According to Dr. Nassif, “In regards to the lower eyelids, you have to be very careful because if you remove too much skin you can have lower lid retraction, where the lower eyelid pulls down. If there is excess eyelid skin, you can do conservative therapies such as using a laser to tighten up the skin, or a direct skin excision with a Blepharoplasty.”
April 30, 2008
Tips for reducing saggy upper eyelids
Sometimes the primary cause of a sagging eyelid is a lower eyebrow. In that situation, we want to make sure that we perform an endoscopic brow lift. In addition, if the upper eyelid skin is heavy, we want to do an upper eyelid lift , also knows as a blepharoplasty, where we make an incision on the crease of the skin and remove the upper eyelid skin.
April 29, 2008
Reducing the appearance of scars after surgery
Reducing the appearance of scars starts with finding out if the patient is a good healer. An in-depth history from the patient explores if they have hypertrophic scars or a history of keloids. If that is all negative, then the next step is to make sure that the surgeon does a fantastic job at minimizing the scars during surgery.
Some of the ways to do this is to make sure that there’s no tension on the skin wound. When we close the wound, we want to make sure we close the deep layer of the wound so that the skin just gently kisses when we suture it closed. Also we want to remove the skin sutures in the region of five to seven days after the procedure, so it won’t cause any railroad tracks on the skin.
April 28, 2008
Taking care of your skin in Southern California
In Southern California, there are many air pollutants. Because of this, we want to make sure our patients’ skin is moisturized and rejuvenated with a good, daily skin care regimen. Because of the sun, we recommend that everybody wears at least an SPF 15 sun block daily. At Spalding Drive, we offer a full range of skin care services.
What not to do before surgery
If a patient smokes, we ask them to stop smoking immediately. Patients need to stop smoking for about six weeks before surgery, as well as for a period of time after surgery. In addition, we ask patients not to drink alcohol, since alcohol will thin the blood and cause additional bleeding. It is also important to avoid tanning or sunburns before surgery.
Getting ready for surgery
To prevent bleeding, we ask patients to take vitamin K. We also recommend vitamins like vitamin A, as well as extracts from pineapple and papaya. However, patients should not be taking any medications that might make them bleed, which is why we do a thorough medical history and review all medications before surgery. Also, we encourage patients to increase the amount of protein in their diet; which will help with their healing.
Getting your skin surgery ready
Start preparing your skin for surgery by using sunscreen and topical products such as Retin-A or glycolic acids as well as having micro-dermabrasion. The goal is to get the skin ready for surgery and the better the elasticity before surgery, even if it is through the use of topical products or intense pulse-light treatments before the procedure, the better the result would be. Spalding Drive offers a full range of skin care services for our patients.
April 22, 2008
Flying after Rhinoplasty
Patients that need to fly a week or two following rhinoplasty surgery want to make sure that the nose is taped. If possible, they should have their legs elevated during the flight. When they land, there possibly can be increased swelling of the nose, due to the pressure in the airplane. The additional swelling should resolve over time. If the swelling becomes significantly worse, we typically put the patient on a dose of oral steroids.
Flying after Rhinoplasty
Many patients ask when it is safe to fly following a rhinoplasty surgery. Dr. Nassif advises his patients that the earliest you can fly home would be approximately two weeks after surgery.
Exercises to reduce swelling after rhinoplasty
Here are some simple exercises that can decrease swelling after an osteotomy. Usually, we have the patient put the soft part of the index finger along the sides of their nose; then gently put pressure on the nose to help decrease swelling. We usually have the patient apply gentle pressure on the nose for about one minute every hour while awake, during the first few weeks after rhinoplasty.
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