I had a blepharoplasty. This was my experience and this is how my eyes are years later

• Going back to the gym at 60, so I got my body (or what was left of it) back... and became great against all odds

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I decided to have a

blepharoplasty

when I separated from my husband, just turned 40... [Surely a psychology professional

would

have something to say after the previous statement, but this time we are not going to give him that pleasure].

The fact is that, one day, after calculating how shivering my checking account was going to be after the operation, I gave myself permission to embark on a

plastic surgery 'adventure'.

Whether there were compelling reasons for this is not relevant. Surely the others did not look at my face in as much detail as I did, but here, as always (which is what many do not understand) what is

significant

is not what others see in you, but

what you see.

And what I saw then is that he had

bags under his eyes,

above and below; and, to make matters worse, those of one eye were larger than those of the other, which sent me again and again, oh nightmare, to the asymmetrical gaze of a Pedro Solbes, God rest him in his glory, who showed one eye right very closed and the other not. And I, like I didn't see myself.

Although

I was precocious,

I now learn that I was not so precocious. Blepharoplasty is one of the

most requested

aesthetic operations for people

over

45 years of age and ranks

first

among those

over 60 years of age.

According to the

Spanish Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery

(SECPRE), it is the aesthetic surgery with the most demand among men (19.9% ​​of total interventions). Let's see. That you can hardly

see your eyes

because of your eyelids, collapsed due to

gravity

,

muscle weakness

and

fat

, is not to anyone's taste. Nor is it bad to be told every now and then that you

look like you're sick

or have just come out of an

after-party

because of

eyelid bags

the size of two marzipans.

And that's not to mention how tiring it is to realize every day that it's no use putting an

ice-cold spoon

under your eyes, smearing Trombocid on yourself as if it were given as a gift, or covering your face with cucumber slices.

The visit to the surgeon

The fact is that

motivated

as never before, and after researching on the Internet which plastic surgeons seemed to give the type in such a serious matter (one in principle does not allow anyone to put a hand and scalpel in their face), I decided on one that exhibited a certain dose of pedigree in the Salamanca neighborhood of Madrid. Excited and nervous, I crossed the door of the office without knowing that I was about to screw up, if not all the way, then close.

A huge painting of tremendous bad taste in one of the waiting rooms of the consultation should have warned me of the above, but nothing, I was not receptive. Already in the surgeon's office, a man as extraordinarily tanned as he was talkative, he spoke wonders to me about

blepharoplasty

, a technique that at that time was already performed on

an outpatient

basis , in a very short period of time and that would eliminate excess skin and grease from my eyelids forever. As an ultimate marketing tool, at one point in our conversation the doctor opened a drawer, took out a laminated sheet of paper, and placed it in front of my eyes. They were two photos of himself, before and after having a blepharoplasty. Although it was evident that he had not performed it himself (that would have been the megbomb)...

Who can doubt the benefits of a technique that the doctor himself uses?

And there I am, weeks later, on the operating table of a clinic in the suburbs, all my hopes pinned on that dark-skinned doctor and his dynamic team of young medical assistants. Count back from 10, nine, eight, seven...

What the surgeon took and wanted to give me back

In SECPRE's own definition, "the intervention usually lasts

between one and three hours

(...). If all four eyelids are to be performed, we generally start with the upper ones. Most of the time the

incisions

are placed in the natural lines of the upper eyelids and just below the eyelashes on the lower ones; in some cases they can extend towards crow's feet [which in no case corrects]. Through these incisions

the skin is separated from the

underlying fat

and

muscle ,

removing excess

fat and, sometimes, excess skin and muscle. The incisions are closed with

very fine sutures.

In other cases, in young patients in whom there is only excess fat, a

transconjunctival blepharoplasty

of the lower eyelids; the incision is placed inside the lower eyelid, leaving no visible scar.

I wake up and hale hop, everything has gone well, "here, this is yours."

The doctor hands me a

sample bottle

and inside are... my bags! Yes, the ones with the eyes. So that I can take them as a souvenir?

-Do you mind if I leave them here? I don't want them at all anymore - I decline.

The time for warnings has come. She slept with a

high pillow

for a few weeks; always wear

large, super dark sunglasses;

Don't be scared if when she moves her eyes to the side she feels dizzy; put on this ointment; Don't scratch your eyes, there are 2,500... The

suture threads

come out from the corners of my eyelids, giving me the appearance of a sad unstitched doll. His eyes have taken on the look of a beaten boxer, with increasing swelling. As the days go by, the area will take on an even more dramatic look, going from pink to black, black to purple, purple to green, and green to yellow.

And yet, I am happy.

