EYELIT SURGERY (BLEPHAROPLASTY)

Blepharoplasty, or eyelid surgery, at our practice can dramatically enhance the appearance of aging eyes, and restore your eyes so that they are once again the focal point of your face.

When we meet someone for the first time, the eyes are the first things we notice. Your eyes have the power to articulate feelings. For this reason, beautiful, expressive eyes can open up your entire face, and can even diminish the appearance of asymmetry or imbalance in other features. Likewise, eyes that are tired, droopy, or swollen may not reflect a vibrant inner self, and may significantly detract from your overall appearance.

Unfortunately, the area around the eyes is often the first place to show signs of age. Old and tired eyes may look back at you from the mirror in the morning, or people may ask you if you are tired because your eyes appear swollen. Fortunately, cosmetic surgery can give you dramatically younger eyes through eyelid surgery.

As you age, the skin of on the face begins to feel the effects of gravity, and your skin will begin to droop, including the skin around eyebrows. Because of this drooping at the corners of the eyes, eyelids can look saggy. By trimming this extra skin around the upper lids, blepharoplasty can make you look years younger.

Sagging eyelid fat can also cause eyes to appear tired. In your youth, fat is held in place by the orbital septum, a thin wall of fibrous tissue. However, this wall sags over time, and the fat around your eyes can bulge, making eyelids appear baggy. During eyelid surgery, our facial plastic surgeon will trim this extra fat and tighten the orbital septum. By removing this extra fat, blepharoplasty will make you appear more vibrant and alert.

Techniques

If done alone, blepharoplasty takes about one and a half hours for all four eyelids. In conjunction with other procedures, operating time will vary. You can undergo blepharoplasty under general anesthesia or under wakeful sedation.

During eyelid surgery of the upper lids, the drooping skin around the lids is removed through fine incisions placed in the upper eyelid creases. Through the same incision, your blepharoplasty surgeon trims sagging fat. A fine suture is used to close the skin and is removed four days later. 

During surgery on the lower eyelids, your blepharoplasty surgeon works through a small incision on the inside of the eyelid to remove excess, sagging fat. Because the incision is made on the inside of the eyelid, lower eyelid surgery will leave no visible scar. Furthermore, because it does not disturb the supporting muscles of the eyelid, this incision placement is incredibly safe. If there is extra skin of the lower eyelid, it is removed through a fine incision in a wrinkle just beneath the eyelashes.

The latest fat preservation techniques during eyelid surgery. These techniques require less fat removal and some fat distribution into the groove between the lower eyelid and the upper cheek, creating a smoother transition between the bulging fat of the lower eyelid and cheek, and preventing the eyelids from looking hollow. We will help you determine whether you would benefit from this technique during your blepharoplasty consultation at our practice.

Recovery

Recovery from eyelid surgery is usually complete within seven to 10 days, though a small amount of lumpiness is common at the corners of the eyes for the first few weeks. Minimal blurry vision rapidly resolves, and sunglasses should allow you to go out in public immediately after surgery. Makeup can be worn within five days of blepharoplasty, but you should wait three weeks to resume normal activity and exercise.

Alternatives

We sometimes combine eyelid surgery at our practice with a new procedure called an "endoscopic brow lift" to lift and rejuvenate your forehead. During a consultation for blepharoplasty, we can discuss whether you might benefit from a combination of these procedures.

Characteristics

See also