Contact & eyelid assessment

If something is wrong now

Do not wait for a routine appointment. An eye that cannot be closed or that stays open during sleep, severe or worsening eye pain, a gritty feeling that keeps getting worse, light hurting the eye, double vision, any sudden change in vision, a lower lid pulled away from the eye, or blood collecting around the eye needs emergency or urgent care rather than a cosmetic assessment. Contact your treating team first; if the team cannot be reached, call the hospital main line, and for a red-flag finding go to the nearest emergency department.

Arranging an assessment

Where the eye is comfortable and covered and the concern is how the lid looks, appointments are made through the hospital outpatient line or through the appointment service described on the appointments page. Say that you are asking about an eyelid after previous surgery so that the right clinic time is booked, and say whether the operation was performed here or elsewhere, because that changes what records are needed.

What to bring

Bring the operating note from the previous surgery if you can obtain it, along with the date of the operation, the name of the surgeon and any aftercare instructions you were given. Bring a list of your current medicines and allergies, and mention any condition that affects healing or makes your eyes dry, including thyroid disease and any medication that reduces tear production. Old photographs of your face are more useful than patients expect, because they show what the lid looked like before the first operation.

What the assessment covers

Whether the eye closes and how completely, what the surface and the tear film are doing, what the previous operation removed, where the lid margin and the crease sit, how the lower lid behaves, and what the scar and the remaining tissue are like. Standardised photographs are taken so that change can be judged objectively at the next visit. You should leave knowing whether anything needs to be done now, what the lid is likely to do next, and when the question of a revision should be asked again.

Fees, records and privacy

This site does not quote prices, because the plan depends on the assessment and is discussed directly at consultation. Clinical photographs are taken for planning and follow-up and are not published or used for teaching without a separate consent that you are free to refuse. Records from an operation performed elsewhere are used for your assessment only.