[shakira7]

#1060436

Hi all,

Does anyone know if “Eyelid retraction correction surgery” is covered by disability insurance?

I had a follow-up with my eye specialist 2 weeks ago, and he confirmed me that I am ready to correct my TED by eyelid retraction correction surgery which I will need to take 2 weeks off from work.

I hope the insurance company covers this, or otherwise, I will have to take 2 weeks leave without pay from work.

Thanks,

Shakira7

[snelsen]

#1182596

Hi, disability insurance not familiar to me. But your regular medical insurance should cover this if the doc writes it correctly with diagnosis of TEd.
Shirley

[Kimberly]

#1182594

Hello – Agree with Shirley that this is a question directly for your insurer. Patients who are receiving Social Security Disability benefits should be covered by Medicare, but their customer service reps would have to answer any questions about coverage.

Definitely make sure that your doctor is coding this as a medical necessity, and *not* as cosmetic. If lids don’t close all the way, that can lead to dryness and cornea damage, so the insurance company *should* cover this.

Take care!

[gatorgirly]

#1182597

I had this surgery 11 months ago. I wasn’t on disability but it was fully covered by my health insurance as it was considered medically necessary to my Graves’ and TED treatment. Make sure your surgeon and/or the office’s surgical coordinator file it as such.

As for taking two weeks off, that seems a bit generous. It’s a relatively minor outpatient surgery, and mine was done with only local anesthesia – the surgeon had me open and close my eyes several times so that he could ensure my eyelids ended up symmetrical. Compared to orbital decompression, the eyelid surgery (I had both eyes done) was a breeze. I went back to work the next day, threw a bridal shower four days later, and started a new job a week later. The bruises looked way worse than I felt, but by day 6 or so, people said it just looked like I was wearing dark eyeshadow.

I blogged all about the surgery and recovery – happy to send the link if you’d like.

[Kimberly]

#1182593

Sorry, I misread the question and thought you were talking about insurance paying for the surgery as opposed to time off work!

My understanding is that there is usually a waiting period of several weeks before short-term disability benefits kick in. So this probably wouldn’t help for eyelid surgery, although it’s worth checking with your HR department.

Take care!

[shakira7]

#1182598

Hi Kimberly, no worries about misunderstanding.

Hi gatorgirly, yes this surgery is covered by my provincial health care – I’m in Canada, so although they aren’t as fast as US, at least I don’t have to pay anything out of my pocket.

I would much prefer not to go on any type of disability either, as it seems like 2 wks is too long. I will ask my doctor if he can shorten it to less than a week, so that I can use my regular sick days.

Yes, I would love to read your surgery and recovery blog. Please feel free to send it to me via PM.

Thank you all,

Shakira7

[shakira7]

#1182599

Hi everyone,

I found out that if I take up to 10 days off from work due to medical reason, I won’t fall under short-term disability. Thank god. I work in the disability claim dept where we have access to the staff claims; I would hate to know that my colleagues are going through my medical claims.

My only concern is, the surgery will be performed in a private clinic that does cosmetic eye surgery. If anyone googles up this clinic, they will know that it’s a private clinic for cosmetic plastic surgery.

As long as my surgeon writes on a note that this is for a medical reason and not a cosmetic reason, can the HR deny this?

My surgery date will be confirmed in late July, for early August date.

Because my boss is very difficult with employees taking sick days, I only plan on letting her know a few days before my surgery. On top of that, one of my colleague is leaving our team in July for a better job. So we will be under-staffed in August.

Does the boss have the right to ask me to postpone my surgery?
This concerns me a bit.

I won’t tell her what type of surgery I will be having; I’m only going to say it’s for surgery & my doctor tells me to take X amount of days off from work.
She doesn’t know I have GD, and I do not want her to know about this.
Especially if it’s an eye surgery, I can get accused of trying to take sick days for a cosmetic surgery.

I plan on giving the doctor’s note directly to HR.

I really hope that I won’t end up losing my job over this eyelid surgery.

Hi gatorgirly,

Yes, 10 days seem generous for eyelid retraction surgery. However, I this I will go with my doctor’s note, as I don’t want to risk having to go another surgery by returning to work earlier than his note…especially with the stressful working atmosphere at my current job.

