Your Guide to Wearing Makeup After Blepharoplasty

Eyelid surgery, or blepharoplasty, helps reverse the signs of aging around the eyes by removing fine lines, wrinkles, dark circles, and drooping eyelids. This results in a more alert and refreshed appearance. A smoother, tighter skin surface after the procedure makes makeup application easier and more effective, enhancing your overall look. One common question is, “How long after blepharoplasty can I wear makeup?” as makeup can impact the recovery process. This guide covers everything you need to know about eyelid surgery and makeup usage afterward.

How Does the Eye Region Age?

Before delving into post-surgery tips, it’s essential to understand how the eye ages and how blepharoplasty can correct these signs. As we age, the skin around our eyes loses elasticity, and the underlying muscles weaken. Fat cells under the skin diminish, creating empty spaces that result in fine lines and wrinkles. This aging process doesn’t only affect the eyelids but also the under-eye region, impacting both appearance and vision.

Drooping eyelids, a result of weakened muscles and less elastic skin, can make a person look perpetually tired. In severe cases, the upper eyelid can droop so low that it impairs vision, a condition known as ptosis. This can make everyday tasks like driving, reading, and working at a screen difficult. Additionally, the lower eyelids can sag and sometimes curl outward, preventing proper eye closure. This can lead to eye irritation, dryness, and an increased risk of dirt and debris entering the eye.

The under-eye area is also affected by aging. Dark circles appear as the fat under the eye thins, making blood vessels more visible. Puffy bags form when fluid collects in the empty space under the eye, swelling the area over time. Blepharoplasty can help address these issues, rejuvenating the eye area and enhancing both appearance and functionality.

How Makeup Can Stress the Eye

While makeup can help conceal some concerns about appearance, it can also have adverse and counterproductive effects on the skin. Excessive rubbing and pulling of the eyelid region can accelerate the loss of elasticity, leading to wrinkles and sagging. The delicate eyelid skin is much thinner than other areas of the face, making it particularly susceptible to damage.

Tugging on the skin to apply eyeliner or using makeup removers with harsh chemicals can irritate and damage the eyelid area. For example, pulling the eyelids taut to apply eyeliner, pressing too firmly with a brush or sponge when applying eye shadow, or rubbing your fingers can break down collagen in the area. Similarly, removing makeup can be harsh on the skin, especially if the makeup remover contains alcohol or other damaging ingredients. These actions can contribute to the accelerated aging of the delicate eyelid skin.

What is Blepharoplasty?

Blepharoplasty is a cosmetic surgery procedure that helps to reduce the number of different signs of aging around the eyes. In general, blepharoplasty can take 10 years off of your face. While the methods will slightly vary depending on the issue looking to be treated, but in general, the process goes something like this.

First, the patient is placed under a general anesthetic. Then incisions are made along the natural creases of the eyelids to mask any scarring to the area. Then any fatty tissues are removed, muscles are rightened, and the skin is smoothed out to remove the sign of wrinkles. Any excess skin is then removed.

Under-eye blepharoplasty solves other issues such as dark circles and puffy bags by removing the excess skin and redistributing fat to restore a youthful fullness under the eye.
In general, the procedure takes 2-3 hours and starts at $6,999. This includes our comprehensive post-op skin Anti-Aging Skin Rejuvenation program. It typically takes around 7-10 days to recover from a blepharoplasty procedure.

What is Double Eyelid Surgery?

Double eyelid surgery is another cosmetic eyelid procedure that specifically treats eyelids without any creases, known as a monolid or single lid. While this is not a medical condition, some wish to treat it to allow their eyes to look larger or improve symmetry if only one eyelid is monolid while the other is double. One of the common desired outcomes of this surgery is for an easier application of makeup.

How Long After Eyelid Surgery Can I Wear Makeup?

While applying eye makeup soon after double eyelid surgery or other eyelid procedures can be tempting, it’s crucial to wait a proper amount of time to ensure complete healing and minimize infection risks. Typically, the initial recovery period is around a week, but the area remains sensitive for several weeks.

It is generally recommended to avoid wearing contacts until the second week of recovery and to refrain from applying makeup for at least ten days following the procedure. However, waiting a few weeks is preferable to ensure thorough healing. Here’s why it’s important to wait for sufficient healing before applying makeup after eyelid surgery:

• Sensitivity and Irritation: The skin and tissues around the eyes are very delicate post-surgery. Applying makeup too soon can cause irritation and slow the healing process.
• Infection Risks: Makeup can introduce bacteria to the healing area, increasing the risk of infection. Waiting allows the skin to heal and reduces this risk.
• Optimal Results: Allowing the eyelids to heal fully ensures the best possible surgical outcome, free from complications that could arise from premature makeup application.

Invisible to the eye, but very much there, your hands, makeup brushes, and the makeup itself host bacteria. With proper brush cleaning and hand washing, these bacteria generally do cause any issues to the eye; however, following eyelid surgery like blepharoplasty, the eye region is sensitive and prone to infection, especially if any incisions are still healing. These bacteria can slow down your healing and even cause infection to the surgical area.

