Eyelid surgery reduces the bagginess from your lower eyelids and gets rid of excess skin on your upper eyelids. This procedure is effective in improving sight in people with sagging eyelids that affect their vision. An eyelift also eliminates crow’s feet, dark circles and facial wrinkles. Eyelid surgery is usually performed alongside procedures like filler injections, laser resurfacing and forehead lifts.
Aging Process of Eyelids
As your skin ages, it slowly begins to lose its elasticity. The constant gravity pulls plus a loss in elasticity results in excess skin collection on your eyelids. On your lower eyelids, excess skin causes bulges and wrinkles. On your upper eyelids, excess skin hangs over your eyelashes making it difficult for you to see. The fat that separates your eyeball and skull can also get loose with age and cause your eyelids to bulge.
What is Required for Eyelid Surgery?
The appropriate candidate for eyelid surgery is someone who is in good health and has realistic expectations. Most people go for eye lifts when they are 35 years and above, however, if droopy or baggy eyelids are hereditary, you may have to go for an eye lift sooner.
Are the Results Permanent?
Eyelid surgery on the upper eyelid can last for five to seven years. Surgery on the lower eyelid is rarely repeated. The appropriate procedure for eye lids that sag after surgery is a forehead lift.
How is Eyelid Surgery Done?
An eyelid surgery for both eyelids lasts for two hours. Your surgeon will use anesthesia for sedation. If all four eyelids are being operated on, your surgeon will begin with the upper lids. Your surgeon will cut along the lines of your eyelids. The cuts are meant to separate your skin from the tissue underneath as well as remove skin, excess fat and muscle. The next step will be to close these cuts with small stitches. The lower eyelids may not need stitches, but the stitches on the upper eyelids could last for up to six days.
Recovery after Surgery
You will have swelling and some bruising but after two weeks, your eyelids will look normal. Complications from eyelid surgery are not common, but they occur sometimes. They include:
- Dry eyes
- Infection
- Bleeding
- Abnormal folding of your eyelid skin
- Inability to fully shut your eyes
- Loss of sight
When to Consider Eyelid Surgery
If you have drooping eyelids that make it difficult for you to see, then eyelid surgery is the best solution. Aesthetic reasons for considering eyelid surgery are the need to tighten your drooping eyelids, wanting to get rid of an old or tired appearance and removing puffy bags under your eyes. Eyelid surgery can also remove wrinkling of lower eyelids and brighten up your eyes.
Drooping eyelids and bags under a person’s eyes are a common symptom of aging. This procedure is usually done on people who are 35 years old and above. However, persons below the age of 35 years go for this procedure to get rid of hooded eyes. This is a condition where a person’s upper eyelids sag to the point of obstructing their eyesight.
We offer eyelid surgery at Athena Plastic Surgery. If you have any questions or concerns, Dr. Avron H. Lipschitz can assist you. Contact us to get more information or to set up a consultation today.