Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Story of My Face Surgery

By Kitty R. Kat

Spring of 2000 I went on a cruise with my daughter. When I developed the pictures, I noticed my upper eye lids were very droopy. So I set up a consultation with a plastic surgeon and made arrangements to have surgery.

During the consultation with the plastic surgeon he also noticed I had lines across my forehead and suggested a brow lift. I also had a bump on my nose and puffy lower eyelids he wanted to fix. Great. Sign me up. The before photos were taken and I made a down payment.

The day I went to the hospital the nurse asked me if I would like to stay for the night. Due to the multiple surgeries she thought it was a good idea and I agreed, so I paid the extra 600.00. I was so glad I did because the surgery took longer than I expected. The night was hazy except I remember my family visiting. My sister-in-law was in shock when she saw me and said I scarred my nephew for life. I think I scarred her for life, he was just 3 months old.

I must of looked pretty bad. My eyes were swollen shut and my nose and forehead were bandaged. The nurse had to help me around 4am to go to the bathroom, because they put an ointment on my eyelids and it blurred my vision. There was no way I could of taken care of myself if I had gone home.

My sister-in-law picked me up and took me home the next day...lucky her. I went to bed with a bag of frozen peas to put on my eyes. My daughter decided to stay with me for a few days. She had to literally feed me and help me get around. The ointment along with a lot of ice minimized the bruising. Finally by the 5th day I felt much better and wanted to shower really bad, but the surgeon didn't want me to until the stitches were removed on the 10th day post surgery. Good thing I could at least take a bath.

Finally the 10th day came and I went back to the surgeon to have my stitches removed. I wish they would of told me prior to my surgery that they would have to pull the stitches out of the corners of my eyes. The pain wasn't as bad as when they pulled the stitches out of my chest for my breast reduction, but it still hurt. The scars are still visible in the corner of my eyes.

The BIG thing they did not tell me prior to my surgery was that I would have a surgical scar from ear to ear and that they pulled my face away and my scalp (don't know why). To this day, a little over 8 years, I still am numb on the top of my head. Guess you could literally call me a numbskull. Also with this scar are the remnants of the knots from the stitches that I think I will have for life. These knots can hurt from time to time and I've lost some hair around the scar site.

When I got my stitches out the surgeon asked me if I was happy I did the surgery. At that time, I said I could kick myself for doing it. He said I would be happy for years. Well now years later my eyelids are starting to droop again. So I recently went to see another plastic surgeon and she just went ..yep, as you get older you will need a nip and a tuck. Great. The rest of the procedures are holding up....no wrinkles, except where they put the Restylane..but thats another story. - 15252

About the Author: