• Please keep your head elevated at all times for at least one week after surgery.

• Sleeping with your head elevated will reduce swelling and improve healing.

• Apply ice packs to the face to help with swelling for the first 72 hours after surgery. Ice for 15 minutes every two hours while awake. Do not apply heat.

• You will be given a prescription eye drop to use for the first week after surgery. This will reduce the risk of infection and decrease swelling. Please follow instructions while using.

• Please purchase Refresh Optive Advanced or Systane Complete eye drops for use during the day starting after you have completed your prescription eye drops. Night eye lubricating gels also assist healing and comfort during the first few weeks after surgery.

• You may have a suture secured to your forehead. This is to keep your lower eyelid elevated to prevent excess scarring. This will be removed at your first post-operative appointment unless otherwise specified by your surgeon.

• You will need to be seen for a series of post-operative visits. These are usually scheduled prior to surgery and will be within the first week after surgery and 3-4 weeks after that. If you do not have these scheduled, please call Heidi at Dr. Mecham’s office and arrange for those.

• You may shower 48 hours after surgery.

• Do NOT submerge your incisions for 6 weeks after surgery and until after all incisions are healed. This includes swimming.

• No lifting any weight during the first week after surgery. After that you may lift the equivalent of a gallon of milk, or less than ten pounds, for the next four weeks.

• Frequent ambulation and movement is critical after surgery to reduce the risk of blood clots. Please get up and walk around every two hours after surgery while awake. Pump your feet and calves every hour after surgery. All surgical patients are at increased risk of developing clots in the legs that can travel to the lungs. Purchasing graduated compression socks and wearing them at all times for the first two weeks after surgery can reduce this risk.

Diet: Please start with sprite, ginger ale, or other clear liquids after surgery. Advance diet if tolerated to avoid nausea.

You may need assistance to get up to the restroom or walk after surgery. Sit at the edge of bed to allow your body to adjust prior to standing. If dizzy, you should not attempt to get out of bed without assistance.

Please call the office if:

• There is bleeding that does not stop with pressure to the site.

• There is green or yellow drainage from the surgical sites.

• The incision(s) start to open, widen, or become deeper.

• There is spreading or increasing redness at the surgery sites.

• You experience fever (greater than 101 F or 38.3 C), chills, severe nausea or vomiting that doesn’t respond to medications.

• Worsening and uncontrolled pain that does not respond to appropriate pain medications provided.

• Severe swelling, rapid swelling in one eye or both, increasing pain, or severe dizziness that does not resolve with fluids.

• Any changes in vision or a feeling having sand, grit, or other foreign object in the eye.