How long will it take me to recover from eyelid surgery Brisbane?

eyelid surgery brisbane

Eyelid surgery Brisbane 

7-10 days for upper eyelids, 5-6 days for lower eyelids. Eyelid surgery is known as blepharoplasty. Blepharoplasy can be conducted on the upper eyelids, lower eyelid or both.

When is there a need to undertake eyelid surgery? Medically if your upper eyelids are so droopy that it obstructs your vision. This is rarely the case, as most patients that I see do not wait till the time your lids drape over your eyes!

Most of my patients request fresher looking eyes will less droop. There are two ways we can achieve better looking, fresher, younger, less droopy eyes- firstly with surgery and secondly with laser. How do I know what works best? It’s called a pinch test. If you have marked laxity on the pinch test, surgery is the best option, as this can reliably predict how much skin to remove. Surgery is most often conducted on the upper lids, whilst laser is most commonly conducted on the lower eyelids- unless skin laxity is so marked on the lower lids, in this case a surgical technique is preferable.

The recovery times will depend on the area (upper or lower lids) as well as the procedure (laser or surgical blepharoplasty). Lower lid surgery has the fastest healing time (5-6 days) and least amount of swelling. This is because oedema or swelling can track down your cheek without any obstruction. Upper eyelid surgery is associated with a longer healing up time. With laser surgery the swelling is most marked for the first two days. Healing up times for laser surgery to the upper lids is approximately 8-10 days. Laser can be use to perform eyelid surgery Brisbane. 

Surgical upper lid blepharoplasty heals up in 7-10 days. The longer healing time is due to gravity. Unlike lower lid surgery, swelling in your upper eyelids has to trek down the sides of your nose, and sides of your eyes, hence the prolonged healing times compared to lower lid blepharoplasty. In fact the optimal results are seen 4-5 weeks post surgery, as mild swelling will still be present at 2-4 weeks.

There are several things you can do to help speed up recovery following surgery. Firstly you must avoid any blood-thinning agents or medications that makes bleeding harder to control – this includes aspirin, anti-inflammatories, oral vitamin E and most importantly Fish Oil. Bleeding can result in complications, prolonged swelling, bruising and recovery times. Rest and ice post laser can also aid in recovery and reduce swelling. A detailed instruction sheet will be provided after your eyelid surgery procedure.

For laser eyelid blepharoplasty patients, total healing of your skin will take several weeks, as I often laser not only the eyelids, but the surround skin. This ‘blend’ treats wrinkles surrounding the eyelids (such as the crows feet area) and also reduces any chances of de-markation lines. An extra caution that is needed with laser eyelid surgery is the use of sunscreen after your skin heals- this can reduce the chances of PIH or skin colour changes (darkening of the skin). Sun protection must be adhered to for up to 6 weeks after laser blepharoplasty. Dr Davin Lim performs all variations of eye rejuvenation and eyelid surgery Brisbane- this includes surgical, laser and dermal fillers to rejuvenate the eyes. 

How long will it take me to recover from a mini face -lift?

brisbane best facelifts

7-9 days

Did you know that a surgical mini-face-lift has a shorter healing time compared to a laser face-lift? The reason behind this is because with a laser face-lift the upper layer of the skin has to removed, then the lower layers are retreated with laser. This is done to stimulate collagen. This means that your skin needs to reform as the entire layer is removed. Laser face-lifts are great for treating textural changes such as sun damage, pigmentation, age spots, wrinkles as well as skin laxity.

With a mini-face lift, the surface of the skin is untouched, as the lifting occurs from below the surface. This results in a quicker healing time- sutures are out within 5-7 days, and swelling settles within 8-10 days after surgery. With surgical face-lifts, skin texture is untouched. In most cases I combine a face lift with eye lid surgery, know as blepharoplasty. Very rarely do I see a case of skin laxity requiring face lifting, without eyelid laxity. In most cases, patients will present with changes of skin laxity involving both the upper and lower eyelids. A mini face-lift pulls the skin up and back. Try gently lifting the skin on the front part of your ear back and up. See what happens to the skin below your eyes? They bunch up, and hence wrinkling and skin laxity in this region is made worse with mini lifts. The solution is simple, a small excision under the lower eyelid removes excess skin, diminishing the bunching and wrinkles. This is known as a lower lid blepharoplasty. Healing time for this procedure is only 5 days.

Liquid face-lifts have instant results with no downtime, however there are limitations as to what fillers can achieve. Liquid face-lifts can reshape the jaw line, define the cheekbones, and achieve what is known as mid facial volume replacement. This in turn lifts the lower 1/3 of the face. The limitations of a liquid face-lift is that this treatment does not treat skin texture, and poor skin tone such as marked wrinkling can not be adequately addressed.

The ideal rejuvenation is hence based upon the science of treating all aspects of ageing- namely replenishing loss volume (fillers), addressing skin tone (lasers if mild loss of tone, or mini-face-lifts if moderate to severe loss), and treating the surface of the skin (laser such a CO2 or erbium if severe, or Fraxel if mild to moderate).

I encourage most of my facelift patients to undertake volume replacement with fillers, or with fat grafting. Fillers provide more consistent results than fat grafts, however fat grafting to replace loss volume may last longer, but are less predicable than dermal fillers such as Juvederm Voluma.

Skin texture alternations such as pigmentation and sun damage can, to an extent, be covered up with make up. A simple laser procedure, such as high density Fraxel laser can remove a significant portion of sun damage. I often combine treatments such as superficial lasers (Fraxel) with mini-face lifts, as this reduces overall downtime. As your deeper layers of skin are healing up from the mini-face-lift, the upper layers of your skin would have healed by day 7. In most cases I wait 3-5 weeks post face-lifting to address volume changes with filler. If you exhibit mild to moderate skin laxity, a non-surgical procedure such as Ultherapy and dermal fillers can give a noticeable and natural lift, without the downtime of surgery. 

The most natural results are not from just a face-lifting procedure, but a harmonious balance of treating skin texture, tone and volume. eyelid surgery brisbane, by dr davin lim- laser and cosmetic specialist.

How long does it take to recover from surgery for acne scarring?

acne scar treatment brisbane

 

 

 

 

 

 

3-5 days.

I perform several surgical procedures for acne scarring including punch elevation, punch excision, subcision and excision. Depending on the type and severity of acne scarring, I may perform some, or all of these procedures during the one session, followed by other treatment methods such as laser or Infini RF microneedling PRP at a later stage. 

  • Punch elevation does not require a stitch and heals within 3 days.
  • Punch excision requires a stitch to each ice pick scar I excise. Sutures are out within 4-5 days.
  • Subcision requires no stitches, however you may have bruising for 4-8 days.
  • Excision of scars requires several stitches that remain for 4-5 days.  Davin Lim, eyelid surgery Brisbane.Â