Bacteria

It is advised not apply to apply makeup with your fingers during the time of recovery. Additionally, bacteria thrive in makeup containers like mascara brushes and eyeliner tubes, and it is advised to toss these products every few months.

Pressure

The pressing and pulling of makeup applications, from eyeliner to brushes, can apply pressure to the skin. This can cause incisions to become stretched and re-open, causing wound weeping, infection, delayed healing, and more noticeable scarring.

Irritation

With the skin being sensitive during recovery, applying makeup after eyelid surgery too quickly can irritate the area, causing physical discomfort like itchiness, tenderness, and burning on the eyes.

Post-Surgical Makeup Tips

Ideally, a patient will wait 2-3 weeks following the procedure and get approval from their surgeon before applying makeup after blepharoplasty. When you begin to apply makeup again, there are some tips to make the transition as gentle as possible.

Start Gentle

With the eye region being more sensitive post-surgery, using gentler, non-comedogenic and water-based cosmetics to start will help you transition back to skincare and makeup. Avoid products with strong pigmentation as these products can stain the skin and require a harsher makeup removal process. Likewise, avoid makeup with glitters, as the residual fallout can cause irritations in the eye and get stuck in the recovering incision.
Once you confidently feel that using gentler products does not cause you any issues, the transition can be slowly made back to standard cosmetics.

Keep Things Sterile and Clean

As previously mentioned, your recovery eyes will be more prone to infection by bacteria, so you might want to either use new; or thoroughly cleaned applicators like brushes and sponges when applying makeup after double eyelid surgery and blepharoplasty. Bacteria can resonate in the makeup pans itself as well from residual brush dipping and finger swatching, so avoiding older and thoroughly used makeup while recovering is a good idea.

Take Care When Removing

Prolonged makeup wearing and especially sleeping with makeup is not recommended even to any eyes, let alone those recovering from a procedure. Thus, removal of makeup after double eyelid surgery is important, but fresh or sensitive incisions and skin can make the process difficult. Using the gentler water-based makeup will help with easier removal; thus, using a gentler makeup remover is also advised to avoid harsher chemicals, skin drying, and harsher rubbing.

Re-Learn your Technique

As is the goal for the procedure, following your eyelid procedure, your eyes will be smoother, tighter, and shaped differently from their previous form. For example, makeup after double eyelid surgery will now utilize an entirely new crease on the eye.
This may cause the ways you apply makeup to alter slightly, allowing you to discover new looks, techniques, and processes to makeup application.

Other Recovery Tips

Besides the recovery tips for cosmetics and eye makeup, other tips help your eyelid surgery recover more easily and quickly. Firstly, it is very important to properly rest your eyes and keep them free of strain during recovery. This means reducing activity that more actively uses the eyes, such as watching television, extensive use of computer and cellular screens, or reading pages with small print. While this can make for a bit of a boring recovery, it is an important part of the process and typically only lasts a few days.

When it comes to sleeping, it’s important to keep your head elevated with pillows for at least two weeks following eyelid surgery. This will help prevent swelling, pressure, and fluid collection in the eye area. Additionally, side-sleeping is strongly advised against to prevent direct pressure into the recovery area. If you are a side sleeper, using airline pillows, a “husband” pillow, or other means to prevent rolling in your sleep is advisable.

Protect Your Eyelids From Sun Exposure

Protecting your eyelids from sun exposure is crucial to prevent sun damage and pigmentation. The skin around the eyes is delicate and more susceptible to harmful UV rays. Using a broad-spectrum SPF around the eyelids can help shield the area from these damaging effects. Additionally, wearing sunglasses with UV protection not only guards your eyes but also the surrounding skin, reducing the risk of sunburn, dark spots, and premature aging. Taking these precautions can help maintain the youthful appearance of your eyelids and enhance the longevity of your surgical results.

Can I Get Blepharoplasty Again?

One question we get at our clinic is if blepharoplasty can be performed more than once.
In general, eyelid surgeries last for five to seven years before the natural signs of aging begin to show once more in the region. Blepharoplasty can absolutely be performed again as needed; however, it is important to consult with your surgeon, as alternate procedures may need to be performed in addition to; or instead of eyelid surgery. For example, the cause of the drooping eyelid may, in fact, be a drooping brow rather than the eyelid itself, and thus a forehead lift/brow lift may be the more appropriate surgical course of action rather than further blepharoplasty.

When it comes to lower eyelid surgery, the procedure generally lasts much longer and rarely ever needs to be repeated.

Interested in Eyelid Surgery?

If you have concerns about your eyes, whether it’s the shape, size, drooping, or wrinkles, our clinic and skilled team of surgeons can help treat you. Dr. Bell is well-known for his careful and pristine work in blepharoplasty and double-eyelid surgery and has preformed thousands of procedures within his 25+ years of practice.

When you choose Toronto Plastic Surgeons, you’re putting yourself into the hands of a clinic that prides itself in high expertise, professional conduct, and the utmost concern and care for our patients.

If you want to know more about eyelid surgery or have any questions about makeup application during the recovery period, feel free to schedule a consultation with us today or call us at 647-723-3739 and speak with a member of our team.