So I have a bit of an issue, I have very droopy eyelids, so you can't see my upper eyelids. I always look tired as hell, or mad, or both, according to some people. I can't really wear eye makeup because you can't see it and it smudges.

They aren't so bad that they affect my vision, so how much will blepharoplasty cost approx? Will this also make me look a little more feminine, if my eyes are opened up a little?

Thanks,

Chrissi

Try lifting the forehead skin up and see what it looks like.  That will give you an idea of what you would look like.



Hugs and Love
Janet

Blepharoplasty and levator resection is the only facial surgery I've ever had, and it was for functional purposes mainly, so that I would have better peripheral vision, although I admit to a certain amount of vanity as well.  The levator muscles of my eyes were torn......the surgeon said the muscles were weak, and that it was a congenital condition.
So, saying that, before surgery, I looked somewhat like Garfield the cat......and now, I don't.
Insurance covered the levator muscle resection, but not the blepharoplasty, which ended up being something in the neighborhood of $3500 out of pocket.  I think insurance covered something like $4000 for the muscle resection.  Get the best surgeon you can find.  This is your face, so now is not the time to value shop.
Expect to look like you were in a brawl for about 2 weeks or so.  You can invent a colorful story if you like.   Use vitamin E oil on the area every day for several months.

Opening up your eyes should make you look more feminine, but I'm not sure how much. 

I just had mine done - vanity, but I was getting close to losing some peripheral vision.  I spent a couple of days laid back in my recliner with ice on my face and looked a little racoonish over Thanksgiving, but most of the swelling is gone a week later and the bruises are mostly yellow, which if I remember correctly is a later stage in their color scheme.  My daughter's other mom had it done some years ago and only missed three days work.  I don't know that I would have been able to work after only three days.

The whole thing cost me $1500 (plus ice).  I probably wouldn't have had it done if it was $3500, but we each have different cost-benefit calculations.  I was (and am) no beauty, but I never looked like Garfield.

- Kate

Kate, are you in the USA? That seems unbelievably cheap in US dollars.

However, I called a surgeon and got a quote that it prices start at 1450 CDN, but it depends on how much work needs to be done. I imagine the doc will try and convince me that I will need more than that.

Chrissi

Sorry.  Yes that is $US.  I talked to the doctor quite a bit about what work needed to be done - on my eyes, my jowls, my nose.  I'm not getting FFS, but a little tuck here and there is welcome at my age.  (And, after talking to her, the world is stuck with looking at my nose as it is.) 

It might have been cheap because I didn't need it that much - I don't know.  She said that if I needed a general anesthetic we would have to do it in the hospital and it would be a lot more expensive.  I did it under a local anesthetic in her office.  It wasn't pleasant but was OK.  I've had worse times in the dentist's chair.

- Kate

Wow, you got your eyes worked on under local anasthetic?? My gosh, that must have been scary!

Chrissi

I took a Valium before I got there.  The worst part was when she inserted the needle into my eyelids to numb the area.  That was kind of scary.  After that I just chatted away with her and her nurse as they worked.  I was pretty zoned out from the Valium - they said I was slurring my words.  A friend drove me home.  I wasn't feeling all that wonderful, but I actually have eyelids now.

- Kate

Quote from: K8 on December 03, 2009, 08:31:34 AM
I took a Valium before I got there.  The worst part was when she inserted the needle into my eyelids to numb the area.  That was kind of scary.  After that I just chatted away with her and her nurse as they worked.  I was pretty zoned out from the Valium - they said I was slurring my words.  A friend drove me home.  I wasn't feeling all that wonderful, but I actually have eyelids now.

- Kate

I was in a hospital, had general anesthesia, and the procedure I needed took 1-1/2 hours.

How much downtime was needed after you had it done? My doc said 1-2 weeks, but if I keep taking time off work I won't have a job!!

Chrissi

Part of it is your general health and how quickly you usually heal.  Do you bruise easily?

My daughter's other mom said she took only three days off.  I might have been able to show up for work after only three days, but I probably wouldn't have gotten a lot done and I wouldn't have trusted myself with heavy machinery.  Four days would have been better.  A week and I was ready for whatever life brings.  The surgeon, when she took out the stitches, said my bruising and swelling was much less than some of her patients.

YMMV

- Kate

Thats true, I'm not really sure if I heal well compared to others lol...however, I am planning to get at least two surgeries on my face, but not at the same time due to money issues. How accomodating is work to cosmetic surgeries like these, especially ones that happen every couple of weeks?

Chrissi

I also got mine done under local at a local College of Medicine.  They did it reasonably as long as I did not mind the professor showing some students while he worked.  They took my insurance and it was all covered that way.  I also elected to do a lower chemical peel, which they did reasonably priced.  It was a little bizarre doing it under local though.  And I did not use ice, but bags of frozen peas.  Worked great.

Kristi

But in order to get it covered by insurance you will probably need to get an inspection by an optometrist who says that your brow is blocking your vision to some extent, right?

Chrissi

Yes you do.  It is a pretty easy test which determines if you have lost peripheral vision.  In my case, I had lost a lot of it.

Kristi

See, I've never really had a problem with my vision, so I probably won't be able to BS my way through it lol.

Chrissi