No Win, No FeeEyelid surgery can be performed for cosmetic reasons or on medical grounds and aims to remove excess tissue, skin, muscles and fat around the eye. Whether you’ve been treated by a private clinic or at an NHS hospital, if you end up suffering because of negligent eyelid surgery, you could be entitled to be compensated. For that reason, we’ve written this guide on eyelid surgery claims to help you understand your options. We’ll look at what types of negligence might entitle you to compensation and how to start a claim.
We are ready to help if you do wish to begin an eyelid surgery claim. To start, we’ll review your case with you during a free consultation over the phone. A specialist advisor will explain everything and provide free legal advice. If they suspect you have the grounds to continue, they’ll refer you to a medical negligence lawyer from our team. If they think you have a good case and advise starting a claim, you’ll benefit from their legal expertise on a No Win, No Fee basis. That means there are no solicitors fees payable upfront. As a result, the process of claiming should be much less stressful.
To talk to us about your chances of being compensated for eyelid surgery negligence, please call on 0800 652 1345 right away. Otherwise, you’ll find plenty of useful guidance if you continue reading.
What is eyelid surgery?
Eyelid surgery is also referred to as an eyelift or by its proper name, blepharoplasty. The type of surgery will differ depending on which eyelid is being treated.
When treating the upper eyelid, the surgeon will cut into the eyelid, remove excess tissue, fat and muscle and then close the eyelid. Lower eyelid surgery involves an incision either inside the eyelid or below the eyelash. Fat and sometimes some skin is removed or repositioned from the bags under the eyes. The tendons or muscles might be supported before the incision is closed.
Eyelid surgery is either carried out while the patient is under local anaesthetic or sedated by a general anaesthetic. The whole process takes between 1 to 2 hours usually.
What can go wrong with eyelid surgery?
As with any type of operation, eyelid surgery comes with some associated risks such as pain, bruising and swelling. However, if the procedure is not carried out correctly, you could suffer complications that include:
- Asymmetrical eyes following poor technique.
- Difficulty closing your eyes because too much skin was removed.
- Scarring and damage to areas surrounding the eyes.
- Post-surgical problems including infections.
- Bleeding in the eye socket.
- Eye damage that could result in blurred vision or blindness in serious cases.
Eyelid surgery claims might be possible if you’ve suffered any of these complications or others following negligent treatment. For specialist advice on your right to be compensated, please contact our team today.
Can I claim compensation for eyelid surgery gone wrong?
The process of claiming compensation for medical negligence is slightly different to personal injury claims. Before one of our solicitors could accept your case, they’ll assess whether:
- The standard of the eyelid surgery you received fell below the standard that you may reasonably expect a competent medical professional to provide (negligence or breach of duty); and
- You suffered injuries as a direct result (causation).
Solicitors are not medical professionals. As such, proving both a breach of duty and causation requires information from specialist medical experts where the Bolam test is used to check for medical negligence. This process assesses whether a similarly skilled professional would’ve carried out your surgery in the same way given the same circumstances.
If the eyelid surgeon who treated you is found to have been negligent, medical records and reports will be used to try and prove that their actions (or lack of actions) caused your suffering.
Our team of solicitors have lots of experience handling cosmetic surgery claims and could help you to take action. Please contact us to review your options.
What negligence could entitle me to compensation?
As discussed in the previous section, eyelid surgery claims must be based on some form of negligence during your treatment. There are many ways that this can be established including where:
- The risks associated with your surgery were not properly explained.
- Your medical history or suitability for surgery was not checked.
- Clinical errors occurred during surgery.
- Alternative options to eyelid surgery were not considered.
- You suffered during treatment because of an anaesthetic error.
- Your surgery was conducted in unhygienic conditions.
- Instructions regarding aftercare were poor or absent.
- You were promised an outcome that simply wasn’t possible.
The easiest way to check whether you have the grounds to start an eyelid surgery negligence claim is to call our team. An advisor will explain your options after reviewing everything with you during your call.
Would I be compensated if I signed a waiver?
Consent forms or waivers cannot necessarily stop you from being compensated. Whatever form you’ve signed, if the reason you’ve suffered is down to medical negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. In fact, as we’ll discuss later on, your consent form could be used as proof to support your eyelid surgery claim if it was not completed correctly.
How much compensation will I get for botched eyelid surgery?
It’s important to note that any compensation settlement you receive isn’t a fine or penalty against the surgeon who treated you. Instead, compensation aims to get you back to the position you were in (or as near as possible) before your botched eyelid surgery.
General damages can be sought to cover any pain and suffering you endured whereas special damages are based on any financial losses. As such, compensation for eyelid surgery gone wrong could be paid out to cover:
- Any suffering caused by either your injuries or remedial treatment.
- Psychological injuries such as distress, anguish, embarrassment or depression.
