Di, RE: the eyelid lift. My 80 year old dad had that done a year or so ago, as his droopy lids were hindering his sight.

In his case, it was not for vanity's sake, it was for safety in his driving and sailing activities.

Due to the surgery NOT being cosmetic, I believe Medicare covered it. I don't know whether or not my private coveraqe would do the same, but it is probably worth looking into.

Hi PL,

Well I might be with you on all those lifts if I could be promised that the surgery would come out well and if someone gifted it to me, so it wasn't on "my dime."

Recently I noted that on another Boomer Women site - I think it was "Fab Over 50" but I won't promise my memory is correct - she had a full face lift and she wrote about it on her site, named the surgeon and had a complete set of before and after photos. I have to confess I wondered whether she was able to get a "trade out" on the work due to the full promotion she gave to her surgeon...

Hmmm, is that ethical? Why can't eyelids respond to exercise and raise themselves after a short walk or two?

IMO Joan Rivers, Dolly Parton, Cher are fine examples of cosmetic surgery done well. But who has their kind of money
to find doctors of that caliber. I've known folks with droopy eye lids. Are they [droopy eyelids] from lack of sleep; or too much sugar in the system; or just an aging thing? Anybody know?

I had eyelid surgery several years ago. My eyelids were starting to lay on my eyelashes and interfere with my vision. It was medical but I'm not going to pretend I wasn't glad to get a bit more eye back. I don't know about other people, of course, but my natural eyelids have no fold in the center (think Catherine Zeta-Jones and you have pretty much got my eye shape). As the skin on your face begins to settle, so do your eyelids. People like me who have extra fat there get the droops as they age.

Because my procedure was a medical one, it was more invasive and permanent than a cosmetic eyelift (it was no fun; I couldn't open my eyes for days but everything healed well). The doctor said eyelifts have to be redone fairly regularly. What he did should last 20 years.

Ellemm,
So glad the surgery worked well for you. I'm wondering if
putting cucumber slices over the eyes, helps stave the droppy
eyelid malformation off, for some people? Don't know. It's just
a thought! And I'm talkin' 'bout the aging process, not a
medical problem such as yours.

Jabber, I have heard that cucumber slices on the eyes can relive puffiness that is probably edema-related, but I don't think it will resolve the challenge Ellemm is talking about.

And Princess Lenora, I'm not saying I KNOW that other blogger did a trade-out of promotion for her surgical costs, I'm just saying I WONDERED whether she had...

I have certainly heard of people bartering work for promotion of said work, or something similar. For example a few years ago I had a house I was trying to sell and the Realtor told me it would sell better if we put a new roof on it. We didn't have funds to put into a roof. But at the same time, we had a client who wanted a new website -- and they just happened to be a home improvement company that did roofing.

We traded them the web site design for the roof. Actually, I think we offered potential buyers their choice of a new roof worth "X dollars" with the promise that the buyer could select the roof of choice.

The eventual buyer liked the idea, but he wanted a higher grade roof than we would have installed, so he paid the difference. As I saw it, it was a case where everybody won...

But so sorry to have taken the discussion away from plastic surgery... "We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion..." LOL!

Anne,
I guess someone can barter just about anything if both parties
agree. Love what you did with the roof situation. Cool...

No, actually my eyelid problem was caused by the aging process. I naturally have a lot of fat on my eyelids and no crease in them -- a little like an Asian person. As you get older, things just start drooping. Really, I never would have thought that, but who thinks of things like this when they are 25? Because my eye doctor noticed that my vision was being interferred with, it was a medical procedure. (I am not real heavy, in case you are wondering, so that was not a concern.)I can actually put a little eyeshadow in the crease now, which I never could do before.

I'll tell you what I did notice when I was younger: I don't have much chin. Sure enough, that area of my face/neck is not holding up nearly as well as it does for people who have nicely shaped jawlines. Oh, well!

The aging process messes up a lot of stuff!