Tristan McMullen is a specialist eye surgeon at Aurora Clinics in Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. In this video he explains how you should prepare for Eyelid surgery. For more information please  ring 01844 214362 and speak to a fully qualified patient advisor.

Eyelid Surgery – How to Prepare for Surgery

Hello. My name is Tristan McMullan. I’m an eye surgeon specialising in surgery in and around the eyes and eyelids, and I’ve been asked to talk about preparation for eyelid surgery today. This is an essential topic that I cover in detail with patients and give them written guidelines and instructions.

But in essence we’re talking about optimising the results and minimising the risks. And I think probably the first and foremost thing that I’d like to bring out is the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin or ibuprofen which is marketed as Nurofen or diclofenac which is marketed as Voltarol. There are various others as well, and these can increase the chances of bleeding, and I ask patients to stop these 10 days before surgery if, and only if, this is safe for them to do so. There will be patients who take aspirin for example for general health indications, either with their heart or because they’ve had previous strokes, and this needs a conversation that involves their GP, if their GP is looking after them, or their hospital specialist, and one has to balance the risks and benefits. But in an ideal world, I have them stop these medications to reduce the chances of bleeding.

Similarly there are over-the-counter products that can prolong the bleeding time and make surgery more difficult which can compromise the results in terms of the cosmetic outcome and, more importantly, can if not addressed increase the chances of complications. So the things I’m thinking of here are ginko biloba, garlic, vitamin E and St. Johns wart, and these are various over-the-counter preparations that, if you don’t ask patients if they take them, you wont find out, and it’s important to explore this.

Similarly smoking can adversely affect the outcome of surgery, and obviously smoking is bad for your general health. But in terms of cosmetic surgery, it can affect wound healing, and in an ideal world patients should stop smoking, and if failing that, should avoid it in the two to four weeks prior to surgery.

In terms of the run-up to surgery, obviously it’s best that patients have their health optimised and take it easy in the run-up to surgery. Avoid too much in the way of heavy nights out, and should arrive for surgery rested and well prepared. I think as long as these questions are addressed in the clinic and with written information that patients read, then there shouldn’t be any last minute glitches. But those are the most important things that I like to cover. And in general terms, optimising skin care with moisturisers, and on the day of surgery it’s sensible to avoid makeup and moisturiser. There are certain procedures, such as peels, which have a separate preparation protocol which we won’t discuss here and could be a topic for another occasion. Thank you.