Tarsorrhaphy day tomorrow

[Suu]

Hi everyone. I'm having the lateral tarsorrhaphy done tomorrow and while I know it's the right thing to have done I'm wondering if anyone has had it done and was 'bothered' by it - meaning they wanted to rip the stitches out?
The thought is needling me.  I've been brave up to now. When the phone rang to say that I have been definitely booked in, is when the butterflies began in my stomach and they haven't let up.

The doc said he'd like me to wear a patch but none of them fit under my glasses (can't wear the 'flat' ones due to blinking) so does anyone have any ideas of what I can do please?
I tried simply covering a lens with black contact paper but the air/wind/dust/light still gets in from all sides.

I should have asked a billion questions by now but it's only been in the last few days that I researched it.
Things just keep happening to all of us on here.  I would love to have a magic wand and have all of us without a worry in the world.  For now we have each other.
Melinda sent me to you-tube and I was able to finally find other females that are my age and look like I do and with the same feelings.  We surely aren't alone.

I hope to be back online tomorrow arvo or on Thursday.
Stay well and stay happy all.

Hugs,
Suu xxoo

[chelsmom]

Hi Suu,

I'm sorry you are going through all this.  My daughter has been dealing with all this AN crud for the last 4 1/2 years.  She was 17 years old when diagnosed with a very large 5.5+cm tumor.  The last surgery she had in June 2009 for regrowth left her with facial paralysis.  She has been waiting for the nerves to heal and return with some function but at 21 months post op there has not been any significant change.  She was told that she should have a tarsorrhaphy but refused.  Then one surgeon wanted to build up the bottom of her eyelid with cartlidge from her ear.  Last week she saw another surgeon at UCLA Jules Stein Institute and bot surgeons there said that she has excellent tone in her lower eyelid and that they would put in a gold weight (which by the way was much thinner then the ones we had seen before).  So on Wednesday she is going in for facial nerve surgery and the gold eye weight along with a brow lift.  You can see the type of surgery they will be doing on the Facial Paralysis board.  I will keep everyone posted as the months pass and hopefully there is some movement.

I hope the the eye surgery goes well for you.  I know that it is important to protect the cornea but these doctors have to find some middleground as to how you will feel about yourself once these procedures are done.  I know for Chelsea she has told them that she already feels like a freak because of her paralysis and did not want to anything that woild add to the look.  So of course, I hope and prayer that all goes wel

Hugs and Kisses with lots of prayers for your eye,
Michelle

[Suu]

Hiya Michelle
I know how your daughter feels and how everyone around us is kind and thoughtfull with protecting us from our own image but comes a time when we have to take a good long look in the mirror and not look away.

Well, Constant Reader,

I'm not sure how I can put into words how I feel especially since telling the Grots (my wonderful grandchildren) that they should never swear on an open forum.

Pain.  A whole lot of pain. I crawled out of bed today only because I had to go to the doctor for him to check that all is ok.  He's happy with his sewing techniques and gushed over the job that he did.  When I looked in the mirror I can't say that I agree.

I didn't know that they were going to keep me awake for it and when I saw the needle heading toward my face all I can say is that I had the fastest anaesthetist in th ecountry!  He squirted something into the canula that had me laughing in less that a second.  The rest is a blurr.

They put a pad over the eye and I was allowed to remove it yesterday.  I'm asking why they don't prepare people for the shock of seeing one's face for the first time after a knife's been near it.

Looking worse was always going to be a problem but looking like I have a Japanese background is quite another. (I'm and Aussie through and through)

So once the pain goes down I go to get the stiches out.  Next Friday I have that wonderful meeting of tweezers and the tremmors again.  In the meantime I'll quirt drops and creams into the eye and set myself up for looking a tad better when the swelling goes down.

The next humongous step to getting my smile back starts on Monday with the ENT surgeon (The Amazing Dr Eisenberg) who is going to slice and dice like a culinary expert to make me look less like quazimodo and more like Suu Blundell.

Bring it on!

[lori67]

Well, I'm glad the procedure is over!  I had my lateral tarsorrhaphy done almost 4 years ago.  I remember feeling and looking like a prize fighter for a few days afterwards.  It will get better!  I put ice on the area to help keep the swelling down and the relieve the pain.

