Eyelid Surgery – Aftercare following Surgery

Tristan McMullen is a specialist eye surgeon at Aurora Clinics. In this video he explains the aftercare you should take following eyelid surgery. For more information please visit  Eye Lid Correction information page or ring 01844 214362 and speak to a fully qualified patient advisor.

Eyelid Surgery – Aftercare

Hello. My name’s Tristan McMullan. I’m an eye surgeon specialising in surgery in and around the eye particularly the eyelids and the face. I do cosmetic work as well. I’ve been asked to talk about the care following surgery, post-operative care. I’m quite particular about this because I think it can affect the results, particularly the speed of healing. Obviously, a patient’s expectations are high, and they want to get back to work or whatever it is. The more you can accelerate that the better. On another, but more perhaps important point, one has to think about the safety of the surgery and post-operative care is vital in this regard.

I usually patch, as in apply an eye patch to one eye. I have yet to apply it to both eyes, but I do warn patients that sometimes that might be an eventuality. They could wake up after surgery with both eyes covered. I usually cover whichever eye bruises more during surgery. There’s usually one eye that’s a little bit more bruisy-oozy than the other. I have this patch applied and taken off in the morning.

I am very strict, probably a little bit too strict, about ice. I like patients to use ice 20 minutes of every waking hour, which is a very tall order. But it’s very easy to spot that patients that do and the patients that don’t follow this protocol. Patient’s that apply ice for the first three post-operative days usually look a lot better a lot quicker. After three days, I have them switch to hot compresses, 15 minutes, three times a day until the bruising goes, which is obviously a much easier regime to follow.

The ice can be either ice in a ziplock bag with water or perhaps, easier still, is just frozen peas wrapped up in a clean cloth which can be applied. You can have two bags of peas on the go, one in use and one in the freezer. You can alternate those and use them every 20 minutes. As I said, it does make a big difference.

With regard to care after surgery, I have patients keep their head above their heart. I ask them particularly to avoid heavy lifting or bending. There’s no point, as I had last week, operating on a patient who is proposing to move house. He had the choice to move the operation or move house. He postponed his surgery. The rationale behind that is to prevent bruising and swelling or even bleeding behind the eyes which is a dreaded complication.

The sutures normally get removed at five to seven days, and that’s usually arranged in-house. I have patients apply antibiotic ointment to the incision lines three times a day. I usually ask them to do this for two weeks by which time they shouldn’t need anymore.

Patient’s often have dry eye following surgery for a limited period. I have them use artificial tears by day on as and when needed basis, i.e. if their eyes are feeling a bit gritty and scratchy, I get them to use the drops. Most particularly and most important, I get them to use a preparation called Lacrilube at night, which I think it should be used for approximately a month after surgery.

Otherwise, it’s rather patient depending. I usually advise patients they’re going to be bruised for a week and swollen for two. The return to work rather depends on the nature of the work whether it involves physical labour or heavy lifting or whether it’s BDU use which can lead to dry eye. That I usually discuss on a case-by-case basis. If patients expect to be bruised for a week and swollen for two, they usually find that that’s a rather conservative estimate. Usually, particularly if they use the ice, the swelling and bruising resolves much more quickly. I give that as a sort of outside guideline so that they’re not disappointed. If anything, they are pleasantly surprised how quickly they heal. Thank you.