I just hope my boss won’t provide me a laptop, asking me to work from home while recovering from this surgery…unless my doctor feels it’s safe to do so.

After this surgery, I am going to look for another job.

Thank you all,

Shakira7

[gatorgirly]

#1182600

I’m pretty sure even if your surgery was cosmetic, HR can’t make a fuss about it. But I’m not too sure about the laws/policies where you are. My surgeon primarily did cosmetic surgery as well – my surgery was done in the hospital. Are you sure you have to provide a note? I did not have to provide any documentation from my surgeon or the hospital.

I had my surgery at a really inconvenient time – I worked at a college and it took place the week of Homecoming. I did plenty of pre-work to help my team out ahead of time, and theyhad two months’ notice so they could make arrangements to be without me. Your health comes first and this is an important surgery in your recovery process.

It really sounds like you aren’t convinced, and therefore, your boss won’t be either. Maybe do more research so that it’s not even a question as to whether or not this is medically necessary. It’s perfectly fine to keep your health issues private, but your boss and HR should be on your side. If you explain more about Graves’ and TED, they are likely to be a lot more understanding and compassionate. I kept my medical history completely private until I got the surgery date. Then, I sat my boss down – also a bit fearful like you are. Turns out, her predecessor had Graves’ and TED, and she and my co-workers were generally intrigued and very concerned for me. I was not expecting this at all, so maybe you’ll have a similar experience.

10 days is definitely not necessary for eyelid surgery however my bruises were still evident for about two weeks so if you’re waiting for the bruises to fade before you return, that sounds about right. I wore glasses (instead of contacts) until the bruises were completely gone. By the last few days, it looked like heavy eye makeup.

Start looking for a new job now – you sound like I did when I hated the job I was at when I was diagnosed. Not good!

[Kimberly]

#1182601

Hello – gatorgirly gave you some great food for thought.

As for whether your boss has the *right* to ask you to postpone surgery, an employment attorney would probably be the best source to answer that question. But it’s important that *you* put a priority on your health. If your eyelids aren’t giving full coverage to your eyes, this can definitely cause damage to the cornea down the road.

Obviously, I don’t know the dynamics at your particular workplace, but my 2 cents would be that waiting until a few days before you are going to take off (especially during a particularly busy time) might actually cause more problems than it would solve!

[shakira7]

#1182602

Hi Gatorgirl and Kimberly,

Thank you to both of you for your reply. I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to give my updates, but things have not been going well at work.

I finally got my potential surgery date: 24th of this month.
I’m still waiting for my documents that I need to sign and make a deposit payment…to be officially confirmed, but I’d say it’s 99% confirmed.

I still haven’t announced this to my boss.

I checked with the doctor, and this surgery is covered by provincial health care plan. It is due to medical reason, not cosmetic. Thank god.

Gatorgirly, my workplace is not nearly as nice as yours at a college. I believe people at college are much more nicer and humane.

I cannot disclose my medical condition to my boss, cause she uses it against you later on. A colleague quit in March due to her abusive behaviour. My buddy just found a new job so she is outta here in 2 weeks, cause she found this place very stressful and the boss very difficult to work with.

I am, in fact, in search of a new employment, which is why I’ve been silent since mid-June.

The HR dpt emailed me that I just need to submit a note from a doctor saying I cannot work for whatever reason & expected return date to work to someone in HR. Yes, my doctor advised me to be off for 2 weeks, due to the bruising which takes upto 2 weeks.

Given my workplace is very toxic, I plan on announcing this to my boss, most likely by email with a brief message. Whether I tell her in person or via email, she will freak out, especially since my colleague is leaving.

To tell you the truth, I recently got the upper management & HR involved, for the boss’ abusive behaviour towards me. They don’t seem to be doing much, and at the same time, this boss very upset at me.
Therefore, they may very well suspect that I plan on leaving this company.

According to provincial labor relation law, I am entitled to take my sick days off from work due to medical condition. There isn’t much the boss can do about this, other than trying to bully me to work from home with a laptop…which, of course, I will refuse.

I will email her about 1 week prior to surgery, once I make my deposit fee.