I have yet to want to pull the stitches out, which probably makes my doctor happy.     I was in so much pain prior to the procedure from the damage I was doing to my cornea, that the relief I felt after the tarsorrhaphy was amazing.  Give yourself time to heal and chances are, you'll be okay with it.

I can't believe you were awake for it!  You are obviously much braver than I am!  WOW!

Good luck to you on Monday too!

Lori

[nancyann]

Hi Suu:  My ophthalmologist suggested a partial Tarsorraphy but I am too vain ! I'm surprised to hear you'll have the sutures removed a week later.  My doc wanted to keep the sutures in for awhile since my cornea kept drying out.  I've been dealing with facial paraylsis for over 4 years, & end up with corneal drying about twice a year.
How are you doing now ??  Has it helped the dryness ?  Let us know how you're doing when the Tarsorraphy is reversed. Also, is your entire eye stitched up or is it a partial ?   Keep a peaceful heart,  Always good thoughts, Nancy

[Suu]

Keep a peaceful heart

- this is a lovely idea, Nancy.  Many thanks.
Thankyou too, Lori.

I think there's only 3 stitches to the outer edge with 'plastic' looking tubing on them. He had to leave room for me to put the drops for glaucoma into it. It's still very swollen and my pupil is huge. For some reason I can't see anything out of that eye except a big blurr.  I'll ask about it tomorrow when I see the ENT.

Lori - have you still got your stitches in?  The doc made a small incision in the upper and lower lid, stitched it together and then takes them out next Friday as if he's fixed any normal cut.  As far as I can tell, he's put these plastic things on to keep my eyelashes away from it all.  Although I could be wrong.

I can't believe they kept me awake too!!!. I can understand why though - it's so your eye doesn't roll back into your head.  I had enough 'juice' going up my arm for me not to feel anything and that was a Godsend.
I can understand the relief of not having as much dryness. I was forever holding my eyelid down when it was hurting and I didn't have any lube nearby.

Back tomorrow with an update.
This site is just what the doctor ordered so I know that I'm normal  

Cheers,
♥ ´)
.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•♥ ¨)
(,.•´ (.♥ •´ *Suu

[nancyann]

Hi Suu:  glad all went well.  I was always curious about what happens with the eyelashes.  Please keep us posted as to your progress.
Continued healing.  Always good thoughts,  Nancy

[lori67]

I guess your procedure was a little different than mine.  No cutting involved for me (phew...).  Just a few stitches in the outer corner to help pull the lower lid up a bit.  It's really not noticable unless you're looking right at the side of my head, which I don't think most people usually do anyway.  From the front, it looks better than it did before.  That AN eye was a lot wider than my good eye and very noticable.

The stitches stay in there and maybe some day I'll recover enough facial movement to have them removed.  I think the doctor that did the surgery in Nashville would have agreed to remove them, but my doctor here in Virginia is incredibly paranoid that I'm going to damage my cornea, even though it's been fine.  When I suggested perhaps removing the stitches she looked at me like I was crazy.  No one here is used to dealing with AN issues, so if it gets to the point where I really think it's time to remove the stitches, I'll fly back to Nashville to see my doctor there.

I wound up having some of my eyelashes "zapped", as they were sortof pointing in towards my eye and didn't feel very good.     I think she did 4 or 5 of the lashes and it's much better now.  I do have a small area now that has no lashes, but it's another one of those things that unless you're really, really close and staring at my eye, you wouldn't notice.

Hope the healing is coming along!

Lori

[moe]

Hi Suu,
Just now checking in from a weekend away helping the elderl inlaws.
I feel your pain! Will be interested to find out how much of your eye was stitched shut. 1/4 vs 1/2 vs 1/3, etc..... Mine was about 1/2 stitched shut, and honestly yes, I wanted to rip that eye open at first. I got used to it after a week or so, maybe. Then got it reversed after 6 months with a gold weight in it's place.

I'm here with you every step of the way. Our scenarios sound similar. Let us know what kind of procedure the doctor has in mind for the facial paralysis. Does anyone down under do the muscle implant into the cheek??

Rest now, continue the ice...
Maureen

@ Michelle- wow, Chelsea had brow lift with the nerve graft AND a eye weight. A three for one day..... No wonder she is in so much pain. My brow lift hurt like the d***ens.....hope she is feeling a bit better each day.