I am happy even when on the same night of the operation, sleeping at my friend Maribel's house, who takes me in out of compassion, my son elbows me

in

the eye (Murphy's law) while we share a sofa bed. Or when I verify day after day that, in fact, when I move my eyes to the right or left it is as if my eye muscles do not have the energy to keep up with my brain. Come on, when I want to look to the left, my brain gets there before my eyes, producing a strange sensation of vertigo. At night, too,

I can't stop crying.

Tears stream down my face for hours. During days. For weeks. For... months. Ahem, for years.

The problems begin

Because

my eyes don't close

completely for a long, long time. At first I think it's normal. In fact, the doctor tells me that it is normal and that it will pass. Then I start to think that they have cut off an extra eyelid. Over time I come to the conclusion that the intern operated on me. There comes a day when I have to sleep with a handkerchief tied over my eyes, so that they close completely, or with my face pressed against the pillow. Because the

discomfort

comes, above all, from

persistent tearing,

which usually wakes me up in the middle of the night.

[What I did not know then but Dr.

José Nieto,

a specialist in the field, explains to me now is that "

tearing after a blepharoplasty is not normal.

It is probably related to a lowering of the lower eyelid or inadequate closure of the eyelid because too much skin has been removed from the upper part."

For the rest, it seems that things are returning to normal. Or not? I have to admit, when everything returns 'to its place', that I was prettier before, with my

Brad Pitt-type eyelashes.

Now I see my eyes quite sunken, "but at least," I tell myself, "I no longer have bags" (who can't be consoled...). Scars

are

going more and more unnoticed behind the eyelash lines. No one would say that I am someone else, but, definitely, something that was characteristic of my face is no longer there. And after all this, come

cry.

I still cry some nights today, in fact, and

it's been 20 years

.

An ophthalmologist diagnoses me

with dry eye.

That's why I cry. What a paradox. Because,

José Nieto

now explains from his website ,

"although it may sound contradictory,

dry eyes can cause tearing.

When the ocular surface is not adequately protected by the tear film, it is irritated and causes great discomfort to the patient. at the same time causes the

main tear gland to

momentarily overact to protect the ocular surface. And it turns out that if the plastic surgeon, during a

blepharoplasty,

removes too much skin..., the cornea is exposed to the air and dries out. And it has been said to cry.

But can it be even worse?

And this, hopefully. Because another possibility is that during the intervention

the muscle

responsible for closing the eyelids, the

orbicularis,

was damaged,

which some surgeons partially remove. This can cause incomplete eye closure, also called

lagophthalmos.

The consequence, again excessive dryness of the cornea, irritation and... tearing.

But one is what one is, and one does not give too much importance to the issue or it does not occur to one that the surgeon's malpractice had anything to do with the matter (with what the operation cost, one assumes - wrongly - that everything has turned out well). In fact, over time I even forget the surgeon's name. I searched for it while writing this article. And it turns out,

tachán,

that he accumulates lawsuits, including some for

blepharoplasties

that ended in

difficulties

closing

his eyelids

and

dry eyes

. I read that in 2014 SECPRE itself asked the

Patient Advocate Association for

data to open an

information file

for the doctor, which had already accumulated, according to Carmen Flores' organization, "dozens of complaints."

At this point it is worth asking whether a

poorly performed blepharoplasty

can be

'fixed'.

We ask Dr.

Marco Sales,

expert in blepharoplasty and aesthetic eye surgery at

IMO Grupo Miranza

(Madrid), the question: "It depends. In the upper eyelid, we can often

improve the asymmetries

in the furrows,

and in some cases

restore part of the fat.

If there has been excessive removal of skin, sometimes it may be necessary to do skin grafts. The problem is that sometimes they can be noticed after surgery. On the lower eyelid, if there is any remains of a bag or a protrusion, this can usually be improved relatively easily, and in the event that there is a malposition of the eyelid it is necessary to carefully assess whether there is a significant retraction that requires more complex surgeries. With these we can improve the situation, but sometimes not we can completely normalize." If the problem is that the

eyes have become sunken,

explains Dr. José Nieto, "you can

fill them,

to reduce the sunkening, with

hyaluronic acid

or

your own fat."

Moral:

before having a blepharoplasty,

look for a professional who knows what they are doing. As Marco Sales recommends, "you must go to someone who has experience in the treatment. A person with exclusive dedication to the periocular area and specialized in the eyelids maximizes good results and minimizes the risk of complications." José Nieto, for his part, leans toward "an ophthalmologist with training in eyelid surgery and experience." Better also, I'll tell you this, if he's not a morning cantaman. Better, if it doesn't make you cry.

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