So a couple of months ago, i noticed something a bit weird on my lower lash line. Honestly, i really thought it was a blackhead (but what a strange place for one!) but after poking and prodding I determined it was a brand new shiny mole. Mind you, this is along the pale strip of flesh above the lower lashes - the spot where you’re not really supposed to put eyeliner but as a teen I absolutely did (so dramatic!)
So I went to the opthamologist. And then a dermatologist. Then back to the opthamologist - the consensus - suspicious but “probably” benign. The dermatologist told me to hie me hence back to the eye doctor and have it removed right away. So back I went. Anyway, I am having this oddly placed little mole removed, and I am dreading the propsect. The doc was perhaps TOO honest with me, and the whole procedure sounds unfortunate. Apparently, it will be painful, at least before and after the scalpel makes a beeline for my eyeball, but not during, and I wont have to wear an eyepatch, but i can if i want. Anyway, this strikes me as mundane and pointless, so I thought I would share.
I had a skin tag on my lower eyelid. And not “under my eyelid” but where you “don’t” put eyeliner, just like your mole.
I went to the dermatologist and she said “no I don’t cut that close to the eye” and I went to the optometrist and he said “nope I don’t cut that close to the eye” so he sent me to an opthamalogical surgeon, Dr. Fu.
It was all done in a little office. They do numb the area by putting a teeeeeeny tiny needle in your eyelid, and while it’s scary to think of it didn’t hurt all that much. Then Dr. Fu and her assistant did the job of scraping off the skin tag with a scalpel. I think they found another one cropping up so they did that one too.
They cauterize the cut and that is sort of scary. But the whole thing took like 15 minutes.
I was expecting it to hurt after the local wore off but it didn’t. I would have been able to drive home myself but I took my mom along to drive anyway. I was right back at work, staring at a computer screen all day. It never did hurt.
I did look like I’d shot myself in the eye with a BB gun. In fact, here’s a picture I took. The scab was there for maybe a week but the redness was gone in a couple days.
Yours sounds like it will be worse than what I had because a) moles are deeper than skin tags and b) sounds like it’s in a more nefarious place than mine.
But, hopefully your procedure will end up being less scary than your doc describes, and the surgeon will be as deft and skillful as Dr. Fu!
It shouldn’t really be painful afterwards, or at least nothing that some Tylenol or ibuprofen won’t take care of. Make sure that you eat before you go in so your blood sugar doesn’t drop due to your anxiety. Pick one spot to look at through the whole thing and do not hold your breath- stay calm and steady. It will be over quickly and drama-free. It’ll be okay.
As someone who has had a dozen surgical procedures in that immediate area, the most painful part was the initial procedure to numb the area. The surgery could be very painful too. It’s much like going to the dentist. It can be bad or almost nothing.
So my best advice is not to think about it. The time spent there is so short. Think about the positive benefits of being fixed. My personal viewpoint is that I can handle any amount of pain as long as I know it is temporary. Don’t associate yourself with the pain. Just go there on schedule and keep thinking of other things until it’s done. You will be fine.
ZipperJJ, I had some of those too! They were so tiny they were practically invisible, but they itched like a mother so I had them removed. I was referred to a pediatric eye surgeon because apparently he was “the guy” for that kind of thing. His office was full of toys and all kinds of teeny-tiny furniture. I felt like an idiot. But he did an awesome job.
Ow! And how interesting - I work in ophthalmology so that kind of thing interests me. What kind of wound closure, if any, are they doing?
When the docs I work with do injections in or around the eye, they tell the patient to look away from the needle, so I’m expecting that you’ll be hearing that as well.
well, I will be sure to post wednesday and let you guys know how it goes. I have had some odd eye stuff in general - first off, my (uncorrected) eye sight is about 20/2000. When I was a teen, I wore my contacts around the clock, until the eye doctor told me I had new blood vessels growing in my eye where they are not supposed to be. So I stopped that bad little habit. The vessels receded. Of course, I have my lashline mole. Apparently in my othere eye I have a nevus - kind of a freckle- on the back of my eyeball. They are sending me for scans to make sure it’s benign as well.
Okay, so a few days later than I intended to post, but in case anyone is intere4sted…
Well, I was a nervous wreck leading up to it. I sat in the parking lot a bit and thought about blowing it off…but bravely put on my game face and headed in. I noticed that no was in the waiting room, so I am guessing no one was scheduled too close to my (end of the day) appointment - which ended up being a wise move on his part! I told him how nervous I was, and he was confident I would be just fine. The painful part he had warned me about was the shots in the eyelid to numb the area. He told me I couldn’t move during this part, and I asked what happened if I did move - accidentally, of course. He said well, I will have a sharp needle right next to your eyeball. Ooookay.
He was NOT lying when he told me how painful that bit was! I was shrinking back in the chair, as he pricked little bits of burning in my eyelid- it hurt more and more and I confess, I started yelping Ow!Ouch! OW! And I apparently flung my hand up. I don’t remember doing it, but that freaked HIM out, since I guess I shoved at his hand. So we took a little break, while I got control of myself, and he offered to postpone the procedure. Um, NO. I don’t want to do this all over again, thanks. So he finished administering the tiny shots, and then we waited for it to go numb.
It did, and he asked if I would be okay if he covered everything but the eye he was working on with some sort of paper. No problem. I could feel him working on scraping the mole down to nothing but it didn’t hurt, just felt odd. Then we were done! No wound closure necessary- my eye was a bit swollen and I had a bit of blood at the site, but it looks like my lash line survived (yes, I am vain) and we should hopefully find out Monday if it was necessary to remove the stupid little mole or not.
raventhief, glad your procedure went well, once you were all numbed up!
My husband is going through something similar.
He had a little cyst on his lower eyelid, right where the lashes are. I had noticed it, but didn’t think anything of it; I thought it was just a skin tag. At his annual physical, though, his primary care physician referred him to a dermatologist.
The dermatologist removed the cyst. She said it was likely benign, but sent it to pathology.
The pathologist said it might be basal cell carcinoma. My mother had that so I know about it. If left untreated, it can be bad. But if you stay on top of it, it is very treatable. Still, my husband’s reaction to this news, which he received in an A.M. doctor appointment: “I’ve had better mornings.” Understandable; “carcinoma” is no one’s favorite word!
He is scheduled for Mohs surgery this coming Wednesday. His surgeon has done over 3000 of these procedures and is recognized as an international expert in this surgery, so I am hoping it goes smoothly!
Oh, also – the surgeon told my husband that she would put an opaque green contact lens in his eye, so he doesn’t have to see the work being done.
