LAM FACIAL PLASTICS

Hi Dr. Lam!

I had upper eyelid and rhinoplasty surgery 3 weeks ago. My eyelids are still a little swollen, itchy, and yesterday I noticed a tiny blister on the incision line. I ran finger across it and it popped. I don't feel any terrible irritation from it. I called my surgeon's office today and the receptionist just told me to leave it alone, but I don't think she ran it by a nurse or the surgeon himself. I have been wearing make up for the last week. I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not. Should I just leave it alone? Not wear eye make up for another week? Oiment to prevent infection?

My rhinoplasty was performed with silicone implant. (I know you hate it, sorry Dr. Lam) To me it looks okay for right now. I want to say most of the swelling has gone down. Some days, my nose feels fine. Other days it feels like it's still a bit tender. Normal? Also, you mention that through time the implant could damage the carthliage. Does that mean eventually, my nose will become lower and I'll have excess skin from my nose? Will Gor tex also do that? My incision was done inside my upper lip. Everything feels healed, but I'm still a little restricted from moving my upper lip. If I smile too wide, the stretch really hurts sometimes. I can talk fine. It's just laughing or smiling that I feel a bit restricted. Should I still be experiencing this? When should I be able to make facial expressions comfortably?

I also had alar reduction along with my rhinoplasty. Unfortunately, my scars are terrible. Is there anything in future I can do to make the scars less visible?

Thank you for your time, Dr. Lam! I look forward to hearing back from you.

hi,
if you read my posts, you probably know that i make it a point not to answer questions that people ask in the immediate postoperative period. that is something only your surgeon should do. as far as your question regarding silicone damaging underlying tissues, that is something that only occurs months to years later and typically is not noticeable IF you do not remove the implant. gore-tex has less of an issue also because i use cartilage to augment the tip not gore-tex or silicone. i do not do a lot of alar bases because the scars do heal poorly in the majority of cases with very little to do for them. dermabrasion down the road may help but not always. sorry that i cannot answer your questions more effectively.
best,
sml