[Griselda]

#1059870

Im going to have an OD next week and I would like to hear from people who had that surgery before , I’m a little nervous .

[snelsen]

#1178395

Hi, if you look up my posts, I have written a lot about my experience with quite a few suggestions. Gatorgirly did too. The information I wrote then was blow by blow at the time, and probably more helpful than remembering back almost three years. One thing that i found very helpful. Elevate the head of your bed by piling a bunch of pillows, blankets, etc. UNDER the mattress, all the way across. Much more comfortable in my experience, and worth it cause it really helps by preventing any swelling. Glad i did it.
Shirley

[gatorgirly]

#1178396

Yep, I had mine (both eyes at the same time) done this past September. It was a 100% success and I will have the upper eyelid-lowering procedure sometime this summer.

Shirley’s advice was SO helpful. I took it a step further and used what they call a bedrest pillow (that weird looking fuzzy thing with arms) until my normal pillows so I was sleeping at almost a 90-degree angle, but still comfortable. This relieved the swelling so well. The hospital gave me a neat little velcro headwrap that held a small bag of ice on each eye so that I could still ice my eyes while keeping my head elevated. I kept a humidifier running since part of my surgery was done endonasally so I wasn’t allowed to blow my nose or sneeze for two weeks. I was too nauseated to eat for the first 48 hours but that’s because no one in my family tolerates anesthesia well. I was given Zofran (anti-nausea meds used primarily for chemo-related nausea) but without eating, the painkillers made the Zofran almost useless. I used all the pain meds (Percocet) they gave me as the pain was quite severe for the first week, but Shirley experienced very little so it all depends on your pain tolerance and medication. By Day 8, I switched to ibrupofen. I was given the OK to start driving again and returned to work part time on Day 14, and returned full time on Day 21 and was able to start wearing my contacts again. That was also the last day I had any noticeable bruising whatsoever.

I received SO many compliments from people who knew me before my eyes popped out from TED. The people who didn’t know what I looked like before TED just assumed I had “big, pretty eyes” and thought the surgery was cosmetic. However, the people who know me best all agree I look just like my old self now.

The only side effect was facial numbness on my right check. The right eye was much worse and required more extensive “digging around” so there was nerve damage. I am told feeling should resume within 12 months of the surgery but honestly there has been very little improvement in 6+ months so I am losing hope. However, I hardly notice it until I’m eating or brushing my teeth or washing my face. Someone else on here is experiencing the numbness as well, but I think we’re the only two who have mentioned it.

If you’d like to read my personal blog posts about the process and recovery, PM me and I will send you the link.

Good luck, you’re going to do great. It’s a difficult procedure and recovery for some, but it is so worth it!

[Kimberly]

#1178397

Hi Griselda – If you would like to check out all the previous posts from Shirley and gatorgirly, you can click on their screen name to the left of one of the above posts, then scroll down to the bottom of the screen to select “Show All Posts”.

They have both been great about documenting their TED experiences for future patients!

[Griselda]

#1178398

Thank you all , I know this is a difficult time , but it helps a lot when you know pleople like you wants to share their own experience.

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