Bright, wide-open eyes help you look more youthful and full of energy. On the other hand, hooded eyelids and under eye circles can age your face by making the eye area look smaller and by drawing the skin around the eyes in a downwards direction.
When the eyes are such an important part of your face for expressing how you feel, hooded eyelids and excess skin under the eyes can make you look tired and older than you are – and this can have a real impact on your self-confidence and self-esteem.
Issues with your eyelids and under eye area can be resolved through a cosmetic surgery procedure called blepharoplasty. This can be carried out as a stand-alone procedure or as part of an overall facial rejuvenation treatment. It should be noted that this treatment won’t lift sagging eyebrows, remove crow’s feet or other wrinkles, or eliminate dark circles under your eyes – that’s where a combination of facelift, brow lift and neck lift can be appropriate.
. A stand-alone treatment is often enough to rejuvenate your face but if you’re looking for a stronger result then it’s worth exploring what combination of treatments will work best for you. The best way to do this is to attend an initial consultation with one of our experienced surgeons who will be able to assess your face and understand the results you’d like to achieve.
What does blepharoplasty involve?
If you’re having surgery on your lower lids then it’s likely you’ll need a general anaesthetic though a local anaesthetic is usually appropriate if you are having only the upper lids operated on.
With the upper eyelids, incisions are made in the creases of your lids and just below the lashes on the lower lids. The incisions may extend to the crow’s feet or laugh lines at the outer corners of your eyes. The skin is separated from underlying fatty tissue and muscle, excess fat is removed and sagging skin and muscle trimmed. The incisions are then closed with very fine sutures.
Underlying fat, along with excess skin and muscle, can be removed during the operation. If you have a pocket of fat beneath your lower eyelids but don’t need to have any skin removed, we may recommend a transconjunctival blepharoplasty. In this procedure, the incision is made inside your lower eyelid, leaving no visible scar. It is usually performed on younger patients with thicker, more elastic skin, and requires a general anaesthetic. Sometimes this procedure is accompanied by laser treatment to the skin to reduce wrinkles.
In a transconjunctival blepharoplasty, a tiny incision is made inside the lower eyelid and fat is removed with fine forceps. No skin is removed and the incision is closed with dissolving sutures.
Helping you decide
All of this, however, will be explained in detail during your initial consultation. That’s the perfect time to ask questions about any aspect of your treatment so you can decide if blepharoplasty is right for you.
