Eyelid surgery, also known as blepharoplasty, is a procedure to improve the bagginess, sagging, or wrinkles in the under-eye area. As you get older, the skin naturally loses the fat padding and elasticity. This can make the lower eyelid appear baggy, wrinkled, or puffy. The surgery can give you a more youthful look with a smoother appearance. Besides giving you a more youthful appearance, there are some other benefits.
How Does the Procedure Work?
The procedure works by removing excess skin and fat under the eye and sewing the skin back together to give it a tighter appearance. There are delicate structures around the eye, including the eyeball itself along with eye muscles, so the surgery requires a precise and delicate approach in order to make the area appear less puffy.
There are different approaches for this surgery. The approach will depend on your anatomy, along with your goals for the area. Before the procedure, the surgeon marks your eyelids so he or she knows where to make the incisions. The procedure is performed under local or general anesthesia. If you are having multiple procedures done at the same time as eyelid surgery, then it’s recommended you have general anesthesia. If you are just having the lower eyelid surgery, then you can have local anesthesia. A benefit of local anesthesia can be that your doctor can test your eye muscle movements in order to reduce side effects.
The procedure is an outpatient procedure unless there are other procedures being done at the same time. You are given eyedrops and ointments in order to prevent infections and there can be some swelling, discomfort, and bruising immediately after surgery. The bruising and swelling decrease after about 10 to 14 days.
Benefits of Eyelid Surgery
There are both cosmetic and functional benefits to having eyelid surgery.
Reduced Eyebags
Eyebags can often be misinterpreted as a result of fatigue, lack of sleep, or allergies, but this may not be the case in many situations. In many cases, eyebags can be because of fat prolapse in the lower eyelid. The eye is in the skull in an area called the orbit. The orbital fat is around the eyes. Orbital fat can cause the eyes to be puffy and give the appearance of eyebags. To improve the under-eye bags, the surgery is performed to reposition or remove the orbital fat. Some are concerned that by removing the fat there can be excess skin under the eyes, but the excess skin is usually addressed at the same time. The skin that remains and once had the fat pockets is tightened naturally by the muscle. The results of aging can be seen as early as 20s and 30s for some people genetically predisposed to drooping eyelids.
Expand Line of Sight for Better Vision
In some severe cases, excess skin in the eyelid can be draped over the eyelashes, which results in a hard time seeing in peripheral vision. This sagging may be a result of age, years of sun exposure, poor lifestyle choices, or genetics. Sagging under eyelids can also be concerning since it can make it harder to see. Not only does it help improve your appearance, but it can also help improve your vision. Oftentimes the sagging happens so slowly that changes in vision are too subtle for you to realize. You can try a quick test and take your thumbs and push up the eyebrows. If you have a better field of vision, then surgery may be able to help give you this better vision permanently.
Better Eye Shape
The procedure can give you an enhanced eye shape. The blepharoplasty procedure can sometimes be combined with some other face-lifting techniques to enhance eye shape and improve facial resilience.
Reduced Skin Irritation
Having excess skin in the upper eyelids can result in a heavy feeling in the eyes and also cause irritation due to the skin rubbing together. The surgery can help improve this discomfort and irritation. This can also help women who wear eye makeup by eliminating the smearing of the makeup caused by extra folds that surround the eyelids.
Rested and Youthful Appearance
The surgery can help rejuvenate your appearance. The fat removal, eyelid lift, and sculpting of the eyelids can help provide a more rested and alert appearance. Depending on your choices with your doctor, there can be different methods for getting this youthful appearance.
Removing Dark Under-Eye Circles
This surgery can help improve your self-esteem and self-confidence with a more youthful appearance and the removal of dark under-eye circles. Removing excess fat from the eyes can help soften your appearance by working to eliminate those dark circles that form.
Improvement in Lower Eyelids Hollowing
During the procedure, some of the excess fat can also be repositioned in order to help improve volume loss below the eyelid. This volume loss below the eyelid happens when orbital fat starts to protrude forward because of a weakening orbital spectrum. Volume loss below the eyelid can also be due to loss of volume and fat in the cheek. The cheek deflates and then starts to descend away from the eyelid. The large junction between the two causes an aged and tired look, along with lower eyelid hollowing. With these procedures, people see an improvement in this hollowing and a reversal of the aged look that happens from it. In cases of significant volume loss, this may not be enough to address the issue and fat grafting may be needed.
No Forehead Discomfort from Strained Muscles
This procedure can also be useful to reduce muscle straining in the forehead and improve forehead discomfort. Removing the extra skin can give a break to those who feel the eyelids are too heavy due to skin weighing down on the eyelashes and eyelids. Forehead wrinkles can be over-activated, and this leads to muscle straining and headaches. This removes the excess skin to help.
Few Fine Lines on the Lower Eyelids and Outer Corners
Another benefit is the procedure can help diminish the number of fine lines that are around the lower eyelids and outer corners. The appearance of fine lines is reduced but the procedure can remove them completely.
Less Time in Front of the Mirror
Everyone deals with facial aging differently and many people choose to use tricks and techniques to make it less noticeable. One of these tricks is makeup contouring and this may make you spend several extra minutes in front of the mirror to make your eyelids appear more youthful. After this procedure, you will no longer have to do this and you can have a more natural definition.
More Cosmetic Freedom
If you are one that loves to play around with makeup but can’t because of sagging skin then it can be frustrating. This doesn’t just open your eyes but can also open the doors to more cosmetic freedoms. Even if you have a favorite makeup routine, this procedure can give you more space to work with and you can feel confident in your appearance.
Why Choose Florida Eye for Cosmetic Eye Surgery?
When undergoing cosmetic surgery, you want the most advanced technologies and at Florida Eye Specialists & Cataract Institute, this is what you will get. Not only will you have the best techniques and technologies, but you will have personal service that is second to none. Patients are an extended part of the family. Contact us to learn more about eyelid surgery and how it can help improve your life.
