Eyelid Inflammation after DES

[yumicookie]

I had double eyelid surgery done in Korea about 5 weeks ago. I did not wear contacts or eye makeup for a whole 4 weeks as per doctor’s instructions and recovery was going great.

However when week 5 rolled around, I started to put less effort on being cautious with my eyelids. The other night when I was putting on eye cream (for the first time in weeks), I dabbed some of it onto my creases without giving it much thought. I then returned to my couch potato form to continue watching TV for about an hour before feeling a bump starting to form on my right eyelid. The bump was not very noticeable and was in the position where a stitch was knotted from my DES making it less obvious, so I just cleaned both eyelids and went to bed.

Boy was I in for a surprise when I woke up….. the bump on my right eyelid grew to a size of a mature looking pimple and there was a formation of a smaller but equally menacing counterpart on the left eyelid as well! After some googling I was convinced that I have an inflammation on my eyelid aka a stye and not a chalazion. (see link at the bottom of post for information on the differences between the two) Both of these annoying things will usually go away on its own, but since it was on my crease line I wanted to get it check out by a REAL professional doctor instead of self-diagnosing by reading WebMD.

I made an appointment with an optometrist for the following day and I was advised in the meantime to use hot compresses on my eyes. While I was using the hot compress, the little guy on the left eye gave up and popped on its own but the bump on the right side was still going strong. Fast forward to the next morning, the left side that popped the day before went back down to looking normal so I was optimistic for the right side to return to normal as well.

At the doctor’s office I had two doctors examine my eye since it is not very common for a stye to form on the eye crease away from the lash line. Since the crease was a surgical site and the area is still very sensitive to manipulation, both doctors agreed that it would be best give me topical and oral medication.  They also drained the bump for me during examination. As a precaution I will be visiting for follow ups frequently since the topical medication will make the eyelid area very thin and sensitive.

Recovery:

Day 1 post examination -  the bump is looking much smaller so I guess the medication is working.

Key Takeaways:

If you are not sure about something or feel something is wrong, go to a real doctor.

You may look normal and can put makeup on after a month; full recovery from eyelid surgery is 1 year so best practice is to be cautious for the full 12 months.

Be careful with creams containing active ingredients since it can irritate a surgical site.
 

Links:

Stye vs Chalazion https://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/what-are-chalazia-styes

[kino]

@yumicookie Very thoughtful share, sorry you had to go through that ordeal. I think a lot of us might have applied cream like that. 

Did the optometrist say it was some kind allergic reaction to the cream and incision? Or was it Stye or Chalazion?

[Ppp]

For how long should eye cream be avoided around the crease area? 

[yumicookie]

@kino it looked like a stye and had symptoms of a stye, the only thing that wasn't very stye like was the location. I think I must have irritated the crease or something got plugged up by the eye cream since it was on both eye creases. Usually you get a stye on one eye from regular inflammation but since I had a matching set it is most likely from something I did to the crease. =X

@Ppp This is probably a question I should've asked my doctor regarding creams that can potentially contain active ingredients before applying. I suggest that you inquire with your doctor before applying anything questionable to an incision site.