Post-surgical follow-up

My first follow-up appointment was scheduled for two weeks post-surgery.  The doctor actually seemed to want me to come in within a week later, but there simply wasn't time on his schedule.  We left the option for me to call if I felt something was wrong and he would see me immediately, otherwise we would follow-up at the first available opening.  That was on Tues, Sep 17th.  His nurse settled me in the examination room and ran me through a series of eye-chart tests.  I didn't do very well, and I knew that I wouldn't.

Once Dr. Michael came in, he carefully observed the surgical site, my eyes, my nose, and my general condition (bruising, etc.).  He asked me a series of questions about how I've been doing, checked whether I was still using meds he'd prescribed, whether I was experiencing tearing, and how I did with bleeding and pain.  I did mention that I'd had a couple of occasions of unexpected tears dropping, but it was no where near what I'd had pre-surgery.  He said his goal is to have no tearing.  He explained that the surgery had about a 90-95% success rate, and he wanted me to be one of those successes.  He asked about my vision, and I did explain that since the surgery, I've experienced a noticeable difference in my vision.  I haven't been wearing my contacts and my eyeglass prescription was a little outdated because I rarely used them, plus the fact that eye exams were always difficult given the amount of tearing that I was doing...I'd given up.  I know I need a new prescription for both glasses and contacts now, but I've decided to wait until all my follow-ups are completed. He agreed that I should wait until all healing was done. 

Small stents in place visible in corner of eye. 

He said my eyes were still swollen which will affect the vision.  I mentioned to him that I was totally surprised that the incisions were not on the sides of my nose, and he said that he intentionally placed them in the tear wells to help hide any scarring; he said in the long run it would be much less apparent.  He advised that I could begin using my contacts again and that it might actually help with minimizing the irritation from the stents. 

Dr. Michael advised that everything was looking very good for being only two weeks out.  He said to keep using the nasal spray and ointment, although I could cut back to ointment only at bedtime if I preferred.  We set our next follow-up for Nov. 12th (8 weeks out).  The stents will remain in place for now.