The patient is a 68 year old woman who noted that her eyes appeared closed and others thought she looked sleepy. On examination there was hooding (upper eyelid skin excess). Her brow was in good position.
Upper Eyelid Surgery
Of all the types of eyelid surgery, upper eyelid surgery gives the most change. During this procedure, excess skin is removed from the upper eyelid with care so that the patient still has enough skin for eye closure.
Upper Eyelid Surgery Cost
Costs for the different types of eyelid surgery are similar to each other and among the least costly of all the cosmetic surgeries. This is partly because the procedure can be performed under local anesthesia or with mild sedation, which cuts the cost down because no anesthesiologist is needed. Some patients may require the use of an anesthesiologist for added comfort or because they are having eyelid surgery in conjunction with another procedure.
Upper Eyelid Surgery Before and After
As can be seen from the patient’s eyelid surgery photos (blepharoplasty before and after), the eyes appear more open and youthful. With the eyes more open, more light can come into the eye, thus making it brighter and more beautiful.
Eyelid Surgery Recovery
Recovery from eyelid procedures is generally about 3-5 days.
Types of Eyelid Surgery
Patients have a choice when there is significant upper eyelid skin excess (hooding) which includes upper eyelid surgery and brow lift surgery. It is important to discuss this with your facial plastic surgeon because both brow position and skin excess may be present. In fact, some patients may require both skin removal and a brow lift for complete results.
For the lower lid there are to general types of procedures. External lower eyelid surgery, also known as lower eyelid surgery is performed by making an incision outside the eyelid and just beneath the lash line. Using this incision, the fat can be removed “fat bags” and the skin excess also refined.
The other approach to the lower lid is to called transconjunctival lower eyelid surgery. During this procedure, the approach for the fat removal is through the inside the lower lid and so there is no external incision. The big benefit of this approach is that there is no scarring or weakness created to the lower lid muscles and therefore lower lid strength is maintained.
When the transconjunctival approach is used for the lower eyelids, the overlying wrinkles over the lid and the Crow’s foot areas can be removed with laser treatment for wrinkles.
