as the patient to open their
eyes and I'll see how well the eyelid creases inward and being comfortable of how it looks
during surgery, usually it's pretty predictive of the ultimate result. So again, whether
you had an incisional or excisional surgery, multiple folds can be caused by the shifting
of fluid not only under the skin but also behind or adjacent of the eye. You see, the
space around the eye is called the orbit and this fat that is reduced in order to create
a crease in someone who has a monolid or a single eyelid who wants to create an eyelid,
you actually need to enter that space and reduce in a very conservative way some fat
in order to allow the connection between the eyelid and the muscle that lifts the eyelid
called the levator muscle. So since this is a space that is more than skin deep, you can
understand that in the normal wound healing process, swelling can play a significant role.
What you should do for the short-term and the long-term is continue communication with
your doctor. Be aware that there will be changes. In the next few weeks, it's only since the
removal of the sutures that you submitted these photos, but you will find some fluctuations.
You'll find that in some days one eye is more swollen than the other, the next day it may
be the opposite. Sometimes the side you sleep on can actually affect the fluid shifts. You
are looking at a few factors that will be dynamic.
Now of course most of our patients, they can go back to work after a week but there can
be swelling between the eyelash and the crease called the pretarsal space that can be swollen
and elevated that can make the crease look high. And when you have some fat removal,
there can be some variability.
So I can't say by your photo that you're concerns are not to be taken seriously but anticipate
that there will be changes as time goes on and you should continue communicating with
your doctor about your progress. I guess the bottom line is to communicate with your doctor
and observe the healing process and understand that full eyelid healing is really somewhere
6 months to one year range. In fact, a majority of our before and after pictures were taken
somewhere in that time frame. Understanding that subtle changes can happen in months.
I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck. Thank you for your question!