page_title: Blepharoplasty
section_title: Procedures
hierarchical_section_title: Blepharoplasty / Procedures
caption_attribution_description: English: The fat removed from a transconjunctival lower-lid blepharoplasty, and the skin removed from an upper-lid blepharoplasty.
context_page_description: Blepharoplasty is the plastic surgery operation for correcting defects, deformities, and disfigurations of the eyelids; and for aesthetically modifying the eye region of the face. With the excision and the removal, or the repositioning of excess tissues, such as skin and adipocyte fat, and the reinforcement of the corresponding muscle and tendon tissues, the blepharoplasty procedure resolves functional and cosmetic problems of the periorbita, which is the area from the eyebrow to the upper portion of the cheek. The procedure is more common among women, who accounted for approximately 85% of blepharoplasty procedures in 2014 in the US and 88% of such procedures in the UK.
  The operative goals of a blepharoplastic procedure are the restoration of the correct functioning to the affected eyelid and the restoration of the aesthetics of the eye-region of the face, which are achieved by eliminating excess skin from the eyelid, smoothing the underlying eye muscles, tightening the supporting structures, and resecting and re-draping the excess fat of the retroseptal area of the eye, in order to produce a smooth anatomic transition from the lower eyelid to the cheek.
context_section_description: A blepharoplasty procedure usually is performed through external surgical incisions made along the natural skin lines (creases) of the upper and the lower eyelids, which then hide the surgical scars from view, especially when effected in the skin creases below the eyelashes of the lower eyelid. The incisions can also be made from the conjunctiva, the interior surface of the lower eyelid, as in the case of a transconjunctival blepharoplasty.
  Transconjunctival lower blepharoplasty technique was pioneered by Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine, Dr. Anthony J. Geroulis and introduced to medical trial in 1998. Transconjunctival Technique has become the norm in the plastic surgery field with most surgeons preferring it over the external surgical incisions. This technique is particularly useful for patients with darker skin tones where standard external incision often leaves a visible white scar.
  
  Transconjunctival blepharoplasty technique permits the excision (cutting and removal) of the lower-eyelid adipose tissue without leaving a visible scar, but, the transconjunctival blepharoplasty technique does not allow the removal of excess eyelid-skin.
  A blepharoplasty operation usually requires 1–3 hours to complete. Post-operatively, the initial swelling and bruising consequent to the surgery will subside and resolve with 1–2 weeks; the final, stable results of the blepharoplastic correction will become apparent after several months. The results of a blepharoplasty procedure are best appreciated by comparing pre- and post-operative (before-and-after) photographs of the eye region of the patient.
  
  After the procedure, a type of stitch known as a canthopexy is placed near the outer corner of the lower eyelid, which is inside the tissue. This allows the eyelid's position to remain fixed during the healing process. The canthopexy is dissolved after four to six weeks of use. For particular patients, a mid-face elevation may be required to rejuvenate the lower eyelid-cheek complex.
  The anatomic condition of the eyelids, the "wear-and-tear" quality of the patient's skin, his or her age, and the general condition of the adjacent tissues, consequent to the anatomic conditions of the patient, affect the functional and aesthetic results achieved with the eyelid surgery. Additional to the anatomic conditions of the eye region of the patient, the occurrence, or not, of medical complications is determined by factors such as:
  Dry-eye syndrome – which can become exacerbated by the disruption of the natural, lacrimal (tear) film of the eyes
  Palpebral skin laxity – looseness of the lower eyelid margin, which predisposes the lower eyelid to malposition
  Eyeball prominence – the protrusion of the eyeball in relation to the malar (cheek) complex, which predisposes the lower eyelid to malposition
caption: Blepharoplasty: The yellow fat (adipose tissue) and the skin (linear tissue) removed during a quadruple blepharoplasty. The fat from the lower eyelid was removed with a transconjunctival technique.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "1279", "Image ImageLength": "621", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "LZW", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "4", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2009:06:05 12:33:36", "Image ExifOffset": "256", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "394", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2483", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1279", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "621"}