Aftercare Instructions After Eye Surgery
1. After eye surgery, a small amount of blood may seep from between the sutured edges. This is a common finding, and if you dab it away little by little with gauze, a thin scab will form over the area and the oozing will stop.
2. When a scab forms the day after surgery, do not simply leave it alone. Apply the ointment you were prescribed and wipe the area gently. If it bleeds a little, dabbing it away will stop it.
3. When another scab forms, again apply the ointment and lift the scab off. Keeping the wound free of blood scabs in this way helps it heal faster and leaves less scarring.
4. Apply the ointment about three times a day, keeping the area slightly greasy (like a face with oily skin). Continue only until the stitches are removed, and stop applying it after suture removal.
5. Applying the ointment for a long period after the stitches are out can occasionally cause dermatitis, so please do not continue using it.
6. If you buy or use a scar ointment, please begin at least one week after suture removal. If it stings when you apply it, it is not yet time — in that case, start one month after the stitches are removed.
7. Emergencies: emergencies after eye surgery are rare, but especially after lower blepharoplasty a capillary that was cauterized during surgery can rupture for various reasons (coughing, positions that send blood to the head), causing bleeding and swelling at the wound. In such cases one side often swells severely — the feeling of a boxer's eye after a punch — to the point that the eye barely opens, and the blood clot must be removed at the clinic. Unless the case is very severe, you may come in the day after it happens to have it removed. Please call your coordinator.
8. Even after the stitches are removed, wash your face carefully. Washing with excessive force can open the wound, so it is best to take care for up to three weeks after surgery. Rinsing lightly with water alone is ideal.
9. Activities that soak and soften the skin, such as swimming pools and saunas, are best postponed until after three weeks.
10. Makeup is possible after suture removal on areas other than the wound itself, but eye makeup is recommended one to two weeks after the stitches come out. Makeup powder getting into the wound is not good for healing.
11. Occasionally a fragment of suture material works its way out even after the stitches have been removed. It is medical-grade thread and does not cause any serious problem, but if you find one, please visit the clinic and we will remove it. Sometimes a scab is mistaken for this. The thread used to fix the double eyelid fold may also surface; if this happens after one month, removing it will not undo the double eyelid.