Facial and scalp swelling after brain surgery | CION Cancer Clinics

It usually builds over the first day or two, then goes down over the following week. Bruising can take about two weeks to fade fully. Everyone is a little different. What matters is that it keeps improving. Swelling that is getting bigger after the first few days should be shown to your team.

Almost always, the eyelids are simply too swollen to open. Sight returns as soon as the lids go down. The nurses will check this. Tell them straight away if she says she cannot see when the lids are gently opened, if an eye is red and painful, or if she has new double vision.

A cool compress wrapped in a clean cloth, held around the eyes for short spells, can ease puffiness. Never put ice directly on the skin, and keep anything cold or wet away from the wound. Ask your team first if the wound is close to the eye or forehead.

Lying flat overnight lets fluid settle into the face and eyelids. It usually drains during the day once you are sitting up and moving. Sleeping with the head raised on extra pillows helps. If morning swelling is getting worse each day instead of better, tell the team.

It can be blood, tissue fluid, or the clear fluid that normally surrounds the brain collecting under the scalp. Small ones often go away on their own. It still needs to be assessed. Call the team the same day if it is growing, feels tense, or clear fluid leaks from the wound or nose.

This is often the effect of steroid tablets, such as dexamethasone, given to reduce swelling in the brain. The face becomes fuller and appetite increases. It usually eases after the medicine is reduced and stopped, on the team's plan. Do not stop or cut the tablets to reverse it.

Usually not. Early swelling and bruising are part of healing. Infection tends to bring spreading redness, heat, pus from the wound, increasing pain or a fever, often a few days or more after surgery. If you notice any of these, call your surgical team the same day.

Your team will say when discharge and travel are safe, and facial swelling alone does not usually delay it. Sit with the head supported and upright, take breaks, and carry the discharge summary. Know where the nearest emergency department is along the way and near home.