Blepharoplasty usually takes one to three hours, depending on if both upper eyelid surgery and lower eyelid surgery are being performed.
Dr. Somenek begins by making incisions that follow the natural lines of your eyelids; in the creases of your upper lids, and just below the lashes in the lower lids. The incisions may extend into the crow’s feet or laugh lines at the outer corners of your eyes which follows the natural contour of the eye.
Dr. Somenek then separates the skin from underlying fatty tissue and muscle, removes excess fat, and often trims sagging skin and muscle. The incisions are then closed with very fine sutures.
If you have a pocket of fat beneath your lower eyelids but don’t need to have any skin removed, Dr. Somenek may create a transconjunctival incision as part of lower blepharoplasty. In transconjunctival blepharoplasty, the incision is made inside your lower eyelid, leaving no visible scar. It is usually performed on younger patients with good skin tone and elasticity.