@hopeful33250
I had eyelid surgery, blepharoplasty, in the spring. My ophthalmologist had suggested it last year but I didn't think it was bad enough to bother with, but somehow, between last Christmas and April, my eyelids seemed to get much worse. I say that time frame because there are pictures of me at Christmas where my eyelids don't look that bad but by spring they were totally covering my eyelashes.

My ophthalmologist, who is one of the few local doctors whom I consider to be excellent, used to have a doctor come up from Lahey Clinic to do his patients but she was discontinuing this just when I needed it so I went to Lahey in MA to her. She is excellent. I am very happy with the results. My ophthalmologist thought for sure I would qualify. When I went to Lahey they tested my field of vision and I did qualify for it to be covered by Medicare.

The tiny stitches on my eyelid amazed me — such precision! I do still have pinkish eyelids but if I am going somewhere special I use a concealer on them. I have a friend in Seattle who had it done about three years ago and she still has pink eyelids so I think it takes a very long time for that to fade, if it ever does completely. I did use cold packs frequently, I no longer have the post-surgery instructions but I do remember it was quite often, each time for a limited number of minutes. I had some that had a gel in them that you put in a cloth sleeve. I actually had them from the days when I had migraines because the cool pack on my forehead gave a tiny bit of relief. She also gave me an ophthalmic antibiotic ointment -- erythromycin -- to use on them for the first two weeks. Erythromycin is safe around your eyes, you can even put it in your eye. I had to once when I had a corneal abrasion, back when I wore contact lenses.

I know that you are very conscious of researching your doctors, Teresa. There are some plastic surgeons who do eyelids but if you have it done I have heard and read that it is best done by an ophthalmologist who specializes in eyelid plastic surgery. I think it's called oculoplastic or something like that. I am very happy with the results, both from the vision standpoint, and from the appearance standpoint.
JK