Most likely, she will try to fire me for being off from work (for whatever reason, she doesn’t really care), especially when someone just resigned.

I have 2 job interviews scheduled next week; I really hope at least 1 of them offers me a position, so that I can continue to work elsewhere after my surgery.

If she fires me before I go on surgery, which is my main concern right now, then I guess I’ll be unemployed as of August. It’s not sth I want, but I guess I have no choice.

I have been doing a great job, so I am curious to see under what reason she will decide to terminate my employment.

One of my eye looks really bigger than the other one, because of the eyelid retraction. I’m wondering if that’s why I get asked often, “What’s wrong? You look upset.”…although I am not upset (???).
Therefore, I don’t think I can wait longer on this surgery.

My story got a bit side-tracked, sorry about that.
Dealing with my medical condition in a toxic workplace has not been helpful.
I am just hoping to find a new job asap.

Thank you guys, for the support.

Shakira7

[Kimberly]

#1182603

Wow, hoping that you can find a work environment that is less toxic.

Wishing you all the best with the surgery!

[gatorgirly]

#1182604

Gosh, that truly is awful. My colleagues within my department at the college were great, but everyone else was terrible. We all found to be what we described as “toxic” as well. Half of us have since left and the other half is currently looking for new jobs – so I hear you.

Glad you’re going through HR and upper management, as your boss could find herself in legal trouble if she give you a hard time. I’m guessing HR told you that all communication should be through email so that there is a paper trail, proof of you letting your boss know, her response, etc.

Good luck! The 24th will be here before you know it. You’ll feel more confident and thus be better prepared for job interviews when you look like your old self again!

[shakira7]

#1182605

Thank you, Gatorygirly and Kimberly!

Yes, I had my eyelid retraction correction surgery done yesterday.
It wasn’t a big surgery; i think the surgery itself lasted maybe 30 mins?
I felt a bit dizzy after it was done and a minor pain when I got home; other than that, it was alright.

Since yesterday, I look as if I were beaten up. I’ve been putting ice pack around my left eye every hour. It looks a little better than last night, and I look forward to looking like a normal myself soon.
The eyelid area is swollen from the surgery, which I hope, will sink down, too.
My left eye now looks like a sleepy eye, completely the opposite of pre-operation where it looked like I was staring at something.

I’m so glad my doctor gave me 2 weeks to recover, cause with one purple eye like that, I would have felt uncomfortable going to work.

Gatorgirly, yes, at least the HR has been helpful regarding my medical leave. I submitted my med certificate directly to HR, and bypassed my boss. Although she knows all med documents are highly confidential, she cannot keep it private and she would share her employees’ medical info with her colleagues. I was so relieved that the HR told her, that they would be the only ones who will receive my med documents.

I have a follow-up with my doctor next Thursday, and in the meantime, the nurse told me no gym, no violent activities (It’s too funny he used the word “violent”), and no water around the left eye area. He told me, if I don’t feel comfortable, it would be safe to just go into a hair salon and ask them to wash my hair. He was probably the nicest nurse i’ve met so far, very very patient-oriented & accommodating, which made my operation process very pleasant. It makes a huge difference, especially when you are going for an operation. Overall, the clinic members were very nice, so I’m going to bring them a box of chocolates for being such a wonderful people.

One of the place where I went for a job interview called me today (thank got they didn’t call me yesterday!), for a reference check. I gave them 2 references, but not my current boss.

Alright, I’m back to ice pack massage now.

Thank you again for your support, and I will keep you posted!!

Shakira7

[Kimberly]

#1182606

Thanks for the update – so glad to hear that you are doing well! I’m sure the clinic would definitely appreciate hearing your kind words. And yes, chocolate is good, too.

Fingers crossed that the new job opportunity comes through for you!

[shakira7]

#1182607

Thank you, Kimberly!
My eyelids are doing much better this week, but I still have to make sure the water doesn’t get inside my eyes when I wash my hair.
Although it’s not completely healed yet, it feels great to have my original look back. I’m sure everyone reading this, who had/has TED know what I’m talking about.

YES, I got the job offer today and I gladly accepted it!!!
I start in 2 weeks.

I can now sleep in peace this weekend.

[Author]

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