Brow Lift | Eyelid Surgery

Brow lift and blepharoplasty costs in Louisiana depend on your unique needs and desired results. After meeting you and learning more about your expectations, Dr. Daugherty will give you a breakdown of the cost of your brow lift or eyelid surgery in Louisiana.

Brow lift patients usually notice an immediate improvement to their appearance; however, swelling and bruising may obscure your results for the first two weeks. Over the next months, your results will continue to improve as the site heals and incisions fade, leaving your forehead looking younger and smoother. 

Dr. Daugherty’s eyelid surgery patients generally experience pain, swelling, and bruising, so you’ll want to plan to rest at home for about two weeks. Gradually, your results will appear as swelling and bruising subside, and eyes will look smoother, more refreshed, and alert. 

Sun protection is essential to avoid squinting. Always wear dark sunglasses when sun exposure is unavoidable. With proper skin care and sun protection, your brow lift and eyelid surgery in Louisiana results will last several years.

Following your brow lift or eyelid surgery, you may not feel like facing the world for about two weeks. After a month, you may still experience residual swelling, but you’ll begin to see improvements. It may take up to 12 months for swelling to fully resolve, but most patients can resume normal activities a month post-procedure.

For two weeks after a brow lift, it is critical to avoid squinting, so wear dark sunglasses when outside.
Following your eyelid surgery, you will need to apply ointment and keep your eyes well-lubricated. For a week to 10 days after surgery, you will experience swelling, bruising, and discoloration. You may feel sensitive to light and experience blurred vision or frequent tearing. These effects usually subside after a month.

Eyelid surgery patients cannot:

• Shower for 48 hours
  Watch television or read for two to three days
• Wear contact lenses until their incisions have completely healed
• Bend at the waist for five days

For four to six weeks following brow lift or eyelid surgery, you should avoid activities that may increase your blood pressure.

However, we encourage you to start gentle walks as soon as possible.

Upper eyelid surgery most often addresses the aging eyelid with excess skin in the “eye shadow” space that can make the lids appear sad or hooded. Lower eyelid surgery addresses a combination of skin and fat that can appear as bags under the eyes and sagging skin. 

The upper eyelid scar is placed in the crease of the eyelid, so it is not visible with the eyes open.  The lower lid scar is either on the inside of the eyelid or right at the lash line – both incisions are hidden or near hidden.

You will be greeted at the clinic. You will be given medication that will make you sleepy and help to take the nerves away. You will be taken to the procedure room where Dr. Daugherty will perform your surgery. Once the procedure is complete, you will be allowed to wake up and then be wheeled to your car. You will need someone to drive you home and then stay with you for the first 24 hours post-operatively.

Bruising and swelling is to be expected for about 7-10 days post-operatively. There is not much pain, however. Most people are up and around over the next few days with big sunglasses to hide the bruising.

You should look like yourself, just rejuvenated and rested.

The changes that are made are permanent. While the aging process continues, with skin continuing to lose elasticity and deeper tissues of the face continuing to lose volume, patients will have a reset of the clock to age more gracefully than their peers.  

An upper blepharoplasty is mostly removal of excess skin to sharpen the upper eyelid crease and give space above the lash line. A droopy eyelid can also be addressed at this time with something called a ptosis repair.

Lower lid bags are improved by removing fat pockets that are showing through a septum that weakens and bulges forward as we age.  If there is excess skin, this can be removed by a thin incision at the lash line. 

Most patients don’t require pain medication after the first few days. 

Surgery takes 1-3 hours depending on whether upper and lower are done together and depending on the severity of the case.

Patients will need a driver on the day of surgery and someone to stay with them for the first 24 hours after surgery.

Bruising and swelling typically take 7-10 days to resolve. There can be mild residual swelling that lasts for weeks to months, but you won’t look bad – it’s just not your final result. Scars also turn pink before they fade, but after 7 days you can cover with makeup.

Blepharoplasty can affect dry eyes by making them worse especially in the immediate post operative period. With the skin removal and swelling, you may not be able to close your eyes completely for the first week or so – this will resolve as swelling improves. However, in patients with pre-existing dry eyes, this can be a problem. If you have chronic dry eyes, you may not be a great candidate for eyelid surgery or will have to check with your eye doctor so we can form a solid plan together prior to surgery.

The purpose of blepharoplasty is to rejuvenate the eyes so that they can appear more youthful.

The success is pretty high – most patients are very pleased with their results after surgery. 

Improvement to brow position and crows feet around the eyes are made with a brow lift more than eyelid surgery or blepharoplasty. Brow lift is often performed in combination with eyelid surgery to rejuvenate the whole upper face. Dark circles under the lids caused by shadows can be improved with lower eyelid surgery, volume rejuvenation with fat grafting or filler. If the skin itself is pigmented, then skin care on top of surgery or volume replacement is needed to optimize results. A cream to help with pigmentation is typically added to the regimen post operatively.

Dark circles under the lids caused by shadows can be improved with lower eyelid surgery, or potentially volume rejuvenation with fat grafting or filler. If the skin itself is pigmented, then skin care on top of surgery or volume replacement is needed to optimize results. A cream to help with pigmentation is typically added to the regimen post operatively. An in-person consultation is always best to discuss which modalities will help you to reach your goals. Every patient and every case are a little different.

The position of the brow and its effect on the lateral eyelid skin will help with decision on whether a brow lift is recommended. Often, brow lift is combined with upper blepharoplasty.

The eyelid skin is the thinnest in the body and therefore typically becomes lax or loose earlier than the other parts of the face and body. 

Anyone with excess upper or lower eyelid skin and anyone with lower eyelid bags are great candidates.

Yes –after PRK or LASIK it is recommended to wait 1 year prior to blepharoplasty because these surgeries can cause dry eye that lasts about 6 months to 1 year post PRK or LASIK.

There is no age limit – as long as the patient is otherwise relatively healthy.  Most people are somewhere in the 40s-70s age range.

If the excess skin is blocking peripheral vision or causing a visual field block, then insurance may cover upper eyelid surgery.

With the eyelids open, scars are hidden once healed.

Blepharoplasty is very safe and performed in the office or in an outpatient surgery facility.  

Early on, patients may experience dry eyes or mild blurry vision because of dry eyes after blepharoplasty. This resolves in about 1-2 weeks.

Most people take about 1 week off of work to let the worst of the bruising and swelling resolve before returning to work. You may work from home during that time, because the pain is very manageable and usually only lasts for the few days after surgery.

It is recommended that you take a 2-3 weeks off of intense exercise and sports to allow yourself to fully heal.

Most people return to normal in about a week post operatively.

You may shower on the second day after surgery. You should avoid tub baths or submerging in water of any kind for three weeks post operatively.

You may wear contact lenses after swelling and redness have resolved, and incisions are all healed. This is typically around 1-2 weeks post operatively.

If there is a mild amount of excess skin after the swelling resolves, we can remove this in the office under local anesthesia around the 6-12 month mark post-operatively.

If you are a great candidate at the consultation, we will get dates together that work for you and get you a slot on the surgery schedule.

Alcohol, garlic, and dietary supplements can increase bleeding and bruising. We ask that you avoid these and aspirin, NSAIDS and other blood thinner medications for at least 7 days before surgery.

Alcohol, garlic, and dietary supplements can increase bleeding and bruising. We ask that you avoid these and aspirin, NSAIDS and other blood thinner medications for a few days after surgery.