[Nickittynic]

I wish I had seen this post earlier!

I had my tarsorrhaphy done last november. I'll be honest and say I hate it. I was just starting to get used to my face and was happy with it's improvements when the decision was made to do the tarsorrhaphy. Emotionally it was a lot to deal with and I was pretty surprised and unprepared for that. I was also awake for mine and had the same thing - little cuts that were stiched together with plastic cushion thingies, and then stitches removed 2 weeks later. If I even need another eye procedure I'm going to have to request a valium or something. After the gold weight and the tarsorrhaphy while awake I'm about done with that! 

I also had/have a problem with eye lashes in the newly formed outside corner growing into my eye. The docs have had to pull a couple and I managed to get one myself. If it keeps being a problem they will probably "burn them off" or whatever it is they do to make sure the eyelash doesn't regrow.

On the up side, I have saved money in not buying as many eye drops. I'm not sure if that's due to the better closing/blinking or the new return of tears, though.

I'm not saying all this to be a downer! Just that if someone else has it done and doesn't like it, you're not alone. 

[Suu]

Thanks Nancy.
Hi Lori - having eyelashes zapped doesn't sound at all good. But if you can't see what was done then you're so right to not worry about it. Good on ya!
Hiy Maureen - about a 1/4 of my eyelid was done.
I'm waiting now for the phone call to say when I've got a bed to have the 12/7 nerve graft done. I'm going over to that part of the forum to ask and seek answers.

Hi Nickittynic - That sounds very much like mine. How on earth do we flush our eye out if something gets into it like a stray lash?

Ever felt like you want your old life back? I just don't like this new kind of normal anymore and wish someone would push me out of bed to wake me up.  Oh, I just pinched myself (yes, literally) and I'm awake all right so I'd better go do the dishes or something else constructive. 

Cheers,
♥ ´)
.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•♥ ¨)
(,.•´ (.♥ •´ *Suu

[Nickittynic]

Do you have a good eye doc you can go to if you get something in it that you can rinse out with drops? So far most loose eye lashes still rinse out, but those that are growing into my eye and need pulling have been the bigger problem.

[lori67]

Nicki,

That's why I had my crazy eyelashes zapped.  I was tired of them sticking me in the eye and having to have them pulled out.  I went to an oculoplastic surgeon and she did electrolysis - just on the ones that were growing the wrong way.  It worked great and my eye feels so much better without things constantly poking me.  I always had to go to the regular eye doctor to have them pulled out before because I'm far-sighted, so I could never see them well enough to pull them out myself.  I'm sure I would have poked my own eye out if I tried!   

Lori

[Suu]

Lori - I think I'd do what you did and have them zapped if it comes to that.

I had the stitches and the plastic things taken off today. It hurt quite a bit and I asked about maybe having something in the eye as I feel as though something is 'scratching' the eye.
I got the news that I wasn't prepared for.  That 'scratching' was a dry eye and I've got 3 spots on the cornea. The doc gave me another lot of his preferred stash of creams - this one is called Liquifilm Forte. It's a lot thicker than any of the drops I've tried although I still need to Lacri Lube at night. He's going to get me back weekly for 2 months to keep a close eye on it. He's not charging me so I'm going 

He said that he could flush the eye for me or I could use a simple sterile eye-wash that can be bought at any chemist (drug store).

Anyway - the eye is more comfortable without the stitches and looks a lot better without the plastic discs hanging off it and lids are still firmly together.

I suppose the biggest thing I learned today was that we can't lubricate our eye enough.

[moe]

Hi Suu,
So sorry to hear the news about the cornea. Yep, there is no such thing as not enough lubrication. My oculosplastic doctor STILL wants me to get a permanent tarssorhaphy. Uh no thanks, I'll put in ointment 24/7 which I still do, even with my recent "eye tuck." Recommending just keeping a small amount of lubricating gel in at all times. My left eye is 24/7 blurry, but I still get around fine. I just have to be extra careful driving.
My cornea is dry, it is "OK", not great. So keep lubricating, and prayers for those pesky spots to go away
♥ ´)
.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•♥ ¨)
(,.•´ (.♥ •´ Maureen