- The impact your injuries had on your social or family life.
- The cost of a carer where needed or the time a loved one spent supporting you.
- Loss of earning or future lost income.
- Travel costs associated with trips to the hospital.
- Private medical treatment of your injuries.
- Modifications to your home. These might be required, for example, if your vision is affected by negligent eye surgery.
Each eyelid surgery claim is unique which means it’s important to assess your case correctly before sending your compensation claim to the defendant. Importantly, you can only claim once so you can’t request something you failed to include in your initial claim later on.
If your case is accepted by a medical negligence solicitor from our panel, they’ll work with you to review everything in detail. In all cases, they’ll try to make sure that you’re paid the maximum amount of compensation possible for your suffering.
If you’d like to read about general and special damages in more detail you can do so here, or call us on 0800 652 1345.
Providing proof for eyelid surgery claims
One of the most important parts of the claims process is proving how the eyelid surgeon was negligent. If you can’t, it’s almost inevitable you won’t be compensated regardless of how serious your injuries are. As such, you will need proof to help show what went wrong with your eyelid surgery and how you suffered as a result. Your solicitor can collect a lot of the evidence but you could help by providing:
- Photographic proof. It’s a good idea to take photographs of your eyelid injuries after your surgery if they’re visible. You could also provide recent photos taken before you were treated as a comparison.
- Medical reports. By law, you are allowed to request a copy of your medical notes. These could be used to show how a doctor at a hospital assessed and treated your injuries after you visited them following your eyelift surgery.
- A statement. Your solicitor will ask you to provide a statement to explain how your injuries have affected you. To prepare for this, you may wish to keep a diary during your recovery. This will help you to recall when you couldn’t work, had to miss social events or paid out money as a result of your injuries.
- Correspondence relating to your eyelift treatment. It’s a good idea to keep hold of any letters or emails you’ve been sent relating to your eyelift treatment. Your solicitors will review these to check for errors.
- Consent forms. As well as medical records, your solicitor will check whether your consent form was completed accurately or not. Any omissions or mistakes could mean you’re entitled to compensation.
- Witness information. You should also give your solicitor the names of anybody (with their permission) who was with you during your consultation. They could provide a statement that helps to corroborate your version of events. Also, friends and family may be asked to explain how your injuries have affected you.
If you call for a free consultation, one of our specialist advisors will review any proof you have with you. They’ll explain if there’s anything else you need or if you’re ready to proceed to the next stage of the eyelid surgery claims process.
Time limits for eyelid surgery negligence claims
In all claims relating to medical negligence, there is a 3-year time limit. For eyelid surgery claims, this usually commences from the day you were operated on. This time limit comes from the Limitation Act 1980. If you take too long to act, you could miss out on compensation as your claim could become statute-barred.
We would suggest that you should contact us to begin your claim as soon as you can. That’s due to the fact that there is a lot of work for your solicitor to do prior to submitting a claim. One part of this is to gather evidence to support your claim. Another is arranging for an independent medical expert to assess your injuries and provide a report regarding your prognosis.
The time taken to process a claim will depend on the severity of your injuries and whether liability for them is accepted or not. In some cases, claims can be settled and paid in a matter of months. In others, where negotiation is needed or further evidence is required, it could take more than a year for the claim to be finalised.
How No Win, No Fee eyelid surgery compensation claims work
Are you thinking about claiming compensation or botched eyelid surgery but worried about the cost of hiring a solicitor to help you? If so, you can relax a little as our team of specialist medical negligence solicitors provide a No Win, No Fee service.
If your eyelid surgery claim is taken on, your solicitor will:
- Review your claim with you.
- Collect evidence and arrange for medical reports.
- File the claim with the defendant.
- Deal with all negotiations so you don’t need to be involved.
- Answer any questions you have about the case as it proceeds.
- Keep you up to date.
- Let you know about any settlement offers.
- Try to renegotiate a fair settlement if an offer is too low.
All of this work will be carried out without any upfront payment of solicitors’ fees. At the start of the process, you’ll be sent a Conditional Fee Agreement (more on what a CFA is here) to sign. It will confirm that your solicitor will work on a No Win, No Fee basis. That means you only need to pay your solicitor a success fee if your claim is won and you are paid compensation. The fee is a fixed percentage of any settlement you receive.
To see if you could claim on a No Win, No Fee basis, please call today.
Start your eyelid surgery claim today
The easiest way to find out whether you could start a claim today is to call our free advice line. The number to use is 0800 652 1345. When you call, there will be no obligation to proceed but we will review your case and provide free legal advice about your options.
Any claim that is taken on by a medical negligence solicitor from our panel will be handled on a No Win, No Fee basis to give you complete peace of mind.
You’ve reached the end of this article on eyelid surgery claims so please use live chat to contact us if you have any additional questions, or arrange your free consultation here.
