Eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty)
My droopy eyelids were making me look sort of sad and tired all the time, and I found myself raising my eyebrows a lot. I was all set to have the surgery last year when the pandemic hit. Well, I finally got it yesterday.
I may be an oddity, but the only thing that mildly hurt was when the surgeon put in the eyedrops. It burned a little just for a second. I remember part of the procedure, but I must have been under too deeply for part of it because it felt like it took about 10 minutes. Then I was in recovery for about 45 minutes and my daughter took me home.
Sure, I look like something just terrible happened to me, but I feel great. One of my cats looked at me like I was visiting from Hell, and I told my daughter-in-law that it's best not to video chat with my granddaughter for awhile, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
My procedure was covered by my Medicare plan with $175 copay. I told the doctor that if he wanted to throw in a face lift while he was at, that would be fine with me.....as long as I didn't have to pay for it. I'm not that vain. 
So, if anyone is thinking they might need this and are worried, I just want to say that for me it has been a positive experience so far.
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You can't wash your face for 48 hours, so I'm REALLY looking forward to doing that tomorrow afternoon. Also, I have to sleep with my head elevated 30-45 degrees, so my night last night wasn't great. Then when I got up at 4 a.m., I picked up my phone to check the time it looked like I was looking through the thickest fog ever, but it went away in minutes. I've been putting in my artificial tears, and you're supposed to put ice on your eyes for 15 minutes out of every hour. It took me a bit to figure out the best way to do that. I was worried about getting the incision wet with condensation from my bag of ice water, but I finally figured out that if I put a paper towel around it and put some guaze pads on my eyes it works pretty good. It sure does feel good.
I don't think your husband will regret it if he decides to get it done.
I'm not going to lie - I tried to look as droopy as possible for the photo submitted to insurance. 
I just look a little scary. 
I'm sort of a sun-shunner anyway, but I'll for sure wear sunglasses any time I go out the door from now on. 
I'm so looking forward to seeing what it's like in another week or so.
One thing I thought was going to be weird was when he put the eye shields over my eyeballs, but it was fine. They were blue. The anesthesiologist told me I could imagine myself at the ocean.
The surgeon started all of his drawing on my eyelids while I was still fully awake. It all just seemed to go very fast. My most pleasant surprise was how great I felt afterwards. I mean, I was just a little less than normal when it came to alertness. I had versed once for a dental implant, and I had to take a nap when I got home, but with whatever this was, I didn't even need a nap. I still took it easy though.
Good luck!
Editing to add: I'm super sensitive about my eyes. Wearing contacts is something I always knew I couldn't do. I finally just mastered putting in drops. I used to have to have my husband do it for me, but he's history so I had to learn to do it on my own.
I'm doing great. I never did have any pain. There was some swelling the first few days. I was told to sleep with my head elevated, and I did that the first night. I didn't the second night, but I should have. When I woke up that second morning, my eyes were very swollen. I continued to use cold packs for the first few days, and it definitely helped.
So here I am, Day 6, and I feel great. My surgeon used steri strips over the stitches, and they're still there, so I don't still don't look presentable. I've been following the instructions about not getting them wet. Hopefully the doctor will take them off at my follow-up appointment on Tuesday. The bruising is getting better every hour, and I honestly forget most of the time that I've even got anything going on with my eyelids. Everything feels normal.
My instructions said not to shower for 48 hours, but I very carefully did shower. At first I just avoided my head altogether, but after that first 48 hours I rigged up a cover for my eyes so I could wash my hair in the shower too. I feel like a big part of healing is feeling as good as possible, and I do better when I'm refreshed.
The next time I have any need to have cold packs, I'm going to set up some ziplock bags with crushed ice so they'll be ready to just grab and add water to them when I use them. It's very important to add water. Don't just use ice. I'm sure that'll be in your instructions.
I went to the grocery store yesterday with my sunglasses on to get some produce. It worked out well, except that my sunglasses fogged up a bit because I was wearing a mask too. It felt good to get out of the house for a bit.
Oh, and protect your eyelids from the sun after you get this done! My instructions said they'll be sensitive to sunlight for a year. Honestly, though, we should all be protecting our eyes from the sun anyway, so I'm hoping I can just always be in the habit of wearing sunglasses when outdoors from now on.
I'm looking forward to hearing how everything goes for you.
It would have sucked to show up on the 28th! 
I had to stop NSAIDs 10 days prior. The only thing I normally take is my low-dose aspirin, so it wasn't too difficult to remember not to take anything.
What I kept almost forgetting was to not eat or drink after 6 a.m. on the day of the surgery. My procedure wasn't until 1:30, so I got to have that 6 a.m. cutoff time. I was happy I got to have my coffee, but I just didn't feel like eating that early. I made sure I was very hydrated the day before so I wouldn't feel too thirsty.
It was just all very easy!
Everything is great. The doctor took off the steri tape, and I look much better. There's still a little bit of bruising and swelling. He commended me for keeping the steri tape dry.
I wanted to mention that I read this morning that another doctor recommended frozen peas for the cold packs because they're lighter than ice on the delicate eye tissue. I think if I had it to do over, I'd stick with the crushed ice in water. I'm almost wondering if the extra weight and the way it just sunk right down into my eyes helped the swelling.
The bottom line advice I can give is to follow the instructions to the letter. My doctor was impressed with my healing.
What they want to get. What Aetna will pay. What Curt will owe. What a scam. Top row = surgeon, facility etc. 2nd row = anesthesia.
