OK to schedule cosmetic surgery soon after hysterectomy?

Hello! I'm new here and looking for some advice... I have a TVH scheduled for October 8th (I have a 12cm fibroid that I'm more than ready to get rid of. My surgeon said that with the size of this fibroid it's a border line case to do a TVH, so she may need to switch to the robotic technique if the TVH doens't work.) BUT, I have also decided to schedule a brow lift (upper blefaroplsy & ptosis repair) on October 19th. Does anyone have experience with another surgery 10 days after a TVH? Since I'll be off work with the hysterectomy, it seemed like a good time to get my eyes done so the bruising will be gone before I return to work. Am I crazy to schedule the eye surgery so soon after the TVH?

Hi!

This is a really good question. Have you asked your cosmetic surgeon whether or not this is advisable? That might be a good first step.

I guess my major concern would be the fact that you'd be under anesthesia again so soon after your hysterectomy... but if the doesn't see a concern, then it is probably just a matter of your personal preference. I can definitely see the advantage of healing from two surgeries at essentially the same time.

Hopefully another (((sister))) who has this experience will come along and offer her assistance.

I actually went in the other order, and had a septoplasty done on my nose on 9/8 and have the LVAH scheduled on 9/30. It wasn't cosmetic - I could hardly breathe out of the left side of my nose due to a deviated septum and bone spurs.

They said I could have gone back to work after just the septoplasty after about a week to 10 days, and I scheduled the surgeries 22 days apart to give myself more time between, which is good because I didn't realize how congested I was going to be, but now (at 2 weeks post) I can almost breathe through my nose on a regular basis, and by next week should be fine.

My GYN knows about the septoplasty and so long as there is no problem with my breathing, it should not hinder anything.

I'd just suggest that you ask both Docs their opinion, but I know about "doubling up" on the surgeries to get all the healing done at once!

Hi JD, It sounds like your surgery was very successful. My husband has similiar symptoms but not so serious that he needs surgery at this point.

My ob-gyn suggested I wait two weeks before my eye surgery, so I may try and move the date out a few days. I just don't want to take too much time off of work, and I don't want to explain any bruising to my coworkers. The eye condition I have is hereditary, my father had the same surgery a number of years ago.

I would love to hear from you again, especially after your LVAH surgery. I always have the option to cancel/reschedule my eye surgery, but I really want to just get these things out of the way!

Ask your doc if you can do them at the same time - one anesthesia, one recoup.

Amy,

I SO know what you mean about getting this stuff "out of the way." I'd just like to have my life back sometime and have conversations with people that do not revolve around recovery. That;s why I lumped them together too.

My work is very conscious of time off, and I had to have my HR department involved in all the pre-op stuff, so that I could take the time off to even make the appointments and have all the testing done to get to this point. So, I had my primary care doc write the letter for my work to cover both surgeries and roll it into one recovery period under FMLA.

If the GYN is suggesting waiting, I'd go with that too, and make sure the eye surgeon knows about the hyst too, and that he's ok with scheduling that quick. You won't be able to "really" make the decision until after your hyst tho - you won't know how you will feel until you get there.

I doubt they would do them together - most cosmetic type stuff (regardless of the reason) is usually done in an outpatient center or the doctors office itself, depending on the doctor. They aren't usually prepared to move locations from where they are normally set up to do them, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

I hope all goes well with you!

I had upper eyelid surgery done last year. Mine was done in my doctors office with a valium and local numbing. I was out of there in an hour. I did not need or want the brow lift so I do not know the recovery for that one. The recovery for the eyelid surgery is very easy. However -I did not have much bruising, but you can not wear eye make-up for 2 weeks (so I was told) so for that reason I wore sunglasses everywhere. I also had a TVH and TVT 8 weeks ago. My recovery has been pretty good for the most part. I personally would not schedule both so close together. Perhaps you could schedule the eye surgery a month after your TVH. Give your body a chance to recover a bit. Good luck on your eye surgery. I hope you love your results as much as I love mine. It took 10 years off my face and I can wear eyeshadow again!