Eyelid surgery or blepharoplasty creates an open, larger, brighter appearing eye. By removing excess loose skin and fatty tissue which produce bags of the upper or lower lid, the eye appears larger, less tired, more open and brighter.
In women, excess loose tissue prevents optimal use of makeup and obscures the normal contours of the eyelid. In both women and men, loose, sagging, bulging tissues make the eye appear smaller and more tired or stressed.
The goal of eyelid surgery is to produce a significant improvement in eyelid appearance with the utmost safety.
If you have any type of eye disease or symptoms, these must be carefully investigated and considered in planning your blepharoplasty surgery. After examining you, your surgeon may request a consultation from an ophthalmologist if he feels that your safety would benefit.
Limitations
There are limits to the amount of tissue which can or should be removed from the eyelid. Excessive removal of fat can produce a hollow, unnatural appearance. Excessive removal of skin can cause deformities or prevent proper eye closure. The key to the best result is precise planning of the procedure based on careful measurements of your eyelids.
Eyelid surgery cannot remove every wrinkle from the eyelid area. Differences which exist in the eyelids on both sides may be improved after surgery, but slight differences will always be present.
Risks
Risks of injury to the eye, infection or bleeding which could impair vision are extremely small, but do exist and must be considered.
Other risks common to all surgical procedures such as bleeding, infection and scar tissue formation occur in a very small percentage of cases. We will give you more detailed information about these and other rare risks in our written information, and encourage you to discuss any which concern you during your consultation.
If deformities exist in areas of the face besides the eyelids, additional procedures may be necessary in those areas for optimal facial appearance.
About The Operation
It is critically important that decisions regarding amounts of removal be made with you upright immediately prior to surgery, since the degree of deformities changes drastically when you lie down. For the most accurate correction, your eyelids must be measured and marked with you sitting before going to the operating room.
By using very fine electrosurgical instruments for many aspects of the procedure, risks of bleeding and the amount of bruising following the procedure are greatly reduced, speeding your recovery.
Incisions for eyelid surgery are placed deep in the fold of the upper eyelid and immediately beneath the lashes in the lower eyelid to make them inconspicuous. If only fat removal is necessary in the lower eyelid, the incision can sometimes be located on the inside of the lid.
During the procedure, excess skin is removed from the upper and lower eyelids to improve lid contours. If excess fatty tissue is producing bulges or bags, only the excess is carefully removed to produce a natural lid appearance.
After carefully rechecking the lid, the incisions are closed with tiny sutures or stitches.
Recovery
You will have virtually no pain whatever following your eyelid surgery. You'll have some swelling for the first two or three days after surgery, but it decreases rapidly by the third day.
When we remove your sutures on the fourth or fifth day after surgery, you can immediately apply makeup to the lids to hide any residual traces of bruising. You can usually return to your normal activities in a week or less.
The Stages Of Recovery
Our patients usually want to know about four stages of recovery: hospitalization time, when swelling or brusing is resolved, when they'll be able to return to work or social activity, and when they can return to full aerobic or strenuous exercise.
For eyelid procedures, the average procedure is usually performed as an outpatient procedure. Bruising and swelling resole in 5-10 days or less. Patients can return to work and social activities within 14-21 days.
Most surgeons encourage immediate return to full normal activity immediately. Just don't do any type of strenuous exercise that would push your pulse over 100 for about two to three weeks. Any aerobic activity that increases your pulse over 100 also increases your blood pressure, and could make you bleed.
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