A note on a patient who had surgery over the recent Chuseok holiday and is now just past the one-week mark.
She reached out through our coordinator, concerned about her recovery. I'd like to walk through a similar case to explain what's happening.
Pre-op, she had significant depressed scarring, a sausage-lid look, and prominent mucosal show.
Our surgical plan:
Lower the crease.
Release the adhesions thoroughly, without excising skin.
Use adjacent tissue to soften the depressed scar areas — as much as possible, though scar improvement cannot be guaranteed.
Improve the mucosal show — to the extent that no functional issues remain.
Roughly ten days post-op.
In the video she sent, there's a faint wrinkle visible just above the crease.
This is different from the multiple folds that can develop after a double-line excision; it's simply that swelling above the incision resolves faster than below, and the imbalance creates a temporary wrinkle. It will smooth out with time. See the related case below for reference.
https://blog.naver.com/medicdoctor/222157893648
For comparison, here's what an actual problematic multiple-fold case looks like:
A patient who came to us after a failed double-line excision at another clinic, on whom I performed an early revision.
Early Revision After a Failed Double-Line Excision (feat. Triple Folds)
There is no need to worry — this will continue to improve with time.
Temporary lagophthalmos after surgery is more common in patients who have had multiple prior procedures, because the orbicularis oculi has already been weakened. Recovery takes time.