eyelid surgery.
“The eyes are the windows to the soul.”
As a central feature of the face, the eyes can display significant signs of aging, making you appear tired and much older than you feel. You may notice loose, crepey skin that folds onto itself, eyebags, or eyelid drooping. Aesthetic eyelid surgery, or blepharoplasty, can correct these signs, taking years, even decades off your appearance!
Dr. Lisa Hwang approaches eyelids with extreme attention to detail. Every millimeter matters, and the goal is to make you look and feel rejuvenated, not overdone. Specialized in aesthetic plastic surgery, she offers innovative and comprehensive techniques, which include fat repositioning. With renewed confidence, you will be ready to tackle other challenges in your professional and personal lives.
problem areas.
Skin sag.
Noticing crepey, hooded eyelid skin? With aging, we develop skin excess and laxity, which can cause hooding, obstructing one’s vision in severe cases. To compensate, you may subconsciously activate your forehead muscles, raising your brows to facilitate eyelid opening and exacerbating forehead wrinkles. Upper blepharoplasty removes excess skin and weight, opening your eyes for a rejuvenated look!
eye bags.
Looking exhausted with puffy eyebags? Eyebags develop as a result of skin excess, fat herniation, and tear trough deformity. You may have attempted to cover them with concealer or disguise them with dermal filler treatment. However, the only treatment that actually corrects the underlying pathology is surgery.
Hollows.
Do your eyes seem sunken in and hollow? Aging of the brow-upper eyelid complex results in fat atrophy as well as selective bone resorption, causing a hollow eyelid with a high upper eyelid fold. Upper blepharoplasty can improve the hollowness, but adjunct procedures, such as fat grafting or dermal filler injection, may be necessary to restore volume.
eyelid surgery.
The brow-lid continuum is very complex; a thorough preoperative exam by Dr. Lisa Hwang is essential to formulating a surgical plan tailored to your unique, individual needs. Eyelid surgery is performed as an outpatient procedure. For patients who visit our office in Cupertino, upper eyelid surgery can be performed under local anesthesia. Alternatively, lower blepharoplasty will generally be performed at a surgery center either under intravenous sedation or under general anesthesia, for improved comfort and airway control.
upper
eyelid lift.
Incisions are carefully measured and generally made in the native upper eyelid crease. The eyelid skin is very thin— scars quickly fade and become imperceptible! Excess skin is removed, sometimes with muscle and a small amount of herniating fat. Every surgery is individualized, as every patient is unique.
lower
eyelid lift.
Incisions can be made on the skin just below the lower eyelashes or within the conjunctiva (inner lining of the eyelid). Complex anatomical factors are taken into consideration in choosing the proper surgical approach. Surgical options include a combination of lower blepharoplasty, fat repositioning, and lower lid support.
asian eyelid.
Asians have unique anatomy. The levator muscle inserts lower on the tarsal plate, resulting in a lower supratarsal crease. In some individuals, only a single (vs. double) eyelid is visible. The heavy upper eyelid can make the eyes appear smaller. To open up and brighten the eyes, a crease can be created to form a double eyelid.
Recovery.
After surgery, you may experience swelling, tightness, and bruising. Upper eyelids heal faster—sutures are removed by 4 days, and incisions practically disappear by 1 week! Lower eyelid surgery is generally more involved, taking up to 2 to 3 weeks for bruising and swelling to resolve. The natural skin folds around the eyelids generally conceal scarring, which becomes virtually unnoticeable.
Activity.
Lubricating eye drops/gel are applied around-the-clock along with cold compresses for symptomatic relief. Patients should keep their heads elevated while lying in bed to minimize swelling. We encourage you to periodically get out of bed to walk around and mobilize the blood flow in your legs. Daily activities can be resumed within one week, while more strenuous exercise should be postponed for at least three weeks.
Risks & Complications.
After eyelid surgery, normal tear production and drainage can be disrupted, causing eye irritation or watery eyes. Other risks include light sensitivity, blurriness of vision, or lid malposition. If you already suffer from dry eyes, or have had other eye surgery i.e. LASIK, please discuss this with Dr. Lisa Hwang at your consultation.
