Eyelid Surgery

I truly understand why patients come to me as concerned and disturbed as they are about their eyes, and I do see what you see. Secondly, I truly am very careful, conservative, and exacting with everything I talk about and do in the field of eyelid plastic surgery. I can help you through the options that exist.

The usual comments I hear from male patients are that they look old, sad, or tired. Other complaints are of excess skin, “hooding,” bags, puffiness, wrinkles, drooping eyebrows, heaviness, or difficulty looking up. Still others come to me concerned about the shape of the eye and eyelid. The anatomy of the eyelids is understandably complex. There are an extraordinary number of small anatomic features all packed into a little space, a space that all must function perfectly; otherwise, as little as one millimeter of abnormality can become more than obvious. The structures to deal with of the upper and lower eyelids are the very delicate tendons for support, very thin skin, muscle, the fat pockets below the muscle, your eyeball, and the bony eye socket. All of these are very intimately associated with each other, so these many different anatomic features must be carefully analyzed and addressed prior to your surgery. I will coordinate the features of your anatomy with your expectations, formulate a plan with you, and guide you through this process. There are very specific techniques for specific eyelid issues, and I will explain and illustrate all of these to you. Surgery involves a relatively short procedure under a light general anesthetic and is performed where I do surgery, which is in a hospital setting. The surgery is safe and predictable. All of the stitches are small and removed in four to seven days. You can return to work in as little as one to two days and to some physical exercise within the first week. Plastic surgery of and around the eyelid may involve any of the following:

• Blepharoplasty: This is the medical term for removing one or more of these: excess skin, excess fat, or excess muscle. The incision can be below the eyelashes or inside the eyelid.
• Fat Grafting or Fat Repositioning: This is done if you have a deep “tear trough” or groove in the lower eyelid. I can add fat to this area or move some of your natural fat around the area.
• Injectables: Restylane or Perlane can occasionally be used to beautifully fill in the tear trough.
• Eyelid Peels: These are done at the same time to remove wrinkles.
• Canthoplasty: This is to move the tendon at the outer corner. See the separate section on this procedure.

This is an extremely technical procedure, and it takes very special expertise to accurately identify, first, what is the nature of the eyelid features and then, second, what must be done carefully and artistically to correct it.

Please also see the article on periorbital rejuvenation and other articles in the Educational Articles section of the website.